Working Title

I originally replied to this meme on Creative Muse, but I feel it can go well here too.

1. Do you write fiction or non-fiction? Or both?
Non-fiction, only in the sense of what I write for university. Personally, I write fiction.

2. Do you keep a journal or a writing notebook?
Yes, I do. You’re reading it now.

3. If you write fiction, do you know your characters’ goals, motivations, and conflicts before you start writing or is that something else you discover only after you start writing? Do you find books on plotting useful or harmful?
I tend to know the basics before I start, and add more layers onto the characters as the story progresses. As for plotting, it is most definitely useful, as I have discovered through writing Blood Bound.

4. Are you a procrastinator or does the itch to write keep at you until you sit down and work?
Procrastinator all the way, sadly. It’s the same with everything. The Internet is far too interesting to stay away.

5. Do you write in short bursts of creative energy, or can you sit down and write for hours at a time?
Short bursts. I have a short attention span. Sigh.

6. Are you a morning or afternoon writer?
Afternoon; I have found I get writing done in the hours between classes at uni.

7. Do you write with music/the noise of children/in a cafe or other public setting, or do you need complete silence to concentrate?
Music. I cannot handle “silence” (aka background noise).

8. Computer or longhand? (or typewriter?)
Computer, although I do etch some stuff out by hand, especially if I am away from a computer.

9. Do you know the ending before you type Chapter One? Or do you let the story evolve as you write?
I know the ending before I write, and the basic course of events. The ending is pretty fixed - how I get there is more fluid.

10. Does what’s selling in the market influence how and what you write?
Nope. I write what I want to write. It does make me a bit more hopeful that I might be successful with it, though, if what I am writing is (like Hansel) “hot right now”,

11. Editing/Revision - love it or hate it?
I haven’t done mass editing, so I don’t know yet.

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

If you have ever written a drabble before, you probably have an idea as to how difficult it can be to convey an idea, a scene, a story in the space of a hundred words exactly.

Imagine, then, that all you have to work with is 140 characters. No text language, no other shortcuts. 140 characters. You may go below, but not above. It includes letters, numbers, spaces and all punctuation marks.

140 characters.

That’s twitter fiction.

I tried it out on a whim, creating a scene from a later Blood Bound book, with Daniel showing Delia his craft.

“What do you smell?”
“Lavender.”
“Try this. Now what do you smell?”
“I don’t know.”
“Guess.”
And so she does, guessing at his other love.

It was an interesting experiment. I might give it another go later. Why don’t you?

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

Mary-Sue litmus tests have their place, and while they should not be the be all and end all of character guides (after all, I come out the other side of the test being told I am an ubersue¹), I find that they are a useful little thing to use to make sure I am not going off the rails. Well, I have faith that I can make a good character - it’s more fun to use on other peoples’ characters.

Anyway, I tried a test I hadn’t done before. Result was as expected, but the format was a bit different than what I was used to. Anyway, it spat out this result:

Delia Richards is only a little like you. She isn’t really very cool: she blends into crowds, she hangs out on the fringes at parties, and wearing shades after dark makes her run into things. There’s never been anything special about her that she could see; boy, is she in for a surprise. She’s got no emotional scars to speak of. And you’ve been sparing with the free handouts: whatever she gains, she’s worked for.

In general, you care deeply about Delia Richards, but you’re smart enough to let her stand on her own, without burdening her with your personal fantasies or propping her up with idealization and over-dramatization. Delia Richards is a healthy character with a promising career ahead of her.

My favourite bit is and wearing shades after dark makes her run into things. It’s funny coz it’s true!

1. I had a hard life. Whatever. :P [↩]

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

A while ago David Bridger wrote in his blog about using social networking to help yourself stand out and since then I have been thinking about it more and more.¹

As I have mentioned before, I got my start in fandom², and it is my hope that one day I will have a fandom - however small - for what I end up writing, and what better way to help ensure that than to make sure as many people in fandom know about my work as I write it? That way when (see, thinking positively here) I get published it means there is already a built in fanbase, I guess.

