What I’ve Been Up To

What have you all been up to?

I’ve been working on book two of the sci-fi space opera. I had wanted to get the romance revised/edited and out this year but that will be delayed until I figure out exactly where I want to go with it. I’m not naturally a romance writer so after going through the first revision, I just didn’t feel it would be ready within the year. I’m wanting to get the fantasy book out, so I’ve been editing it like crazy. However, suddenly, I had this urge to work on the cyberpunk characters. I have a character named Isamari. That’s not her real name. Rather, it’s her hologram name. She is a side character who works with the mc and whom the mc bumps into later. Normally, I don’t focus on side characters but Isamari is just itching to be written.

I know very little about Isamari, and I never intended to know her more than just a co-worker, but as I think more about her, I realize she plays an important part of the story. Her part is small, but she creates tension for the mc. So, because of that, she needs to be more developed than intended. I’m pretty excited because I kind of want to know who she is.

Do you ever get sidetracked by a minor character? Do you let them grow and become a bigger part of your story, or do you remind yourself that they’re not that important and keep them in the background? I’m curious.

Advertisement

Tracking NaNoWriMo

During NaNoWriMo I will typically follow a word count calendar. It helps me stay on track. Word count is approximately 2K per day for 30 days. Normally, I would search the web or Pinterest for someone else’s calendar. This year, I decided to put one together. I used the NaNo calendar and added the word count per day to it.

This is what it looks like:

If you’d like to use it, you can download a larger size here: NaNoWriMo 2019 Word Count Calendar Tracker.

If you’d like to use the original calendar, you can download it off the NaNo site here: NaNo Prep 101 Course. It’s a PDF file and will be on page 50.

I’ve been slacking off prep so I need to really kick it up. Instead, I’m brainstorming ideas for a couple of short stories and novelettes I hope to publish before the end of the year and early 2020. One of them being Shaman 2.

By the way, if you haven’t read Shaman, it’s available on Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited. It’s perfect for a good Halloween scare.

NaNoWriMo 2019

I’ve been working on a few projects. Aeva is still being edited at the moment. I’m also working on a winter romance novella and brainstorming a Valentine’s romance. My biggest project right now is a novel I’ll be writing next month for National Novel Writing Month. I’m currently prepping and outlining the details.

The story I’ll be writing for Nano is a paranormal romance. I’ve shared a short excerpt from this story a few months back. I never got the chance to finish it so I’ll be using Nano to finish it. I basically have a few paragraphs of the beginning and a dialogue between the two main characters but that’s about it. Here’s the blurb for the story:

Tolan came to the mortal world to do the job of one of his angels. It was supposed to be a quick and simple job—and it was—except for the accidental encounter with Hailey. The encounter left him speechless and he can’t stop thinking about her.

Hailey Quinn works at Caraway Bakery and makes enough money to get by. One morning, she helps Tolan from a freak accident and from there she must make the decision to protect him or endanger him. 

Included in my prep is a list of music that I’ll be listening to while I write. There’s not too many yet. I tend to have about 10 to 20 songs that I rotate through. Right now, I have about three that I really like. Here’s one that’s called, “Fallen Angel.”

If you are doing NaNoWriMo and want to follow me, my name is waltzoftheflowers.

I hope you join!

The King’s Prisoner Ebook Available for Purchase

The contract with the Writer’s Unite! Anthology ended in August of this year. I decided to go ahead and publish my short story on Amazon. It’s free on Kindle Unlimited.

This story is powerful. I did some re-editing and got pretty emotional reading it again. It’s about trust and taking chances. It’s about people’s hearts and emotions. And, it’s about love…but not the kind you’d think.

To read this short story, go here: mybook.to/thekingsprisoner

July Camp Nano

I really enjoyed April’s Camp Nano. I was able to get Aeva through a first edit. Now going through the second edit. I still haven’t finished the ending (the last chapter) but I’m getting there. I’ve learned a lot about writing from a protagonist of the opposite sex, and that is, I get too attached to them. Somehow I don’t mind torturing and hurting my female MC’s but when it comes to male MC’s, I have a hard time.

For July’s Camp Nano, I’m going to finish my first edit on my fantasy novel, TLS. TLS stands for The Last Silvers.

The Last Silvers is a fairy story about a type of fairy with silver tipped ears. They have the ability to heal and shape shift. The story follows a female lead named, Nora. Here’s the synopsis:

Nora Anera, a Tagartha soldier, is given the duty of guarding Prince Davin Rainer of Storm Gate to the northern kingdom, Rawstone, to marry the princess and unite the two kingdoms against a powerful enemy. She thinks it will be a quick and easy job until she learns there is more at stake than she thought.

Here’s the temporary “generic” cover I’m using for Camp Nano.

A clip from the story:

Camp NaNo + Marlowe Excerpt

I had no intentions to do Camp NaNo next week. NaNoWriMo last November was supposed to be the only challenging project I was supposed to do each year moving forward. As I pondered away on finishing my novella, Aeva (my current wip), it occurred to me that Camp NaNo can help me finish the story. My goal for the Camp is to revise, to go through the story from the beginning and make sure everything connects and makes sense, to take care of loose plots or unnecessary scenes, and to create a cleaner and tighter storyline. And, as crazy as this might sound, I’m super excited.

