Claw

Novella Diary, Claw, Day Nine

PETERMBALL Works in Progress , , , ,

I hate this chapter. I hate this book. I hate this blog series and wish I’d never started it. I hate the mornings. I hate the fact that I have to the Gold Coast this evening. I hate the fact that there is so much of the book left to go. I hate the fact that it’s getting longer. I hate the fact that I’m not able to just finish this fucker and go on to the next thing. I hate the fact that I didn’t finish my PhD. I hate the fact that I’m behind on pretty much everything at my day-job. I hate the fact that I slept badly and woke up late. I hate the fact that I’m already behind.

I hate…I hate…I hate…

And really, all that happens more or less on time. Nine days in and this is no longer fun.

Must ignore that and keep writing.

Session 9.1 (8:15 AM – 8:49 PM)
Word Count: 749

I’m laying good odds that this will be it today. Packed day at work, which means it’s unlikely I’ll steal time at lunch. Drive to the Gold Coast in the rush-hour traffic. Hit the awards dinner for the Josephine Ulrick awards as the QWC representative. Eat. Drink. Be merry. Head to my parents place. Sleep.

Session 9.2 (12:11 PM – 12:23 PM)
Word Count: 297

Against all odds, I finished lunch with twelve minutes to spare. Bam. Writing time. Wrote enough that I can see the shape of the fourth chapter, and where it ends.

Also, hit the 1k mark for the day. Expected to get maybe half that done, so I’m calling it a win.

Final note: Ulrick awards were awesome. Caught up with some people I haven’t seen in a decade. Got to meet a bunch of talented young writers who were coming through the Griffith writing program. Remembered, briefly, how the Gold Coast ‘could actually be a nice place (if you tell anyone I said this, there will be trouble).

‘Course, it also finished as late as I expected it too, which makes me really glad I squeezed in the lunch session.

Total Daily Writing Time: 46 minutes
Daily Word Count Total: 1, 046

Total Manuscript Writing Time: 11 hours, 32 minutes
Total Manuscript Word Count: 11, 242

Novella Diary, Claw, Day Eight

PETERMBALL Works in Progress , , , , ,

Late start today. For reasons.

Actually, no, I owe you a better explanation than that. So here’s the thing: I’m going to the Gold Coast tomorrow night for an awards ceremony. It’s a work thing, and I’m going as the work representative, and it wasn’t something I’d planned for. This is bugging me. Not in an “I don’t want to do this and work is stupid” kind of way, but in a “why can I not do the things that I want to do” kind of way.

And this happened on the day that I realised my estimates for how long this book is going to be will be out by about 10,000 words. I can tell, ’cause I’m eight thousand words in and I haven’t yet hit the end of the forth chapter. The forth chapter is an anchor point. When I set out to write something like this, even if I’m pantsing it, I divide the word-count into quarters and mentally tag them: first act, race to mid-point, away from the mid-point, last act.

Things happen at the end of the first act. They haven’t happened yet, but they should at the end of Chapter Four. Ergo, given that Chapter 4 will push us over 10,000 words, I’m figuring my estimates are out.

I get derailed by stupid shit.

Session 8.1 (8:13 AM – 8:36 AM)
Word Count: 639

So this was a weird one. Started writing a scene based on a set of assumptions regarding the dynamic. Reached the end of the scene and realised it would be more fun if I set up a different set of character dynamics. One that’s more antagonistic, and is predicated on the antagonist being a bit dodgy, but if I do it it’ll justify a whole bunch of scenes that I’d written earlier where certain characters come on stage and do stuff ’cause I need them on-stage.

So now I’m going back and making a note of the places where those changes need to happen, ’cause it’s going to have an effect on every single scene in the story thus far.

Session 8.2 (12:08 PM – 12:19 PM)
Word Count: 327

Eleven minutes spare during my lunch break at work. Turns out I can totally rock eleven minutes of writing time.

Session 8.3 (7:58 PM – 8:19 PM)
Word Count: 438

We were meant to be gaming tonight, but people couldn’t make it, so I ended up with a free evening of writing that I hadn’t really planned on. Considering tomorrow night is going to be a wash in terms of getting stuff done, it’s a welcome reprieve.

Session 8.4 (8:36 PM – 8:52 PM)
Word Count: 502

Second half of the online Writing Race we run through work, whereby a bunch of people gather online and write for an hour.

Didn’t quite hit the end of chapter 4, but that’s only because it’s turning into an unwieldy mess. Going to leave it here for the evening and see if I can create a plan for rewriting things a little, if only so I can block out the scenes and figure what goes where.

First, though, I must load the dishwasher, iron shirts for tomorrow, and collect the washing.

Total Daily Writing Time: 1 hours, 11  minutes
Daily Word Count Total: 1, 906

Total Manuscript Writing Time: 10 hours, 46 minutes
Total Manuscript Word Count: 10,161

Novella Diary, Claw, Day Seven

PETERMBALL Works in Progress , , , , ,

Really? A week in already? It doesn’t feel like I’ve been at this for a week. Two chapters down. Chapter three about two-thirds done now. By rough word count I’m about a quarter of the way through the book at the point I’m writing this (after session 7.1 below); but narrative points, I’m a little behind. Experience says this means the novella will be longer than 30,000 words in this draft and I’m going to spend some quality time with the flensing knife afterwards.

I more or less decided to track the process of writing this novella after reading Dean Wesley Smith’s recent blog posts about writing a novel in ten days. I’m a pretty frequent reader of Smith’s blog – I don’t always agree with him, but I’m always interested in what he has to say. Plus I’m interested in gathering data about writing that’s immediately useful, and I really had no clue how I went about writing something or what my work flow really looked like.

Session 7.1 (7:56 AM – 8:48 AM)
Word Count: 858

Day-Job day, which means I’m back at Odin the Desktop early in order to get some writing done beforehand. I am the very model of efficiency when I have to be; it’s when I’m got a wealth of free time that things go downhill.

Today’s scene is very, very bare bones. It largely exists to signal intent and general tone, ’cause all the details will change once I finish this draft and have a chance to go do some research. Autopsy scenes are like that. I have some quality time on the internet coming up, locking down the kind of details I actually need. I’m really hoping it involves the word “striations” though. It’s a cool kind of word.

Session 7.2 (6:33 PM – 6:45 PM)
Word Count: 226 words

I got out of work late today. I got home even later. Tuesday night is Trashy Movie night around these parts, which isn’t ordinarily conducive to writing. I normally get home from work, cook some dinner, crash out of the couch with Silas the Laptop and live-tweet the hell out of a particularly trashy movie. We’ve been doing this for over a year now, Tuesday after Tuesday. It’s become an ingrained habit.

Earlier today I read Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s post about writing habits. It got into my head a bit.

I mean, I had twelve minutes. And I’m starting to figure out how just how much I can get done in that window.

Session 7.3 (10:05 PM – 10:23 PM)
Word Count: 578

Chapter Three drafted. I sleep now.

Total Daily Writing Time: 1 hours, 22 minutes
Daily Word Count Total: 1, 662

Total Manuscript Writing Time: 9 hours, 35 minutes
Total Manuscript Word Count: 8,256