The Dancer and The Descendants...

Chapter five is done.

D-O-N-E! DONE!

I may have celebrated a little by dancing in my chair (which prompted my co-workers to look at me weirdly, but they should've realized that I'm strange by now...) and running down stairs to buy a candy bar and a soda.

Round 2 of ROW 80 ends tomorrow. It occurred to me again today that I have honestly been struggling with chapter five for most of this round. However, my only goals this round were to keep plugging away at TUO - which I did with some success. Even though Round three won't start for another week or so, my goals will probably remain the same as they did this round: try to write as much as possible every day and get TUO published.

First though, I need a little break from TUO, especially after struggling with chapter five so long. Even though I have started on chapter six already, I've been plugging away at The Dancer the past couple of days because I felt bad for neglecting it for so long. I didn't get very far though as the heroine in The Dancer is annoying me. She feels a little too young at times - if that makes any sense. She's supposed to be in her twenties, but sometimes she says or does or thinks things that are closer to what a teenager would say, do, or think than what a twenty something would. I don't know if this feeling is because I've forgotten what it's like to be that age and so she seems so much more immature as a result, or if I'm accidentally writing her that way, or if I've just lost sight of her character and history.

It turned out to be the later. The character comes from a troubled background, and while she mentions it in the first couple of chapters, it's kinda disappeared since then. I've been going back through that story with a fine tooth comb and tweaking her dialogue and thoughts when needed to get her back in to character. So far she's being cooperative. I have about three more chapters of that before I'm caught up where I left off, and then hopefully she'll stay in character without any more interventions.

There's been no progress on The Descendents though I may have commissioned an artist to draw portraits of two of my favorite characters from that series. I've tried drawing them myself, and they've come out all right, but an artist I'm a fan of on Deviant Art had openings for commissions and her prices were very reasonable (Like 'oh my God are my eyes deceiving me' type reasonable).

Speaking of that series... I am afraid of giving too much of TUO away, so I have decided to share a little bit of Descendents with you for WIPpet Wednesday instead of continuing to share from chapter 6. Since today's date is June 19th, I'm going to share with you 6 paragraphs and 19 lines from the prologue. This part takes place in the modern times when Vivian, the heroine, is still a young girl. Her mother has recently disappeared and is presumed dead. Her father, however, still believes that her mother is still alive somewhere and has been looking for her.

“In the beginning there was man.” Bree said, starting a story that she knew by heart as she tucked her young charge into bed. “Man did not understand the world, and became angry when the elements would destroy their creations, their crops, and their lives on a whim. So Man sought to teach the elements a lesson by binding them to the lives of four girls. There was one for fire, for air, for wind, and for earth. Man taught them how to cook, how to dig wells, how to build houses strong enough to withstand a winter storm, and how to plant the fields. However, the elements ended up teaching man a lesson as well; how to live in harmony with the world, and everyone was at peace.”

Vivian nodded as she pulled one of her stuffed toys closer and wrapped her hand around the necklace her mother had given her for protection. At ten she was a bit old for a bedtime story, but it was the best idea she could come up with to delay lights out for just a bit longer. Her father and Uncle Mike had ridden off on their Harley’s earlier that day, and she did not want to go to sleep until she knew that they were home safe. When Bree, her Uncle Mike’s sister, had refused to let her stay up late, Vivian had gone for the old standby of requesting a story. Thankfully no one had thought to warn her new nanny about that trick.

“Then one day, man became greedy.” Bree continued, “They decided to control the elements instead of working with them. The world fell into chaos...”

“Oh that’s a real great story to tell her right before bedtime.” A deep voice said, interrupting the story. Both Vivian and Bree looked up to find Vivian’s father, Adam, watching them from the doorway.

“Dad!” Vivian cried out, feeling a little better now that he was home safe.

“Hi sweetheart.” He came to the bed, bending down to kiss his daughter on the forehead. She hugged him, burying her face in his shoulder and breathing in the mix of leather and cigarette smoke with a happy sigh.

“When did you get home? We didn’t hear the Harleys.” Bree stood, making room for Adam on the bed, but he motioned for her to sit back down, and pulled up his daughter’s bean bag for himself. Vivian smothered a giggle at seeing her father trying to fit on it; he was so tall that he had to stretch out his legs in front of him or else they would reach up to this chin.

“We turned them off  and walked them in because this one was supposed to be asleep by now.” He gave Vivian a mock glare and waggled a finger at her. She giggled and slapped it away, and he ruffled her hair.

