Test post

Posted on March 23, 2011 by JDR

Can LW still get at this?

Posted in writing | Leave a comment

First stage!

Posted on February 10, 2011 by JDR

First book of the Twin Worlds was released to my editor yesterday. Basically, I ripped out the last third of it. A 100 page epilogue isn’t. I’ll use that material elsewhere. It’s too much world building stuff to lose.

Depending on what I get back from my editor, this is really close to actually getting shopped around.

Posted in Editing, Publishing, Twin Worlds | Leave a comment

Yes, taking on too much again

Posted on January 30, 2011 by JDR

No, it’s not senility; it’s overload. I am trying to make these updates at least once per week and that means that I have to make time for them. What, a schedule; who needs a schedule? I’m tabling the structure Idea I had on the 14th in favor of completing already committed work first. Ergo, that project is now on hold.

The current elephant in the room is the first Twin Worlds book, L’Eclaireur. Since I have decided to submit to agents; I have to convert it from pre-press to proper manuscript form. I actually have to do this with all five of my books. This is actually a good-thing™ as it forces me into line-by-line edits. But, that’s grueling work.

L’Eclaireur is actually over sized. It’s also got a huge epilog/denouement. Not only does it contain spoilers for the rest of the series but it’s as dry as reading Tolkien’s Silmarillion. It needs to be cut much closer too its climax and the rest spread and expanded over later books.

Working full-time at home, independent of other input, has a danger; one of over-work and over-commitment. The resultant of which is; spinning wheels and not getting anything actually done. Five books in various stages of not-done and none of them really ready to be submitted is the inevitable and predictable result. 

Posted in Editing, Structure, Twin Worlds, writing | Leave a comment

Story Structure

Posted on January 14, 2011 by JDR

At risk of taking on too much again, I had this interesting idea. My wife and I have been spending since xmas watching Stargate:Atlantis, we now have all five seasons. This sparked the idea.

Going back; The latest book, Twin Worlds:Huntress is actually a pilot novel for a Space Opera series, a spin-off of the Twin Worlds series of novels. The problem, and the reason that Space Opera isn’t published much anymore, is that Space Opera tends to be short, 55K-80K words. This is far less than the current minimum of 100K words required by modern publishers.

The problem is in how to present the stories: The idea is to make the subsequent stories into anthologies that are episodes in a season and bind them into a single volume.

Posted in Structure, writing | Leave a comment

Lesson learned

Posted on December 28, 2010 by JDR

NaNoWriMo did me one huge favor. It taught me; Do NOT edit a story before it is complete!

The definition of ‘complete’: The story is complete when it has a beginning, middle, and end and not before.

NaNoWriMo, due to time constraints, forced me to drive on with the story until I had completed it. It was only after NaNoWriMo was completed that I began to bog down because I wanted to go back and edit bits, to fill them out. … WRONG! You don’t do that until AFTER the story is complete. Otherwise, how do you know, definitively, what to edit?

I have a total of 5 books, in various stages of progress and only two of them are complete stories; the one I did for NaNoWriMo and my first one! Most of the rest are missing various bits, mostly endings and some middle bits. Other than the two I just mentioned, none of them are even to first rough draft stage. I am going back to fix this problem before I begin editing the now completed book.

Posted in Structure, writing | Leave a comment

Not a hiatus

Posted on December 21, 2010 by JDR

But it was about a week’s worth of downtime for all of my websites. The website were fine but the Database server developed a glitch. Unfortunately, it was just as I was finishing the final chapters on my book and that took precedence. Those were finished last night and backups were made (Yay!).

I have now officially finished the first draft of the current book. It is; 341 pages at 104K words. Now is the time to put it on ice for a few weeks and catch up on other tasks while it ferments and I get some psychological distance from it before I start the editing process.

One of the upcoming tasks is to get all these book projects on my subversion server Winking smile

Posted in New Book, Twin Worlds | Leave a comment

Thank God it’s Over party: Lausanne, CH

Posted on December 3, 2010 by JDR

My wife and I will not attend TGIO:Lausanne tonight.

I just made this decision while standing out on my balcony watching the snow come down. My thermometer has never made it over -1C all day. While we could probably get there, getting home would be problematic. I was reminded of the storm just past and how rapidly it built up a 32cm snow pile on my balcony table.

