About a fortnight ago I had the internet connected at my house. This is a fairly novel experience for me, as I've spent the last six years without it. My only regular internet access has been through my job.
One of the fears I had when connecting was that it would impact my writing. You're all on the internet, you know what it's like. It's distracting. If there's anything that the internet is good at, it's distracting people. I could be watching Bert and Ernie on Youtube right now instead of typing this. I was rightly afraid that I would spend all my time watching or reading frivolous nonsense (as opposed to writing frivolous nonsense, a much more noble pursuit).
Fortunately, my fears were unfounded. In fact, quite the opposite has been true. Just a few minutes before this I finished working on The Lightless Labyrinth for the night. It's the fourteenth night in a row that I've done some writing for that novel. This is a record for me; I have never had such a period of sustained productivity before this. Not every day has been a winner. There was a day where I only managed 80 words, and a few were I didn't break 200. Nevertheless, it was progress. Even a small step is a move forward.
Part of it is that I started tweeting my word counts every day, as well as keeping track of how many days I have written consecutively. I don't know if anyone is paying attention, but it's enough that I believe there could be. I don't want to disappoint my phantom audience. The incentive to write gets larger the further I go, as well; the higher my consecutive days count goes, the more reluctant I become to break that streak. There has been at least one night where I banged out a couple of paragraphs at 3am just to maintain my run.
It hasn't all been positive, of course. I'm getting a lot less sleep than before. I often procrastinate, and don't start writing until after midnight. In general, I just waste a lot of time. I get distracted. Again, it's what the internet is good for.
On the other hand, I get motivated. I get inspired to create. The internet is good for that, too.
PROGRESS THIS WEEK:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 2,514 words
Marvel Guidebook 1961: 342 words
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The CRPG Addict blog by Chester Bolingbroke
Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
What I've Been Watching:
The Walking Dead season 4
WWE Raw and Smackdown (It is Wrestlemania season, after all!)
What I've Been Playing:
The Dungeon (aka pedit5)
Rogue
Monday, March 31, 2014
Monday, March 24, 2014
Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest 2014
About a month ago I submitted Jack Manley and the Warlord of Infinity to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Every year Amazon opens this contest to 10,000 entrants, with the grand prize being a $50,000 publishing deal. With that on offer, as well as a host of very good smaller prizes and no entry fee, I would have been a fool not to enter.
The contest is judged in a series of five rounds. In the first round the judges read the author's pitch for every entrant, and narrow the field down to 400 in each category. (There are five categories in the contest: general, mystery/thriller, sci-fi/fantasy/horror, romance and young adult.) In round two they narrow it down again, based on a 5,000 word excerpt. Round three narrows it down further based on the entire manuscript, and so on until there's a winner in each category and an overall Grand Prize Winner.
Alas, I didn't make it to the second round. I'm not particularly upset about it; rejection is part of the game, and I feel that you have to learn to take these setbacks well if you're ever going to get anywhere. Not only that, but I also have to figure out why my entry didn't make it.
Unfortunately, that answer is all too obvious: I totally half-arsed the pitch. I put literally zero effort into it, simply grabbing my back cover blurb and calling it a day. There's a thread over at the forums for the contest in which people who made it to the second round are posting their successful pitches. I plan to spend some time going over those, and trying to come up with something better for next year.
Because yes, of course I'm going to enter again next year. I failed this time around, but that's okay. It's time to keep writing, keep creating, and plan for my next attempt. Like I said, I'd be a fool not to.
PROGRESS THIS WEEK:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 2,794 words
This is easily my best total since I started this blog, and made my resolution to write every day. For the first time, I actually did that for a whole week, and the results show. Even though I had one day where I only wrote 84 words (blame my interrupting wife!), I think I knocked out a respectable total.
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The CRPG Addict blog by Chester Bolingbroke
Tarzan the Terrible by Edgar Rice Burroughs
What I've Been Watching
The Walking Dead season 4
What I've Been Playing:
Rogue. Looooooooots of Rogue.
The contest is judged in a series of five rounds. In the first round the judges read the author's pitch for every entrant, and narrow the field down to 400 in each category. (There are five categories in the contest: general, mystery/thriller, sci-fi/fantasy/horror, romance and young adult.) In round two they narrow it down again, based on a 5,000 word excerpt. Round three narrows it down further based on the entire manuscript, and so on until there's a winner in each category and an overall Grand Prize Winner.
