Working Title

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I know I did, and even with all the chaos that usually surrounds Christmas for our families, I managed to get a whole lot of writing done.

How much writing did I get done? Well, I just typed two very important words, two words that (I believe) every writer wants to pen.

The end.

Sadly, this does not mean that I have actually finished the first draft of Blood Bound. I have one teensy bit in the middle to add a bit onto. Other than that, the first draft is complete.

So where does that leave me? Well, after I finish off that pesky ninth chapter I have at least two scenes to add in. I also have plans to rewrite the opening of the story, to remove the old my family has a secret line with something that sets it up much better and is just much more grabbing.

I discovered vampires were real when my brother came home from college as one of the undead.

Much more grabbing and interesting, don’t you think?

Anyway, as well as rewriting the opening and adding in those aforementioned scenes, I am going to be editing and polishing Blood Bound. And after that? I will be querying literary agents while working on The Superhero Diaries.

I’ll let you know when that happens, so you can cross your fingers and hope that one takes me on as a client and can sell Blood Bound so you guys can all see it on the shelf somewhere.

Originally published at Working Title. Please leave any comments there.

I am very near the end of the first draft, and I have to say that it is a very strange feeling indeed. I normally have the attention span of a gnat, so this is definitely the the longest project I have ever committed to. And you know what? It feels great.

I reached the 70000 word mark the other day (writing by hand on paper because my laptops power adapter thing went “kaboom”) and I am two and a bit chapters from the end.

My goal is to have finished the first draft by the time I am 22, so that means the first of December. If I do finish then it will be around 80000 words, 18 chapters and five months of work. It was not constant, thanks to this pesky thing called life, but it happened.

It’s a strange but great feeling, standing here. The end is so close I can almost see it. Just over the top of this last hill.

Originally published at Working Title. Please leave any comments there.

I have reached the 57k mark for Blood Bound (yay), which most definitely equals the downhill stretch of the novel. I’ve got about three chapters to go, and a few scenes to add in earlier chapters.

And then I get to do the wonderful task of editing! Hooray! </sarcasm>

I’m currently sitting in my room with Rebekah, who is doing a lot more writing than I am - I keep getting distracted. *smacks hand*

That’s why this entry is going to be so short… I need to actually get writing.

Originally published at Working Title. Please leave any comments there.

As the title says, I just reached the 50 000 words mark!

Have a lolcat.

Originally published at Working Title. Please leave any comments there.

I reached 39 000 words. 39 000 I am 1000 measley words from reaching the halfway mark.

In a way, this is very good, as I was struggling against writer’s block for some time. I worked around it by jumping ahead to a more exciting bit. Go me.

But in a way this is bad. No, not bad. REALLY FRIGGING ANNOYING. So close, yet so far.

But I will reach 40 000 words tomorrow! I know it!

And as a treat, a sample of what I wrote from Ordinary People.

It was not passionate in the sense of some kisses, desperate and needy clinging to each other, with Daniel devouring me as if he were starving and I was the only thing that could satisfy his hunger. No. To me the passion was in the delicacy, the gentle fluttering of his lips against mine that stirred the same reaction in my chest.

Originally published at Working Title. Please leave any comments there.

It’s Thursday evening now, just gone ten o’clock (interestingly enough, it’s the exact same time - but in the evening - as a scene I wrote today) and I have been a good little author-bee.

I’ve managed to write over 1200 words today. This is mostly thanks to the word wars we were having on the CMS chatroom; it really gets me focussed and able to knuckle down and get something out. I think I might have to have word wars just with myself, as I get distracted far too easily for my liking.

So far my plan to slow down is working: taking the time to actually write out the scene in greater detail, especially when it is mainly dialogue, means that the story is moving slower, but at a reasonable rate. I was plowing through Ordinary People until I did the maths that indicated that my story would be very very short if I kept up the rate I was going at.

I’m almost halfway through my holiday break and my goal of reaching 50k by the 7th seems to be a bit more out of reach than I originally thought. But I honestly don’t mind that now: I am 90% of the way to 40k, 60% to 60k, and 45% to my long-term goal of 80k!

Originally published at Working Title. Please leave any comments there.

The good news is, I have managed to break through my blah period, mostly thanks to exam period being over, and I can now actually focus on my writing.

The bad news is, I have given my work a glance over and realised I am lacking details, or missing scenes. The whole thing moves far too quickly for my liking. One event/crisis after another, with nothing sort of in between to slow it down, explain the world etc.

I have decided that, from now on I am going to take a much more careful and meticulous approach to writing, and once the whole tale is told go back and add in those scenes that I think are missing. So far this seems to be working, although I have already gone back and added a few sentences/paragraphs here and there, and it is already a big help.

Originally published at Working Title. Please leave any comments there.

I have been without much energy or creativity today, but in a break from studying I forced myself to get those last 800 words out. And now? I have 30 000 WORDS written for Ordinary People! Yay!

And so…

Originally published at Working Title. Please leave any comments there.

As you can see upon arrival to this blog my word count goals are plainly visible on my sidebar. So far I have only completed one goal: 10 000 words (I am about 1700 words away from goal #2, though).

But one thing made setting my goals a little difficult: how many words was an average YA urban fantasy novel? No one ever seemed to have a nice handy list to give me a guide. NaNo has a target of a fifty word novel, but they admit that that is a very short book.

After asking around I decided that 100 000 words was a nice even goal, and very much doable.

And then, four completed chapters in, I find this helpful blog entry:

YA fiction = Can be anywhere from about 50k to 80k; sometimes - but rarely - goes above 90k

Urban fantasy / paranormal romance = Usually around the 80k to 90k mark

Well, lookie there. My goals may be closer after all.

Yes, I am well aware that my novel will be however long it takes to get the story told.

Originally published at Working Title. Please leave any comments there.

When I sat down to write my latest project, my first serious novel attempt, I made sure to set myself up some goals. I figured out how long the project should be, and thus was able to set myself reasonable goals: long-term, mid-term and short-term.

As you may have noticed by looking at the progress charts in the Working Title sidebar, the first of my short-term goals has been completed. Ordinary People has reached the 10 000 word mark!

I am still without a title, but the concept of having reached my first target, and being 10% of the way to my long-term goal makes me feel a whole lot better about this whole thing. Instead of feeling defeated, I feel empowered!

I know, it is very lame indeed, but a goal is a goal, and a completed goal is a completed goal.

Now that I have completed one major task, I am going to focus on exam studies creating plot cards. Good thing I am goling to the shops tomorrow. Hopefully they have something I can use.

Originally published at Working Title. Please leave any comments there.

When I sat down to write my latest project, my first serious novel attempt, I made sure to set myself up some goals. I figured out how long the project should be, and thus was able to set myself reasonable goals: long-term, mid-term and short-term.

As you may have noticed by looking at the progress charts in the Working Title sidebar, the first of my short-term goals has been completed. Ordinary People has reached the 10 000 word mark!

I am still without a title, but the concept of having reached my first target, and being 10% of the way to my long-term goal makes me feel a whole lot better about this whole thing. Instead of feeling defeated, I feel empowered!

I know, it is very lame indeed, but a goal is a goal, and a completed goal is a completed goal.

Now that I have completed one major task, I am going to focus on exam studies creating plot cards. Good thing I am goling to the shops tomorrow. Hopefully they have something I can use.

Originally published at Working Title. Please leave any comments there.