…that visa problems might still exist in the far future worlds science fiction writers write about? Surely future political entities will have better solutions than we have…won’t they? (Plot Daemon says “Bwah-ha-hah-hah-hah-haaaaa….”) And rules about who is really a citizen…and problems with missing paperwork…and what happens if you’re deported from your own planet and you Read More…
Category: the writing life
Why Does It Slow Down? (Tech Post)
One reason many people who start out wanting to write don’t go on with it is that they have lots of ideas, start writing and then…the story slows down. Or actually stops. They don’t know why. They don’t know that this is normal for many writers. They sure don’t know what to do about it. Read More…
And on, and on, and on….
I’m being bold and saying this is like old times. Not in the total wordage possible in a day, but in the way the story is unrolling before me, complete with sensory detail, character backgrounds, every scene offering attachment points for PlotStuff. It will run into trouble, somewhere in the next 30,000-40,000 words, if it Read More…
Numbers rolling on…
New Book topped 20,000 words today, a very good sign. It might have been another thousand words along, since I had a burst early in the week, but Thursday was a slack day in which various other problems intruded. Glad of the extra words in hand, I didn’t push today beyond what I needed to Read More…
Nose to the Grindstone
In the “where are we now?” category, the book is, as of today, at 16,000 words (still short fiction of the novelette or novella type) and 83 manuscript pages. The good news is that story is flowing. It’s going nonlinear in the “threaded plot” sense, as Aunt Grace, Rector of Defense, has just gotten home Read More…
Update
So the good news is that the new one–still with no title ideas–just crossed the 10,000 word mark, and is presently on page 52. This is of course the very first draft, but it’s promising and it feels “right” so far. (Not every word and punctuation mark, but enough Story in the story to be Read More…
Nostos
http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/128481 Nostos was OED’s word of the day today, and when I looked at its definition, it hit me that this is the perfect word to apply to very long-form stories, such as TV miniseries and multi-volume works that have a long, overall narrative arc as well as a short arc for each volume. These Read More…
Quiet Cheer
Very, very, very tentative cheer….the ship is moving through the harbor. This early, things can go wrong easily; there’s not much momentum, and if the Plot Daemon is right, the Number Two engine is still not contributing. Thin morning fog is just lifting from the water trailing wisps, requiring a sharp lookout to spot the Read More…
Progress of Sorts
Finished the Lyme Disease med last night–the last few days had indeed shown some gastric disturbance, but it’s over with (the medication–and the disturbance I hope will soon follow.) I have been warned that the photosensitivity the med often causes could last much longer (NOoooooo!!!) and SPF 100 sunscreen does nothing to prevent the reaction. Read More…
Universes Interlude
Admiral Vida Serrano and Lady Cecelia, sitting in one of the booths facing Universes wide starfield windows, are almost finished with their exchange of family news. Cecelia would very much like to show the Admiral her images of her latest crop of performance foals, but is aware that the Admiral knows little and cares less Read More…