Anyway, this is just an excuse to show off my links collection. You can find me at the following places:

• Delicious.com (formerly del.icio.us)
• Flickr
• DeviantArt
• Last.fm
• LiveJournal
• MySpace
• Shelfari
• Twitter

If you have any other suggestions of social network/web 2.0 places, let me know. And feel free to add me on the links above! The more the merrier!

1. I meant to write about this before, but I am lazy. And I couldn’t think of anything to say. [↩]
2. Man, my early fanfiction sucked. No, I am not going to link you to it. [↩]

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

Like many young people today I got my real start at writing through fanfiction. At first my stuff was terrible, with the only good thing being that I used proper spelling and grammar. Over time I went from stuff that was very beginner, writing chapters for chapters’ sakes, to shorter pieces that focused on character, and not just drama.

Slowly I returned to writing original pieces, but with the skills I had learned from fandom laid over the top. Short and simple, snapshots of a moment. Saying everything in as little words as possible. Nothing was over 1500 words.

But now I am working on a novel, and with Blood Bound I need to counter some things that were easy to forget with fandom. The big one for me is describing the characters. In fanworks people know what the characters look like - who’s tall and who’s brunette and who’s freckled - because they’re already familiar with the source material. I don’t need to tell them what they already know.

Writing Blood Bound I need to remember that readers have not met these characters before. They are not familiar with the source material. I’m writing the source material. I’m not using someone’s canon, I’m writing my own.

One day, if when (think positively, guys!) Blood Bound is published, and it gets its own fandom, with fanfic authors they will have the characters already. They don’t need to describe them. They don’t need to mention that Delia is short or that Kirsti is a redhead.

But I do.

I just need to remember that when I’m writing.

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

… have to skip ahead to the next chapter.

For the past week or so I have been stuck on a certain section. While it doesn’t seem to be dragging from the POV of a reader as the writer I’m struggling to write anything more. I know what I want to write… the words just won’t come out.

After much time spent banging my head against a figurative brick wall I decided that, since my brain was writing other parts of Blood Bound, I would write those things instead.

So right now I am happily working on chapter 10, discovering news things about later chapters, and having fun with Charlie.

“And what exactly are you supposed to be, Charlie?” I took in my brother’s costume: black suit and shirt, shiny black shoes, topped off with a black cape that swirled dramatically around him when he turned. His fangs were extended although to anyone who did not know his little secret they were just very, very good fakes. “Count Dracula?”

Charlie laughed, his wide grin showing off his fangs even more. “No, no, no, little sis. I am Count Sexula.” He struck what he thought was a model’s pose, complete with what he obviously thought was a sexy pout.

I rolled my eyes in return. “You are an absolute idiot, you know that?”

“Bit rich coming from the girl dressed as Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

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’ve reached the point in Ordinary People where I am rather… blah. I picked up a bit when I got to an exciting bit (highlight for spoiler: Daniel getting injured, exposed to sunlight and biting Delia) but sadly that feeling didn’t last. I’m not entirely happy with the latter half of chapter seven, but I am planning on returning to it at a later date.

I’m pretty sure part of it is exam-related stuff. Fortunately I only have one more exam, myth and storytelling on the 21st, and then I have a two week holiday. During that time I plan to get a whole lot more done.

We’re finally starting to get to some more exciting phases in the story as Delia’s birthday is coming up and that means the human heart will be amongst the birthday presents. Am still not quite sure what the card will say. Probably something like, “Stake the heart and hope you die”.

I’ve also been working on developing vampire society, even though the whole thing barely touches Delia in the first book. The vampire “king” of North America (I am not quite sure how far his reach extends) has been coming more and more to life lately, and it will be fun to actually write him in book two High Stakes, because how can you not love a totally mob boss vampire king who is first introduced wearing a “Han Shot First” t-shirt?

So right now, the ideas are flowing, just not in the way I want them to. I’ve definitely figured out the basic concept of book four, which is good. I was worried about what would happen after Bite Club.

I also have far too many ideas to write at one time. I came up with another urban fantasy story, Earth Shakers, which is about the earthquakes in Wellington unleashing some sort of power/monster, but only Tara (a teen girl at Wellington Girls’ College - yay my old school) is able to actually see it. It could be considered an urban fantasy Under The Mountain for older readers, although obviously the plots are not the same.

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.