Marlowe update. I loved writing this story. It’s still strong in my mind and my heart. Sometimes I will listen to the soundtrack I’ve created for this story and just get immersed in that world. I wish I could begin to revise it, but no-can-do yet. I need a little more distance and a little more time to think on the plot. What I have done is rewrite pieces that have popped into my head begging to be edited. Here’s an excerpt from one of those pieces. This is when Marlowe secretly meets with her friend, Sam:

      I enter the dome. The lights are off so it’s darker than the last time I was here. The ceiling lets a soft light in casting a glow into the room. I thought Sam would be here waiting for me, but I’m the first one here. I walk to the center of the room and stand directly under the ceiling. I look up at the curved intricate design of the ceiling which resembles a spider’s web, a web that is both delicate and strong. The design stirs a mixture of emotions in me. It’s beautiful yet imposes power and fear. I take off my helmet. It will record my conversation with Sam if I leave it on and that’s not what I want.
    A clanging sound by the cyborg door grabs my attention and I turn toward it. The door slides open and there stands a cyborg—tall, tough-looking, all shiny metal, and strangely beautiful. It comes over to me. I’m about to put my helmet on so if it attacks me I’ll be ready, but the cyborg says, “Mareesa,” and I lower my helmet. The cyborg comes and stands in front of me leaving three feet of space between us as though by some rule it was trained not to get too close. The cyborg’s half-face visor slides away and reveals the same face I saw the other day that resembled Sam’s. “I am Sam, Cyborg-M30,” it says.
     He’s being funny so I laugh. “Stop the joke, Sam. Is this your way of telling me you got a big promotion? Must be nice to work in the Cyborg Unit.”
     “You are Mareesa Lowenstein,” the cyborg said.
     “You have access to my real name too, huh?”
     “That is the only name I have for you.”
     “I’m fine with you calling me Marlowe.”
     A few seconds of silence passes, and he says, “I do not register…Marlowe.”
     “Don’t mess with me, Sam. Where are you hiding?” I look around the room for hidden cameras. I’m expecting a door to open with Sam coming through.
     “I’m standing in front of you.”
     I look at the cyborg. “No. No. No.” I shake my head side to side. I don’t want to believe it. He’s playing me. He’ll stop. He always does. That’s Sam.
     “It’s me, your friend, Sam.”
There is a long silence while I look into his brown eyes. They are his eyes. I look at his full face. How did I not recognize him before? I must have been fooled by all the robotic parts. I step closer to him and reach my hand up to his cheek. He leans his head down so I could touch the human part of him. “Sam,” I whisper, “who did this to you?”

A Nano Win, But It’s Only the Beginning

I finished my NaNoWriMo story. Not only did I reach the goal of 50K words, I also ended the story. What I’ve learned from this experience is that I’m capable of cranking out a full novel within less than a month. It’s not perfect and it’s basically a super rough and dirty draft but the story is done.

Goals going forward:

1. Take a break from Marlowe and work on finishing Aeva.
2. Publish Aeva.
3. Write new story I’ve been itching to start.
4. Continue with first edit of TLS fantasy novel.
5. Return to Marlowe and clean it up.
6. First edit of Marlowe.

Here is a cut-and-paste from my Nano page with the updated “Marlowe” synopsis (still somewhat rough) and an excerpt. The excerpt is the scene just after Marlowe fights a cyborg that detonated.

Cyborg Concept Art With Quote

I’ve been working along on my “Marlowe” novel for NaNoWriMo and had an inspiration to make a concept art piece for one of the chapters. In this chapter, Marlowe meets her roommate’s boyfriend who has a robotic arm. He is essentially a cyborg but in their world, a cyborg is not a human with a robotic part or two. Cyborgs are more than that.

I made this piece using CS6 and the following images:

Ready, Set, Go!

Did you prepare for NaNoWriMo? Some do and some don’t and that’s okay. Just write! As mentioned earlier, I’ve prepared but not thoroughly — just enough to know what I hope to write and enough to keep myself inspired and motiviated. Last night, just after midnight, I stayed up until 1am to write a little. I got over 400 words in. Half the time was spent making sure I had my story straight.

In the evening, I was getting nervous about not having my plot straight, worried about who really were my characters, and worried about the setting. Earlier in the day, I saw a post on one of the Facebook groups I frequent. The poster had provided some helpful worksheets for plotting, character development, and scene/world building. I went ahead and downloaded them. She had offered them for free, so I figured, I might as well give them a try. If they don’t work for me, that’s no problem. At least I gave them a try. If they do work, then I’ve found something meaningful in guiding me toward writing better and faster.

I’m glad to say, they worked in my favor. But, to be honest, I think everyone can get something out of these worksheets. I’ve been writing all my life and have my degree in writing. The majority of my classes were all about the story structure (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution). Even when I studied nonfiction, the same structure applied. These worksheets are simple and easy to follow. I’m not trying to advertise for the designer. I’m just really thrilled that she is offering these for free and they are exceptionally well made. The designer is also a writer. Her blog and where you can download the worksheets is, The Wonderful World of Whimsy.

The way I went about the worksheets is I printed them and read them over. Then, in Excel (because I like having everything electroncially done) I took the information from the worksheets and wrote out my outline. The reason I also do it this way is because I have one main plot and many subplots. My main character and secondary characters all have a purpose. They all have a reason for what they do. There’s a domino effect of sort. I’m writing through one main character who is compassionate and who yearns for the family life and love. She is envious of those who have it but she likes to be around those who have it so that at least she can maybe live vicariously through them until, if ever, she finds that. In order to build that type of emotion, I need more than a few lines. I break the characters’ purposes into blocks so that when or if I lose sight of who these characters are and their purpose, I can toggle to it on my computer and keep moving.

With that said, I hope you are doing NaNoWriMo. And, whether you “win” or not, at least you’ve tried. To quote Tony Robbins,

No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow your progress, you are still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying.

The Struggle Is Real

I should be finishing up Aeva but the new story outline/prep has been taking up all my time.

Today, let’s see if I can put the Pomodoro Technique to use on Aeva and have it at least 80% done.