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Post by Thorn on Nov 3, 2018 15:49:29 GMT -5
Worked on this again today, and chapter 11 is finally getting there. I'm hoping to post it tomorrow, and then 12 should hopefully not take long cos it's half done already. Then only one to go! =D
(And maybe an epilogue because over half the cast will be absent in chapter 13 and I can't just hurl them back in at the end like some dance-party-finale style thing, it would end up feeling too rushed.)
(Or maybe I can have them all get eaten by werewolves. Except the five who are actually werewolves. At least that would only give me five characters to wrap up!)
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Post by Thorn on Nov 6, 2018 11:41:15 GMT -5
Added chapter 11! I spent way too long editing this thing, but now I can finally work more seriously on the chapter I've been super excited about, which is... Wolf time! =D The wolves are the Best and Nicest and Least Morally Terrible narrators yet! The first few paragraphs of twelve, in which our protagonists very clearly care for each other, or something. It was gone. It was gone, and they needed to find it before it killed anyone else. The white wolf felt this as a shard of cold clarity burning deep in its skull. This was it. This was what everything led up to- a final confrontation with the local werewolves. Tonight it would die, or it would finally realise its goal.
"I hate you," the smaller wolf growled, in the expressive tongue of their kind. "I despise you. I loathe you with the intensity of one who has completed a kill, only to have it snatched away before they can taste the fruit of their efforts."
"I know," a pause to scent the air. "I hate you too. If not for my human, I would tear you apart where you now stand. I have been denied that for far too long. But we need to find the loud one. We cannot let it kill again." |
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Post by Thorn on Dec 1, 2018 18:34:30 GMT -5
"12 is very clearly unfinished" you know what? WHATEVER. This was supposed to be for fun anyway, I'll just note what could have been done better. *More foreshadowing of 'there is a smaller werewolf' (might just add this in anyway during some future round of editing.)
That's the main thing I think? Amelia is being a little bit mean but I think it makes sense in context so nobody is wildly ooc, and nothing else bothers me too intensely.
I think this is the first time Percy has completely lost it, and he's not even the PoV character for the scene. What a missed opportunity!
Good Stuff: I included the stuff I was sad I didn't manage to include last chapter, but in a less direct way. Which I actually like better! |
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Post by Thorn on Dec 2, 2018 18:36:27 GMT -5
By my standards, I actually did a fair bit of work tonight! I don't know how much of it will stick, but I'll share a small portion here. Percy is still struggling (hence not saying much), but he'll get it together and be a more Active Protagonist before long. Because I'm hoping this will be the chapter where they find the final wolf, and I need Percy to do that because non-protagonists doing the Last Major Thing is Not Cool. Pretty sure I know how to get rid of Floren for this chapter. Grey is gone by this point and Amelia is with Cal, so that just leaves Nicholas. I might leave him with Percy because contrasting siblings is actually pretty fun and, even though I want Percy to be the one Doing Stuff, it would be nice if he still had someone to interact with. I like writing dialogue. I'll either leave Nicholas or Amelia with him. "It's not my daughter," Nicholas snapped. "I would know."
"Which is why it has to be her. Where did he go?"
Nicholas hesitated. "Why would I tell you?"
"I don't know. Maybe because we're supposed to work on this together, or because you're my brother and we trust each other?"
He bristled at that, but shook his head and didn't reply. I put a hand on Floren's knee. They glanced down more sharply than expected.
"Yes Percy?"
"You can stand," I murmured. "I'll be fine."
"Percy, you're not fine."
Neither are you.
"It doesn't matter."
They sighed, but climbed stiffly to their feet and joined Nicholas by the door. I could hear the low murmur of Amelia and Calamity's voices in the next room, more so the former than the latter. I hoped Calamity was okay. I wanted to talk to them, but knew Nicholas wouldn't let me, and didn't think my body was going to obey my brain in any case.
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Post by Thorn on Dec 3, 2018 20:28:25 GMT -5
Today I only wrote a few sentences. However, I also went back through my 'concepts' document and found a few little notes I quite like, am amused by, or which I'm noting here for some other reason. PERCY: *Percy has a habit of staring at things he finds interesting, as he processes said Interestingness. This is hinted at in text by the amount of thought/detail in some of his descriptions, and in a couple of references to him staring at actual people.
*There is a backstory explanation for why Percy is so analytical, but he doesn't even know his own backstory, so it's doubtful I'll get to reveal that.
