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Les Writing blog, with tips, advice, and my own writing... 200K in NaNoWriMo! Yay!

Fictional Worlds - August 2007

Editing Update 30/08/07

August 30th 2007 04:41
I did read through the first 10 chapters and revise them a bit. I suck at beginnings.

At least I admit it.

Anyway, did anyone ever tell you formatting is mind-numbing work? If you want to fall asleep, format a novel... that's what I've been doing for the last hour...



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What would you guys think of...

August 30th 2007 01:50
An anthology of stories aimed at teenagers, written in historic periods-during the depression, the war of 1812 (which is outshone by the Napoleon wars but is cool because we burned down the white house), World War Two, that sort of thing-and aimed to make learning history more interesting, maybe even *fun*, while encouraging literacy.

I wanted to write something like that a while back. I'm thinking it would be a good thing to work on during the school year while I'm too busy to properly work on much in the way of novelling. My final edit of Moonshadow's Guardian will be done by October first and Jihad's next draft will be done by November first. After NaNoWriMo and National Novel Finishing month (more on that later), NaNoFiMo, I was thinking that starting in January I'd write one of these short stories and polish it up per month.


The way I figure, that means there might actually be an anthology out within the next couple of years, probably self published because anthologies are not easily published. It's something that I would like to do just because I'm fascinated by history. I'd also love to do a couple things in feudal Japan, maybe one in Egypt, and maybe a few in England or Scotland. Not just North America.

Thoughts?
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Editing Update 29/08/07

August 30th 2007 00:40
Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday...

It's the hottest day of the year and I haven't left the house at all. My internet has returned from its way-too-long vacation. My editing hasn't really returned yet. I'm not able to get into it like I was before; the heat has completely fried my brain and I'm finding myself completely unable to think straight.

I did get two critiques back. The first seven or so chapters are the only ones anybody's really complained about, which is a happy moment for me. The unhappy moment is that there was really quite a lot of complaining about the first seven or so chapters. I may post the prologue up here to get some comments on it. I'm horrible at beginnings and my books tend to get better and have really awesome endings, but beginnings? *Snicker*

Talking about Moonshadow, by the way. I'll be getting down to business and doing a basic revision of the first ten chapters tonight, and printing out a fair number of said chapters just because. I hate printing. Our printer is slow. It's really no good at all. But whatever.

At least I've gotten some decent sleep and should be able to get some decent writing and revising done tonight. I'm off to take a bath, and then I shall return to the world of the internet... *Is happy*
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To Edit... is To Make Better (In theory)

August 28th 2007 00:17
...I really don't have much to say today. Running on 5 hours of sleep doesn't help.

I do enjoy it when I feel that a piece is *truly* finished. Doesn't happen very often, but when I don't have any doubts, when I'm ready...and, of course, the critiquers like it... it's such a fulfilling feeling! Almost worth the drudgery of editing. (It's fully worth it when there is also CHOCOLATE involved at the end


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Editing update 27/08/07

August 27th 2007 22:58
My birthday is tomorrow!!! I was working today, all went well, but as for the editing...

I did a fair bit of brainstorming. You know, got all the basic ideas out. For Jihad, I have a mix of brainstorming and outlining, which is there to tell me what I need to write. I also did a lot of brainstorming for blogs. The hope is-in order to make best use of my time-that I will be able to write a post every day, no matter if it gets posted THAT day. This way, I'll have some backups, anyway


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Editing Update 26/08/07

August 25th 2007 18:40
Really Long Link

Read that


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Sorry People

August 17th 2007 11:56
I basically ran for 15 hours on 5 hours of sleep before falling unconscious. It's a long, vaguely unpleasant story. I didn't get time to blog, and when I woke up today I was playing Final Fantasy 12 for over an hour. So I still have no real time to blog, 'cause I'm leaving in just over 20 minutes.

Tonight I have a baseball game. Then I have to go somewhere with a computer and internet, which is one of two places at the moment. So, I'll probably be blogging at almost midnight tonight. Sadly


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Editing Update 15/08/07

August 15th 2007 22:05
Not much today. Actually, I didn't do anything, and I won't get a chance to; I'm heading out now and I won't get home until around eleven thirty. I'm working tomorrow starting at 9:15, so I need to sleep.