“Did you...”

“Not in front of the girl.” Adam cut Bree off and she flushed. “Continue with your story.”

“Well, that was pretty much it - the world fell into chaos and that’s why things are the way they are right now. There’s so much evil and darkness in the World because the elements aren't around to keep the balance.”

“But, when they are needed, the girls return, and order is restored.” Vivian finished for her.

Bree raised an eyebrow at her, “You’ve heard this one before?”

“Your brother used to tell it to her and once I caught Evie...” Adam started and then abruptly stopped, his jaw tightening at the memory of Vivian’s mother.

And that's all for writing today! You can read more WIPpet Wednesday posts over here, and see more ROW 80 check ins over that-a-way!

The Secret Garden...

It's been another long week. It had it's ups (New couch! Clean living room!) and it had it's downs (totally useless doctors appointment) but it's almost over with.

I wasn't able to write as much as I wanted - we were still testing for the mid month website update up until yesterday (the update was due to be released tonight) but I was taken off of testing and reassigned to doing triage on stuck orders yesterday. I was annoyed at first (one always feels as if they've done something wrong or are being punished when they're removed from a project) but at the same time it was a little bit of a relief - people were getting frustrated and not communicating. My stress levels are already high enough due to this PCOS and fibroids stuff, so it's nice to take a step back, and work by myself.

My only complaint is that I've run out of music to listen to while I work. Any suggestions?

While I wasn't able to write as much as I wanted, I was able to chip away some more at Chapter 5. It's really quite sad that I've been struggling with this damn chapter ever since this round of ROW80 started. But I'm almost there. I swear. Girl Scout honor and all that.

Patricia Wrede posted a blog about writing crowd scenes today - which was appropriate because I'm in the middle of a crowd scene in one of my fanfics.

For this weeks WIPpet Wednesday, I have decided to share another part of Chapter 6. Since today's the 12th, here's 12 sentences for you to enjoy. This picks up a little bit after last week's WIPpet -Mattie has followed the footsteps, and has stumbled across a strange garden.

The continuous maze of hallways and rooms suddenly emptied out into a garden. Mattie skidded to a stop and stared at her new surroundings in shock. Despite the disrepair of the rest of the castle, this garden was surprisingly well kept; the plants and flowers had been recently trimmed and and far off she could hear the burble of water in a fountain. She followed the trail of stepping stones that stretched out in front of her, her head turning from side to side as she tried to take it all in.

Even though she had never seen it before - any of it - the well-worn paths between roses and other flowers seemed familiar.  Only... no... that wasn't right... The garden felt more than just familiar; the longer she stood there, the more she realized that she knew it by heart... like one of Rordan’s stories. She knew, though she didn’t know how to explain how she knew it, but she knew that if she continued straight ahead there would be a marble fountain. Beyond that, down a smaller side path, there was a grassy circle which was the perfect place to have a picnic during the summertime, or to watch the stars pass overhead during the night.

Her heart continued to race as if she was still running and the little hairs on the back of her neck stood up as if she had just walked into a cold room. It was one thing to not remember that you could read if it had been centuries since you had had a reason or the opportunity to read, but it was another thing entirely to recognize someplace one had never been. Was this more proof that she was losing control of her mind?

Or was she simply seeing things again?

Poor Mattie...

Anywho, WIPpet Wednesday was started by K. L. Schwengel of My Random Muse. The rules are simple, all you have to do is post part of a work in progress that some how relates to the date, or if you don't have a WIP, you can always start something new.

Be sure to check out more WIPpet Wednesday posts over here, you can also find more ROW 80 updates over here.

Always Tweaking Things...

I'm one of those writers who, even though she knows better, will often find herself going back and editing scenes in previous chapters even though the novel isn't done yet. I'm trying very hard to break this habit, but, last week I found myself going through The Undying Ones once again and making changes to the story.

This time around I didn't do anything that made a full rewrite of the story necessary. I just took the flash back scenes and cut them out with the intent of adding them in later. I did this because it made no sense to me to have Mattie remembering things in bits and pieces, and yet having full blown detailed dreams about her past. Instead I plan to build up to the more detailed dreams over the next couple of chapters. It seems to flow better.

I also had to cut some dialogue from the infamous chapter 5 of TUO. It was just holding the chapter back, and I wonder if it was contributing to my writers block for that chapter.