*"Appreciates compassion, doesn't like being pitied." FLOREN:*'Characters active at night have twice the chance of being targeted by werewolves.' It's interesting reading Floren's notes because you can clearly see what was written before I blind-drew roles, and what was written after; since I initially had notes on how they would behave r.e. werewolves.
CALAMITY:*Oh my goodness, I had a bunch of pretty cool notes for them which I forgot to use??? Maybe I should edit them back in. One arm was supposed to be a mess of scar tissue, and they were going to have a pronounced limp. I might edit one of these in in and ditch the other, because I want a written representation of the fact they've Survived Stuff, but don't want to overdo it.
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Post by Thorn on Dec 7, 2018 17:37:13 GMT -5
I'm about to go make dinner (that culinary delight- tinned spaghetti with cheese), but I wrote a fair chunk today! Lotsa dialogue I need to cut down, but I'll have trouble with that because I really like so much of it. Obviously I'll prioritise bits which advance the plot. There's a chunk in the middle I could cut down, and at the point I'm currently up to I just wrote a line I really like, but it may have to go because it doesn't advance the plot at all (although it DOES help lighten the tone, which I wanted to do this chapter because I dislike writing stuff which is super duper gloomy for extended periods of time.) I'm also very happy with the current opening: For a long time I thought I would be sick. Thankfully I wasn't, because I don't think the others would have taken that super well, but I didn't feel much like eating anything for a long time regardless. My friend was dead. I'd promised to help him, and now he was dead, and that poor girl had been caught up in it all.
Because... 1) That awkward 'she wouldn't have taken that super well' moment does help lighten the tone, but 2) You can still see the narrator is in a Bad State of Mind. |
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Post by Thorn on Dec 9, 2018 19:42:24 GMT -5
=>Has one character say a Useful Thing, and then said character is temporarily written out. =>Realises the Useful Thing is actually pretty vague, and it doesn't give the still-present characters much to go on. =>Panics =>Stops writing for tonight. Tomorrow I'll hopefully tweak said Useful Thing to make more sense. It's tricky because I've come to realise that Percy hasn't really driven the story at all. This is in part because of the nature of the project for the first 2/3rds (random roles, random deaths, random role-discoveries), in part because he doesn't have the information he needs for most of the story and so can't make informed decisions/drive stuff, but also because plot tends to be my weakness. That, plus the nature of the project, makes for a Very Weak Story. However, I want him to be important in the final chapter, so...I need to work on that. At present the Useful Thing is said by a different character, but if I can somehow twist it so that Percy is the one who realises the Useful Thing, especially if it's something foreshadowed in an earlier chapter...that would be perfect. Character-wrangling notes for Chapter 13, the one I'm currently working on (mild spoilers for notThorns): Percy- see above. Re-read the very small scene where he first sees Michael with the two kids, see if I can connect it to that. Plus the other guards...maybe the kid could have gone to one of them? Either Nicholas or Amelia. Leaning towards the latter if I go this way.
Floren- need to remember that they know about Grey, are the only one who knows what is really going to happen to him, should probably write them more sympathetic instead of just "NOPE I'm going to do this other thing." Nicholas can probably do the Other Thing. Also they're really weak at the moment and dealing with Grey is probably easier!
Michael- decide whether he's actually missing, or just turned reclusive. Writing is vague because apparently I kept changing my mind. Also I've used his PoV once before so could use it again for dramatic timing at some stage, that'd be kinda cool.
Riley- I need to use him because he was sent from Northpass to help, and if he isn't there at the end it feels like he was a Pointlessly Introduced Character, which would be a shame because I like him a lot. So unless I split the chapter between his PoV and Percy's, he needs to be with Percy (I could put him with Michael instead and use him in a scene from that PoV? Besides that the only other PoV I've used is Percywolf, and I don't want to introduce a new one in the final chapter.)
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Post by Thorn on Jan 19, 2019 20:38:03 GMT -5
I just had a moment of panic when I realised I started this last February. I didn't realise it had been that long, oh my goodness!
If I can get the last chapter FINALLY finished before I go back to NZ in four months, I'll be exceptionally happy with myself.
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Post by Thorn on Feb 11, 2019 19:30:34 GMT -5
I HAD THE COMPLETED DRAFT OF CHAPTER 13 ALL ALONG WHAT IS THIS.