See you tomorrow! (I'll post today's post tomorrow. Just think of it as late. Sorry.)
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Editing Update: 15/08/07

August 15th 2007 01:24
So, I'm on chapter one of the new and improved Fairy Tales books. Starting with The Sisters. So far it has a very modern, urban feel to it, what with Alana and her single mom, their little bungalow and her laptop. Her voice is very much overly-mature ten year old who's been through the tough times, and my writing it makes it just that much more realistic.

By the end of the book, everyone will probably be looking at me funny, seeing as how it and the two after it are pretty much high fantasy, with a couple sci-fi elements thrown in. (One's about the Magi taking over the world, and one's about the afterlife, then about a colony, then about trying to stop someone from killing off the main character. Long story. Took 3 50K novels to tell it the first time around


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Writing Update : Not Much.

August 15th 2007 00:44
'Not Much' is the name of my new novel-length project, a book about a writer who spends her summer wasting away with 'not much' to do...

Well, actually, no it isn't. It's my way of saying that, apart from the Founding Of Moonshadow project, I kinda haven't done any non-blog writing. I know, bad me. In fact, horrible me. But I've been editing my novels, which is rather depressing kthx, and doesn't make the muse very happy


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Editing: A Necessary Evil

August 14th 2007 03:54
Most writers despise editing, and I really understand why. Who wants to slaughter parts of their manuscript-even sometimes the whole thing-after spending weeks or months working on it?

Quite frankly, nobody I've ever met. Editing is a long process, especially when the novel you're editing is a PC (Piece of Crap) to begin with. You have to ask every scene, every character, every word, what it's doing in your novel


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Editing Update 13/08/07

August 14th 2007 02:23
Well, today, seeing as how I woke up like an hour ago, I haven't done too much... unless you count before I went to bed.

In which case, I am THE obsessive compulsive editor of the day. No joke. I've been editing Moonshadow's Guardian somewhat obsessively. I'm that anxious/hyper to get it out there. I really am


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Researching Your Markets

August 13th 2007 05:37
One of the most important things for an aspiring writer to do before submitting ANYTHING for publication is to read, reread, and reread again the submission guidelines.

And while I know we'd all love to get a book deal with Random House or Penguin, there are hundreds of smaller online presses-they don't pay advances, they don't sell as much, but you get a higher percentage of the royalties


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Why All Writers Must Be Readers

August 13th 2007 03:54
I am an avid reader. Fantasy, sci-fi, even a good mystery or suspense will make me happy.

There are a few damn good reasons to read, read widely, and read often. (Read something, even just a blog post, every day; write something, even just a blog post, every day


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A Closer Look: Theme

August 13th 2007 01:03
In light of Harry Potter's now-ages-ago release, people have been constantly talking about its theme, which is very clearly the Wizard version of the Holocaust.

You know, Death Eaters/Nazis, Mudbloods/Jews/Undesireables (I have a vague suspicion they were actually called something like the last one in one of the books), Voldemort/Hitler, you know, that whole thing. (Then there's Dumbledore, the reformed Nazi, and Grindelwald, the now-not-as-crazy-evil Nazi


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My problem with the Snowflake Method (LINK)

August 12th 2007 13:58
The Snowflake Method is a method of outlining which I find to be particularly creatively smothering. It is basically a summary. It starts as 'write a peragraph about your book, each sentence describing a main event' and goes on until each event is a page, two pages, and onwards.

By the end of it, you have a novella of summary alone. My reasons for disliking this method are many, but here are just a few


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Why Write?

August 12th 2007 05:31
There is that ever-present question. Writing isn't a very stable business, as a writer the word 'paycheck' becomes almost myth, and publishing? Don't get me started.

So why write


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Editing Update: 12/08/07

August 12th 2007 04:42
Hmm, so yesturday I was 2 days off. Sorry.

Today I didn't get much of anything done, because I'm useless like that. I've been doing plenty of research, but not much actual editing


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Well then.

August 12th 2007 00:42
Founding Of Moonshadow was much shorter than expected. It went way more quickly than I had expected. At one point, it looked like it was going to transform into a very detailed, long and complex story. Jacob then decided that only at one crucial point was a detailed set of paragraphs needed.

After this crucial point, he went back to summarizing. Which meant my book died at page 30, today, and I added a sample chapter of the 'uncensored' version (long story) and a couple of Jacob's poems, which I'm contemplating removing because I'm not especially proud of them


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The Editing Update

August 11th 2007 06:01
Today I didn't do much, and I was too social to finish much of anything.