Alas, I didn't make it to the second round. I'm not particularly upset about it; rejection is part of the game, and I feel that you have to learn to take these setbacks well if you're ever going to get anywhere. Not only that, but I also have to figure out why my entry didn't make it.
Unfortunately, that answer is all too obvious: I totally half-arsed the pitch. I put literally zero effort into it, simply grabbing my back cover blurb and calling it a day. There's a thread over at the forums for the contest in which people who made it to the second round are posting their successful pitches. I plan to spend some time going over those, and trying to come up with something better for next year.
Because yes, of course I'm going to enter again next year. I failed this time around, but that's okay. It's time to keep writing, keep creating, and plan for my next attempt. Like I said, I'd be a fool not to.
PROGRESS THIS WEEK:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 2,794 words
This is easily my best total since I started this blog, and made my resolution to write every day. For the first time, I actually did that for a whole week, and the results show. Even though I had one day where I only wrote 84 words (blame my interrupting wife!), I think I knocked out a respectable total.
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The CRPG Addict blog by Chester Bolingbroke
Tarzan the Terrible by Edgar Rice Burroughs
What I've Been Watching
The Walking Dead season 4
What I've Been Playing:
Rogue. Looooooooots of Rogue.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Hitting the Zone
Writing a novel can be hard. Sometimes the plot doesn't come together, or your characters lack drive, or there's just no drama or excitement. It could be any number of problems that don't seem to have an obvious solution. Whatever you do, however brilliant and talented you are, at some point in your writing career there will be a project that just refuses to work.
Earlier this week I was feeling that way about The Lightless Labyrinth. I couldn't get into my protagonist's head. There were too many characters clogging up the narrative. I just wasn't feeling it, and when the writer can't muster any excitement for a project it's probably time to chuck it in. Indeed, I had practically done that, not having worked on the book for over a week.
Then, just a few days ago, it all clicked. I had a revelation about my protagonist that suddenly made him interesting. My large ensemble cast started bouncing off each other, providing banter as well as drama. And just like that, I was getting excited to write it again.
In fact, it's like the book has started writing itself. This is, of course, a terrible cliche, and it's not strictly true. I've got an outline, and character arcs, and scenes worked out in my head. I'm still writing to my original plan. But now I've reached a place where I barely have to think about how the characters will react, and the words are flowing out pretty quickly. If I just had more time to write, I could get a hell of a lot done right now.
Even so, I've been feeling productive, and The Lightless Labyrinth is going ahead very well. I've hit the zone, where the book is coming together with little effort. All of a sudden, at least for now, writing a novel is pretty easy.
PROGRESS THIS WEEK:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 1,794 words
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading
The CRPG Addict blog by Chester Bolingbroke
Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs
What I've Been Watching
The Walking Dead season 4
What I've Been Playing
Adventure (the original text adventure game from 1976)
Earlier this week I was feeling that way about The Lightless Labyrinth. I couldn't get into my protagonist's head. There were too many characters clogging up the narrative. I just wasn't feeling it, and when the writer can't muster any excitement for a project it's probably time to chuck it in. Indeed, I had practically done that, not having worked on the book for over a week.
Then, just a few days ago, it all clicked. I had a revelation about my protagonist that suddenly made him interesting. My large ensemble cast started bouncing off each other, providing banter as well as drama. And just like that, I was getting excited to write it again.
In fact, it's like the book has started writing itself. This is, of course, a terrible cliche, and it's not strictly true. I've got an outline, and character arcs, and scenes worked out in my head. I'm still writing to my original plan. But now I've reached a place where I barely have to think about how the characters will react, and the words are flowing out pretty quickly. If I just had more time to write, I could get a hell of a lot done right now.
Even so, I've been feeling productive, and The Lightless Labyrinth is going ahead very well. I've hit the zone, where the book is coming together with little effort. All of a sudden, at least for now, writing a novel is pretty easy.
PROGRESS THIS WEEK:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 1,794 words
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading
The CRPG Addict blog by Chester Bolingbroke
Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs
What I've Been Watching
The Walking Dead season 4
What I've Been Playing
Adventure (the original text adventure game from 1976)
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