(I shortened/altered some dialogue tonight, that was about it.)
I mean...there's now a chapter 14 too, but STILL.
(I'm at the stage where I think I should just write the climactic-scene and then work back. Alice should probably be in it. Alice could follow Percy to the child? I dunno. She was prevented from attacking him in the prison, it would be a nice call-back and give her a chance for some resolution.)
(Because there's definitely a lot of stuff she needs to deal with, and what better way to do it than by having an angsty scene with the protagonist? If Floren was there too it would probably be better, because she felt more betrayed by them than a guy she'd only just met, but for Reasons they're not in this scene.)
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Post by Thorn on Feb 20, 2019 16:27:13 GMT -5
I wrote A Lot on the train today! =D Some of chapter 14, edited 13. Most important section, no contest, I share... “[reiterate most important parts of her description].”
“Cool, okay."
**((CONNECT SOMEHOW- PROBABLY LIKE TWO PAGES.))
(The first line is in red and the last is in purple. Both the first and "cool, okay" are lines of dialogue in an ongoing conversation.) |
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Post by Thorn on Feb 23, 2019 2:29:54 GMT -5
Finally finished a rough draft of the last three chapters! Ahhhh! I also made a slight alteration to chapter three, and will make some more alterations to chapter 5 or 6 (can't remember which it is) later on. Chapter 13: Full draft, needs dialogue and pacing tweaks. Chapter 14: Draft with patches that need to be added or expanded, missing a few paragraphs right in the middle where I need to link things together (but unlike the last time this happened, it will remain one chapter.) Epilogue: Wrote in half an hour. I'd expected it would take longer because I needed to cover all the characters but, you know what? I don't really need to do that. Especially since half of them are dead they all have connections to the three I do cover, so I can skim over that in their thoughts/dialogue. (Also on a train right now and wow, sunrise is a lot quicker than sunset!) As per usual, a portion I wrote today. Rough version of the final paragraph of the epilogue (I wrote it on about three hours sleep, on an early morning train), don't judge me m8. I held out my other hand. “Join us, Cal.”
“I don’t do cutesy.”
They grinned insincerely, eyes dark with fatigue, but clasped my hand anyway. The three of us stood together outside Mildred’s little home and let the morning sun wash over us.
UPDATE- 1:15PMAll drafts are now workable! Just simple tweaking to do now. I think it's coming along pretty well, I'm really happy with the progress made on those two big train journeys. If I had to sum up Percy in one gif, I think it would be this birbgif. Mildly anxious but very observant! |
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Post by Thorn on Feb 24, 2019 17:41:32 GMT -5
Added chapter 13. I've been drafting this chapter since at least December, probably November even? I lost a lot of confidence in this Weird Writing project- turns out, it's impossible to not worry about the quality of your writing when it's available for others to read! Lizica and Liou did so much to help me get this finally sorted out- the former sending me lovely and lengthy responses to each chapter, with more depth of analysis than the project deserves, and the latter sharing Encouraging Words about my writing style more generally when we hung out over the past couple days. So, thanks guys. <3 You da best! As a result chapters 13, 14 and the Epilogue are pretty much done. I procrastinate and critique myself to all heckity, so to prevent this I'll post one of these chapters each day for the next three days, alongside some thoughts about said chapter. So first, for today, I'll share chapter 13 (in the chapter master post on page one.) My spoilery thoughts on it are in the box below... It is of Significant Concern to me that I don't have any female characters in major roles...in a Hypothetical Sequel I sometimes think about, Mildred would have a much larger role, but it's still an issue with this thing.
Things I like about chapter 13:
-Got to write Nicholas and Floren in the same scene. I like writing their dynamic- they're usually pretty close, but Nicholas is freaked out by all the weird werewolf things and the rumours/lack of information/pretty much everything about the current situation.
-Percy is the Best and Goodest Boy, and genuinely one of my favourite protagonists I've ever written. He's always thinking about others! And feels bad for any accidentally selfish thoughts!
Things I dislike about chapter 13:
-Justification for why Elizabeth would have gone to that cave is a little shaky.
-Again, the lady character is the one excused from the scene (this is because I wanted to write the siblings in the same scene, but still. Poor Amelia. I should have done more with her, she deserved better.)
-It took me like three months to post this but it doesn't reflect three months of effort.