I rewrote a few paragraphs for Moonshadow's Guardian simply because editing it has become a minor obsession or perhaps just habit. It's grown just a tad addictive


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Notice

August 10th 2007 20:34
Notice me
See how I bleed
How the red comes pouring


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To Inspire

August 10th 2007 03:08
I've been thinking. It's Thursday here (barely) and I'm supposed to post something inspirational for long fiction works.

What can I say about inspiration? It isn't something I can just give you. Inspiration comes or it doesn't, and all I can do is try to inspire you. Which doesn't always work. Your muse is your own, and while mine responds to certain things, yours might not


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Editing Update: Jihad

August 9th 2007 23:04
So today I realized I'm done with Moonshadow's Guardian. Meaning it's time to pay more attention to my other works. I am setting myself a new goal, to finish a piece of fiction writing every day until school starts.

Why? Because I'm slightly nuts. Also, because it gives me something to actually edit. I'm not talking 'finish one of my novels everyday' here. I'm talking finish something. A short story. A novel, sure, whatever. I've got a few short stories stashed away that I can edit and then post, since they're not going anywhere


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Introducing...

August 9th 2007 03:58
This is an 'extra' post... and an introduction of my new novel!

Founding Of Moonshadow is a book based in the years of Jacob the First, who ruled Moonshadow and brought the Tribes together to form one nation. The book deals with necromancy, vampires, prophecy, religious expectations (think Lasher only not Christian), and madness. It's mostly poetic, with a few paragraphs of 'normal' writing here and there


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Short Stories: The Writing Process In Miniature

August 9th 2007 00:50
No matter what you might think, the differences between short story and novel writing are actually very few. The biggest difference is length.

Often times, a writer will use an outline for a longer work, but not for a shorter work. The writer will generally have an idea or concept for a shorter work versus a well laid out plan for a longer work


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Editing Update

August 8th 2007 19:10
After 6 hours of long, hard slave labour on it, Moonshadow's Guardian-yes, I changed the title again-is fully edited, spell-checked, and ran through. All that's left to do is run my eyes over the chapters and make sure I don't have two thirty-fives or anything like that.

At 65K or thereabouts, it's a rather short novel, but I've never been one to write long books. I'm just revelling in the fact that by the end of the day, a fully edited novel will end up in the hands of my faithful critters, five of whom volunteered for the duty


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Schedule

August 8th 2007 06:53
This is very loose, and it's Canadian time. Here ya go:

Daily-Editing Pains basic update


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Section Four: Long Non-fic

August 7th 2007 22:31
This is the section for long non-fiction, as in non fiction books, memoirs, information, computer, whatever. I'll have bits and pieces on writing them, as well as reviews on them and non fiction exercises.

There aren't any links for this section yet. It's going to be the least often updated just because I'm like that. I don't really pay much attention to non-fiction, so it'll be updated once or twice a month, most likely


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Section Three: Shorter Works

August 7th 2007 00:55
I'll be introducing the last two today to make up for my away-ness. The first is shorter works, which will be posts related to short fiction, poetry, and short non-fiction.

The posts here will be slightly less regular. Updates will include news on my poetry collections, the occasional poem, articles about poetry/short stories/short non fiction, and various other things


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Section Two: Writing Fiction (long)

August 4th 2007 06:05
This section has two jobs. The first is its job to provide the reader with valuable information on the (long) fiction writing process. I'm focusing here on novellas and novels, not poetry or short stories. Sorry. A novel-and sometimes even a novel-can grow to the point where it's consuming your life, completely taking over.

It's also one of the absolutely most difficult things to get published, to write, to edit. A novel gets to the point where it's your baby, you fear rejection, you're afraid to send it out. Sometimes this manifests as a lack of motivation to do the editing necessary in order to get your book into publishable condition


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Section One: Editing Pains -.-

August 3rd 2007 03:02
For the next few days, my posts are going to be introducing various sections on my blog. The first and foremost is Editing Pains.

Once I'm done introducing the sections, Editing Pains will be where I give daily-or every other day-updates on my editing progress with my novel, Moonshadow. Or whatever I'm editing at the time


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Hi-from a slightly deranged insomniac writer.

August 2nd 2007 08:07
"It was a dark and stormy day, with lightning and thunder and all."

This is a writing blog. For writing advice, samples, updates. From a writer. I'm slightly insane, slightly insomniac, and slightly young. I write fiction, short stories, novels, poetry. I write fantasy and a little sci-fi. I write songs and the occasional non-fiction, usually memoir


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