No more progress has been made on either The Dancer or The Descendents. Though I did post a new chapter of one of my fanfics over on FF.net - however it didn't generate much of a response.

Jezebel posted an interesting article on How To Write a Feminist Young Adult Novel on Sunday. Then, when I was on Tumblr the other day I saw this comic - which seemed oddly appropriate:

Lindsay Buroker (author of the Emporer's Edge) posted this interview by Sue London yesterday. It discusses how her self published novel became a best seller and how she got there. 

Patricia Wrede discusses world building in her post Icebergs and Soap Bubbles and finding time to write in Building In The Time.

And now on to the WIPpet Wednesday portion of the post. Since today is June 5th, I'll post five paragraphs from Chapter 6 of The Undying Ones (I almost wrote 5 chapters from book 6 there! That would've been a doozy!). To give a bit of a background on the book and the scene: Mattie lives in a castle where no one dies thanks to a curse that was cast ages ago, the queen is missing, and no one has seen the King in years - though his men say he still lives. There have been some disturbing things happening around the castle recently, things that have started jogging memories that Mattie shouldn't have. This scene takes place after Mattie has had an argument with her friends, and is wandering the castle by herself:

She wandered aimlessly about the empty hallways and rooms, straying far from the common areas that she was familiar with. Here was a room that had completed collapsed in on itself. There was one that was marked by flooding. Another had been reclaimed by the garden it butted up against; vines wound through the broken glass and up across the ceiling and a carpet of grass and moss covered the floor.

She found a nursery filled with toys that had probably been made by her father during the good times. However they, along with the furniture in the room, had all been destroyed long ago - not by time, but by human hand. Did the King and Queen have a child that was lost to the plague or the curse? Or had they been hoping for one? The feelings of anger and the sadness that haunted the room were overpowering, and so Mattie left, shutting the door behind her to hide the carnage.

Next she ended up in a library, where shelves filled with books stretched towards the fading murals that decorated the ceilings overhead. The books were tinted with age and stained by mold, but the titles on the covers were still legible. She ran her fingers along the bindings, selected one that looked promising, and sat down on the ground before opening it.

She was surprised to realize that she was able to understand the words on the page in front of her. When she considered it, it made sense to her that she would know how to read since she was the daughter of the toymaker - surely she had helped him keep his books when times had been better. However she could not remember learning, just like she could not remember how old she was when the curse had struck. Since there were not many books to be found in the common areas, she had never bothered to try before. Wouldn't her friends be surprised!

It was a lovely story about a girl who had been cursed to sleep forever when she pricked her finger on a spindle. Mattie had just reached the part where the hero and heroine had met and realized they were attracted to each other when she heard the footsteps.

You can find more ROW 80 updates over here, and more WIPpet Wednesday posts here.

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror..."*

Amazon announced Kindle Worlds today - which will be a 'place for you to publish fan fiction inspired by popular books, shows, movies, comics, music, and games'.

My heart stopped beating there for a couple of seconds when I saw the article regarding it on The Mary Sue, and, after it started working again, my immediate reaction was 'Uh buh?'

I learned to write by writing fanfics (though, at that time, I had no idea what a fanfic was). A lot of my friends who are currently writers started out the same way; they began by writing fanfics before moving on to their own original stuff. A lot of us still write fanfics from time to time, mainly when we need a break from our other stories or from life in general.

Fanfics have a quite a sordid past; some authors think it's okay, some authors don't. There have been several debates and articles written about the legality of fanfic over the years. However, regardless of if you like fanfic or hate it, almost everyone agrees that fanfics should never be published or sold for profit.

By creating Kindle Worlds, Amazon has caused quite a stir. Now not only is it okay to write fanfic, but it's okay to publish it too! The authors will earn a profit, and the rights holders will get royalties.

The world may never be the same again.

But, as much as this is interesting and exciting news - I don't know if it's going to work out. Why will people pay to read fanfics when they can find them for free on sites like Fanfiction.net, An Archive Of Our Own, Tumblr, Wattpad, and Figment? Plus at this time Kindle Worlds is only available for a select amount of series - like Vampire Diaries and Glee. Others will be added over time, but I doubt they'll be able to get everybody to agree with them as I am sure there are still people who are not okay and will never be okay with fanfic (for example, I highly doubt that Anne Rice Disney will give their okay for others to play in their worlds)

What are your thoughts, dear reader?

