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Post by Thorn on Oct 31, 2017 8:46:04 GMT -5
In which Thorn attempts to finish the first draft of her space fantasy novella. This isn't a real NaNo cos I have the first half of the first draft already, I just need motivation to finish the second. Do you like cyborgs AND dragons? Want to see them work together in the same universe? ...then please, please support me throughout this venture because I am absolutely hopeless at getting things done. xD GENERAL PREMISE: High-fantasy cultures have advanced into the space age. DRAMATIS PERSONAE: - Cal Lerran, a dragon-riding cyborg. Very prickly individual who is way too srriousface about her job.
- The dragon, a dragon-cyborg. Less srriousface, but it doesn't actually talk, so it can be difficult to tell.
- Marion, a glorified mechanic who is also a robot. The point of view character who joins Cal on an Epic Quest to find a missing rider and dragon, for support and occasional snark.
There are some 100% organic characters...I think...somewhere. EDIT: Ah yes, there are! Sadon and Veritos Vahn, another dragon and rider pair.
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Post by Thorn on Oct 31, 2017 18:52:18 GMT -5
First Updates:
* I have completed just under a third of my re-read/light edit (mostly for dialogue and continuity at this stage) of what I've written so far.
* I was worried when I last worked on this that it was too boring, but now, doing the edits, I had to pull myself away because I knew a Good Bit was coming up (which I couldn't fully recall, it's been a while.) Which is a great sign!
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Post by Thorn on Nov 2, 2017 18:34:29 GMT -5
Me: Hey Cal, look at this passage. That doesn't seem in character for you at all, right? Cal: You're right. What if I did this instead? Me: Hey, that's great! But now I have to rework all this other stuff... Cal: Eh. You wanted to be a writer.
***
(Listening to: 'Alone Together' by Daley, because while 'Crystals' by Monsters and Men is a beautiful song and my favourite Cal/Mari song, I need more cheerful writing music too dagnabbit! And this one is cute- "I would rather be alone together"- awww!)
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Post by Thorn on Nov 4, 2017 19:24:40 GMT -5
Today I am back on track. I think? It was hard to work through that section mentioned in my previous post, but I think I've done it and can still keep a lot of my previous writing after that point (although I've changed a few minor things: for example, instead of moving them to a new planet, I've kept them on the same one and spent more time fleshing out interactions etc there. This is helpful in multiple ways: it gives me more time to foreshadow stuff with dragon two, and write a more natural transition from the 'cute' scene to the 'you're a jerk and why is this even your worldview???' scene.)
(my favourite side character to write at the moment is Rubbish Psychic. He's only in one scene but maybe I can bring him- or more likely his associate- back at the end since the protagonists are not moving offworld anymore. He's all "hey I'm a mysterious psychic guy who Knows Stuff, yes I'm fine, shut up; okay yeah no I'm going to pass out brb.") (they get him some help, they don't just leave him- Mari doesn't like strange humans very much, but she's not cruel.)
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Post by Thorn on Nov 4, 2017 19:34:06 GMT -5
Also: 're-read and light edit'- aha, good one Me! To be fair, it still needs a lot more editing- which I've made notes about, because I just want to get the draft done for a start and then I'll edit the rest. But the stuff I was fixing the past couple of days was stuff which had a large enough impact on the plot as a whole that I couldn't just leave it until after my first draft.
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Post by Thorn on Nov 10, 2017 16:55:47 GMT -5
Thanks to some lovely Word Warring with Moni, I doubled my word count total today! =D Got through the tense foreshadow-y argument between Cal and Mari AND got up to another important scene already! Gee whizz! Gonna leave this now for tonight, but am happy with my progress and finally back on track.
I'll include a very tiny quote which I think sums up the story's overall themes, as a whole.
Also, after their argument, probably the longest extract I'm going to share (Mari DOES NOT CARE, okay?? Really. Gosh!) This is unedited, this is almost exactly what tumbled from my keyboard during the Great War of Words. Just to be clear, I know it is rough etc.
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Post by Thorn on Nov 10, 2017 19:30:00 GMT -5
Second update of the day: inspiration just kept coming after that Word War! A nice little twist happened which makes a lot of sense and gives me more Plot to work with, which I'm excited about (and more angst too hurhurr, I do love me some nice angst to work with.)
Despite not doing real NaNo, I keep a goal tracker on the website, and I'm finally almost back at the nice little line which tells you where you should be each day. And it's only half past midnight, so I have most of the day tomorrow/today/whatever you call it to reach that line. I can do this, me!
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Post by Thorn on Nov 12, 2017 18:03:40 GMT -5
I'm keeping up with the nice little Where Ye Should Be line! This story is now 3000 words off being considered novella-length and, considering I still need to write the opening (I couldn't get it to work, so when I started this draft I began at a later point), and I should have a good few thousand words to go before the end, I think I'll be sweet.
Small out-of-context quotes are fun, so I'll chuck one in now. From today's writing session:
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Post by Thorn on Nov 17, 2017 13:22:31 GMT -5
Yesterday I had a Realisation of something I want to do on my next draft, which makes a particular story element work so much better. Now I'm really looking forward to finishing this and starting on draft four!
EDIT: To clarify- there's an important point of conflict between Mari and Cal, and so far it reads like 'Mari is right and Cal is stubborn and wrong!' And yes, Cal is stubborn, but this just didn't feel very interesting. So I found a way to reframe it as 'The System suggests things are one way, and Cal is an agent of this system, and thus she doesn't exactly react well to hearing a conflicting point of view.'
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Post by Thorn on Nov 22, 2017 19:25:29 GMT -5
Still on track! Quality is declining severely, but at least I should meet my goal by the end of the month. xD I can work out where to go with the concept from there.
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Post by Thorn on Nov 26, 2017 7:37:29 GMT -5
Me: *talking about Star Wars with colleagues*
Me: Hang on...'Kylo Ren', 'Cal Lerran'...
So now that I've realised how similar their names are when said aloud, I need to change hers. xD I'm sticking with 'Cal', as I love this name and couldn't call her anything else. It will take me a while to pick a new surname though.
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Post by Thorn on Nov 27, 2017 6:45:52 GMT -5
So of course, three days from the end of NaNo, I get another story idea and all these concepts I just need to jot down. xD
As a result, I've written 35 words of my Space Fantasy Story today, and 1004 words of a different concept. I'm sure I can still meet my quota for today, but looks like I've already got a new project to work on next month!
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Post by Thorn on Nov 28, 2017 17:45:34 GMT -5
I reached my monthly goal today. I now have a novella-length, very rough, first draft of my story (sure, there are a few bits which say "finish wrapping this bit up", or stuff like that, but still.)
Even if nothing comes of this, I am happy because I have proved to myself that I can actually complete something this long. I have loads of ideas, but I tend to get distracted before seeing a project through. Cal and Mari* are the first characters I've managed to continue on with, and remain invested in, long enough to finish their story.
A coworker recommended a podcast to me called 'Writing Excuses.' I've only listened to one episode so far (I listened to the one on novel structure while making dinner today- I had sweet and sour noodles, I was happy); and I've already got some ideas on what I can tweak, and an end goal to keep in mind, to make sure the story flows like it should when I get around to my next draft.
*The pun with their names was unintentional.
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