My wife also reminded me that she has to get home from work, in Lancy. Tuesday, it took her three hours to get home and the busses in Geneva were actually stopped that evening and the following morning. This storm is promising to be just as fierce as the last one. Ergo, getting stranded in Lausanne is a real possibility.

Prudence dictates that it would behoove me to simply stay home rather than take the risk.

Posted in NaNoWriMo | Leave a comment

NaNoWriMo is now over and I am a winner!

Posted on December 1, 2010 by JDR

I cleared the last day with 70,271 words towards the new book. So far, it is an acceptable 1st draft and I am working rapidly up to the climax. As is usual for Space Opera, it is a massive battle. Winking smile

Posted in NaNoWriMo, Twin Worlds | Leave a comment

Happy Thanksgiving

Posted on November 26, 2010 by JDR

That is for my compatriots back in the states.

I just collected the Win for NaNoWriMo!

I was cranking out more than 4K per day and still averaging over two (No, the book isn’t finished yet). But now life can go back to normal, for a while.

Posted in NaNoWriMo, Twin Worlds | Leave a comment

Target:Obliterated!

Posted on November 23, 2010 by JDR

I just cruised past the 50K word mark seven days ahead of the target. I can’t even verify my win until the 25th Sad smile

However, I have hit the mark. Now, mad backups Winking smile

4300 words today. Open-mouthed smile

Posted in NaNoWriMo, Twin Worlds | Leave a comment

Strolling past the 40,000 word mark

Posted on November 20, 2010 by JDR

Just hit 40,366 words today, 3096 words for today alone. Averaging ~2000 words per day. After a slow start, I am definitely making up for lost time ;)

Even better, the story is working out nicely. I should hit the 50K words with plenty of story left for the 96,000 word novel minimum.

Always aim past the goal you want to hit. ;)

Relaxing now with a nice Cotes du Rhone and we’re making an early night of it.

Posted in NaNoWriMo, Twin Worlds | Leave a comment

NaNoWriMo update: 31,438 words

Posted on November 17, 2010 by JDR

I put some new widgets on my site. One of them is this nifty wordcount widget.

Yes, I am pulling ahead of the curve.

Posted in NaNoWriMo | Leave a comment

Tenth day of NaNoWriMo

Posted on November 10, 2010 by JDR

NaNoWriMo: After a slow start I am finally caught up. I was flat at 3,925 words on the 6th but wrote 13,474 words on the 7th, 8th, 9th, and today, the 10th. I am now at 17,399, which is just past the 16,667 goal for today. I’m not done yet but this is a good time to crow about it Winking smile

I am getting consistently about 3K words per day. While I’ve done better in spurts (more than 10K), this is a comfortable novel-writing pace for me. I can keep this up for months. Smile

There is one cat out here that already has 40K words, at 10K words per day. Surprised smile 

I will note that I am actually trying to write a quality story, even if it is Space Opera-ish. That was why the slow start and I am going to have another slow place when I have to think about the next part of the story.

Posted in NaNoWriMo, Twin Worlds | Leave a comment

Cornered; Dean I concede

Posted on November 4, 2010 by JDR

I just retitled my NaNoWriMo novel to Twin Worlds:Huntress. I also hit my first realization. It will actually add more words to the story but also more work and re-planning that I did not expect.

The good thing is that my novel is in a universe that I had already designed. Chronologically, it is the second story in that universe. However, it depends on and refers to a lot of stuff that was explicated in the first book, which hasn’t seen print yet. I can’t therefore demand that the reader buy the first book for the explanations, not to mention the universe building stuff that I do there. Ergo, I have to do a lot of backfilling and synopsis of the first book, at the start of this one. This is something that I usually do not like to do. In this case, it is much needed.

So Dean, I’ll admit your point on this one Winking smile.

Posted in NaNoWriMo, Planning, Structure, Twin Worlds | Leave a comment

On target and rolling

Posted on November 2, 2010 by JDR

Last night’s NaNoWriMo system crash made me a little behind on my reportage But it’s doing okay so far. I always start slow but scream past at mid-point.

My results.

Yes, that’s a slow start for me. I’ve been known to hit well over 2,000 words per day when I’m at my stride and I have my muse upon my shoulder Winking smile

.

.

Posted in NaNoWriMo, New Book, Twin Worlds | Leave a comment