Words written today: 554
Total words in novel: 88,984
People killed: 0
Mean things done to characters: The king has refused to allow the Light Cavalry troopers to leave the army and return to their normal lives.

I had to really stare at my writing mantra (which is automatically included at the top of the Word template for a new novel chapter) for several seconds before I could start. Also I didn't start writing until 8.00 pm and I knew I wanted to stop at 9.00 pm for the last episode of Life on Mars. But I managed to force out over 500 words, which is something.

I need to get this thing back under way again. I need to finish it. Just finishing a first draft of this would be an achievement.

And then, of course, I'll have to revise it.

Right now several people are talking about revision. I normally say I enjoy that part most, but I must admit, the thought of revising this first draft is a bit daunting. It's definitely going to be a beginning, a muddle and an end. And the end is dodgy, to say the least. I keep writing along, humming a little tune and gazing around looking at anything but the ending.

They don't all die lacks a certain je ne sais quoi somehow.

Anyway, back to revision...

For what it's worth, my writing method is much more like the process matociquala talks about here than jaylake's (which she links to).

I still don't know whether I have a distinctive voice or not. But I do have a more vivid way with words than when I started and an agent said of one novel, "Sadly, Helen's good plain narrative style counts for little these days."

But like matociquala, none of my novels have been totally ditched. The characters and plot are usually salvageable, even if the actual MS isn't. Yes, I know I threw one into the recycling, and it was typewritten and therefore that was my only copy. But the important characters, scenes and plot strands are firmly in my head and can be reused and done much better.

Tags: a legacy of war, finish that novel in 42!, revision, writing progress
Current Mood: wobbling on the edge of depression

Words written today: 295

Yes, a measly 295 words and not even on the WIP. But...

It was a hook for the completed novel that I'm submitting to publishers and agents. So they were a damned hard 295 words because I had to squeeze the essence of the book right down and try to make it lively and interesting.

Don't know whether I've succeeded, but I think it was an interesting exercise. I'm going to try to post it here to the fangs_fur_fey hook competition.

I probably won't manage to be in the first 180 to post because of the time zone difference. I suspect that lots of USians will stay up until after midnight whereas I'm not going to get up at 5 am. But we shall see.

It was a useful exercise, regardless. I now have a hook to send off with query letters to agents.

Tags: finish that novel in 42!, moving a mountain, synopsis
Current Mood: accomplished