-"Simon died but nobody's gonna stay with Calamity, we chill" Might edit this bit- if I tweak #14 I can have Amelia stay with Cal, it would only require editing the first couple pages. It seems out of character for Floren and especially Percy to be so chill with searching for other people, even if that's the most sensible option, when others are suffering alone.
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Post by Thorn on Feb 25, 2019 19:59:38 GMT -5
Added chapter 14. Tomorrow night is the epilogue- a lighter, shorter piece which just kinda wraps the whole thing up. And then, it is Complete! =D Spoiler Thoughts:
PERCY: Wow I am made of compassion I am Most Compassion.
FLOREN: HOLD MY BEVERAGE.
This was supposed to be a Very Percy chapter but the piece I added to wrap up the other Quest kind of...undermined that...sorry Percy. You still got more 'screentime' than Floren overall though!
The section where Percy confronts Alice is definitely the strongest! Both in terms of writing quality and overall tension. I genuinely really like that section. It was actually a conversation with Lizica which inspired Pecy's expansion on Cal's proposed Purpose of Names, and that felt so satisfying and Right to write. So thanks Lizica! =D I had a lot of feelings writing that section.
Writing the final portion of this chapter, I realised that Michael has been repressing his feelings more than any other character, for pretty much the entire story. So it made sense that he would need permission to be emotional, and when I realised I could tie that in with Floren resolving to forgive him for the generalised messiness, I really liked the result. It's a bit clunky, but I think I learned a good lesson while writing that section!
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Post by Thorn on Feb 26, 2019 20:23:29 GMT -5
Added epilogue.
And with that, it is done! =D I successfully completed the Weird Writing Adventure I started over a year ago. It's far from perfect, but that's beside the point- I proved that I can stick with and complete something this long (I kinda did the same with my space fantasy, but there were huge gaps and things which I needed to fill in during redrafting...yeaaaah I should really get to that.)
The weird writing adventure is now about 21,800 words long, making it a solid novella length.
Not a lot to say about this epilogue. I think it's sweet, but not saccharine, and there is still a melancholy/haunted note- which is pretty much exactly how it should be.
I'll add a post soon detailing roles, how those roles were represented, and other little things like that. And maybe some overall thoughts about what I learned from this project and what it means to me as a whole. But not tonight. Tonight, is time for slep.
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Post by Thorn on Mar 2, 2019 21:09:46 GMT -5
A post of summary things- since I never did confirm all the roles, for one! Villagers go without saying, but I'll list all the power roles here:
Power Roles (randomly assigned when I started writing) (Werewolves)*Floren *Simon *Grey *Elizabeth  (Seer)*Calamity  (Little Girl)*Michael (Additional notes from my concept document, on how he worked mechanically: Each night he has a 1 in 3 chance of being seen by the werewolves, but if he does survive he can say for sure how many werewolves there are (four, he won't see the white until night three- if he's alive, he will mention the white one the day after.) He has a 1 in 2 chance of learning the identity of a werewolf, with the chances heavily weighted towards the one he discovers being his daughter (1-3=daughter, 4=Grey (baker), 5=Floren, 6= Simon.) ) (Witch)*Mildred  (Hunter)*Emma  (The White Werewolf)More inspired by the Miller's Hollow card than anything else, it didn't play the same way at all. The white werewolf was the only werewolf which could act against other wolves, but unlike in the actual game the 'win-condition' wasn't every other character being dead. I just played off the idea of a werewolf which had a different agenda to the others. *Percy  (The Savior)This character could protect one person from a werewolf attack each night, including themself. They couldn't defend the same person two nights in a row, and the Little Girl could not be protected. Since the character in question turned up not long before I cut back on the actual game mechanics, I don't remember if this ability was ever actually used. *Riley -Just realised Simon and Percy are the same age (22.) Am sads.
-My playlist for Percy (i.e. music I used to get back into writing after excessive gaps, whoops), included The Mouth of the River by Imagine Dragons.
-Calamity got Black Water, by Of Monsters and Men. Mostly connected with their backstory and their feelings about That Offscreen Stuff.
-Of Monsters and Men have an excellent song called Wolves Without Teeth (it's a clear metaphor for anxiety, but also the integrated werewolves are wolves who won't actually bite you, so works two ways in relation to wolfstoryness.) For some reason it's on my Florcy list, maybe because of the 'you can follow me' line? I think it works more generally as well. Also it's just a great song in general and the music video is very cool!
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