On other fronts, Patricia C Wrede has several helpful blog posts that she has published regarding Writing Methods, Action, Landscape Vs Setting, and Dialogue. A friend, Jewel E Leonard, shared this link with me earlier this week: it discusses the top 10 Storytelling cliches.

I'm still plugging along at writing when I can. Sewing has taken the priority though; first I was rushing to get several things done for our visits to the local Renaissance Faire, now I'm working on a friend's wedding dress. It's a gorgeous number that she bought off of ebay, but she wants a blue panel between the lace layer and the under skirt. Expect a lot of sewing updates soon. A lot of them!

*This quote from Star Wars felt oddly appropriate as I am sure there are people all over who are both celebrating the announcement of Kindle Worlds and cursing it's creation right now...

A Moment to Breathe...

It's been a busy couple of weeks at work. Work had a huge release/update for website that went live on May 1st. It was making some radical changes to some of our programs, which we knew would require a lot of testing. However, no one seemed to be on the same page when the testing began, and communication was failing left, right, and center.

As a result we had to retest everything - not once, not twice, nor three time, but four times! ACK!

But the worst is over and now we're just trying to fix all the little defects we didn't catch.

Writing was put on pause for a little bit as a result of this craziness. Now that I'm free to write again though, I'm finding that I'm still hung up on my TUO progress. Trying to jump ahead in the story didn't help matters either. I think I need to revisit some of the rules I've created for this world. The contemporary story has also hit a bit of a snag - suddenly the heroine has become quite shy. And I refuse to work on the third project anymore until one of those two are done.

I had articles I've been saving up regarding writing and e-publishing that I wanted to share - but Google Reader is being a pain today, and I didn't think to book mark them at Bloglovin (which I really should start using more as Google Reader is going under). However, Maureen Johnson, a favorite author of mine, has been ruffling some feathers lately. She recently wrote an article discussing how female authors rarely show up on school reading lists, and how they are not given as much credit as their male counterparts. Also, she mentioned how some seem to believe that reading a book by a female author is beneath them because it's either romance or chick lit. She pointed out that covers for books by female authors are usually more light and girly, and suggested an experiment where people gender flip the covers of books. If the book has a male writer, give it a girlier cover and vice versa. It's been interesting to see the results.

You can read Maureen's article here, and see the Cover Flips over here.

Apparently I have a limit...

Awhile back I mentioned that I like to work on two stories at once. If I get stuck on one, I can hop over to the other one. Well, I learned yesterday that while it's fine to jump between TUO and the contemporary story, I cannot jump between the contemporary story and another project that's also set in modern day. Even though the stories are vastly different, I think it's because these two are set in the same era (currently) that keeps tripping me up.

So that new project has been put on the back burner again because, honestly, I have enough on my hands right now.

I'm still hung up on Chapter 5 for TUO. I'm considering just leaving that chapter and moving on to the next. Most of chapter 6 is actually already written - I had cut out a large part of chapter 5 and moved it over to chapter 6 - but I'm finding that I can't just jump ahead even though I can jump between stories pretty easily. I think it has to do with the fact that, for the most part, I'm a linear writer. With the rare exception, I like writing stories in order.

The contemporary story hit a bit of a road bump, but is flowing much better now that I've made some changes. It occurred to me that I was giving away too much too soon, and that even one night stands require some sort of a build up. It's quicker than a more conventional romance, but it's there.

Work is still busy. There are others who are unhappy with the company, and are actively seeking employment elsewhere though. If they leave it could affect my position (either I would get to stay where I'm at, or I would be sent back to my old department) so I've been keeping an eye open for other opportunities - just in case. It's a bit nerve-wracking.

I'm Alive - ish...

ROW 80 Round Two has begun. My goals are pretty much the same as before - to keep plugging away at TUO and get it finished.

Unfortunately, I haven't been paying much attention to TUO over the past week. Last week I finally worked my way through the part of chapter five that was bugging me, only to get stuck again a few minutes later. On the upside, the contemporary story (formerly known as the Adult story) is flowing really really well. I've knocked out seven chapters in less than a week. If I can keep up this pace, then I hope to finish it with in the next month or so (it's much shorter than TUO)

Other than that things are going well! Work is busy. Our tax issues are finally over. My husband may be getting a new car very very soon. He wants a Jeep so we can do a bit of off-roading in it - needless to say we already have a list of things we would like to get for said Jeep and places we would like to go camping once we have it!

I hope your writing is treating you well!

Check out A Round of Words in 80 Days for more writing updates!