Novel Stats

Metrics for HAPPY, THE END

Daily Word Count: 450 today 24.5k total (out of a likely 60-80k)

Inspirations: Emily Bronte, Kate Rusby, Stephen King.

The good:
We had eaten and now sat around the fire, watching the flames; sparks floated skyward, like fallen stars trying to go home.

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This has nothing to do with writing but I'm having horrible Acid Reflux and I'm all out of Tums. It's almost midnight and I'm considering running to the store to get some. I feel like I'm dying. Ugh...

Metrics for HAPPY, THE END

Daily Word Count: 630 today 24k total (out of a likely 60-80k)

Inspirations: Emily Bronte, Kate Rusby, Stephen King.

The good:
I was at a loss. I clung to the tree trunk, feeling the bark bite into my cheek. In my dream they all had been waiting for me. Should I introduce myself? I fought the urge sneak off in the opposite direction. A dull nausea began to squeeze my stomach. It suddenly seemed to me that dreams coming true were not as wonderful as the songs suggested. Dreams should be content to stay as dreams.
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My second attempt at writing an attraction between two characters. The first failed miserably. Let's hope the second goes better.

Snow, snow, snow

Everyone, now! I want to wash my hands, my hair, my face in snoooowwwww.

In cause you haven't guessed, it's snowing at my house. First snow of the year and it's very pretty.

Novel Stats

Metrics for HAPPY, THE END

Daily Word Count: 600 today 23.4k total (out of a likely 60-80k)

Inspirations: Emily Bronte, Kate Rusby, Stephen King.

The good:
My stomach fell three stories and I almost had to sit down. I think that up until that moment a large part of me had assumed that my dreams were entirely my own fabrications. Despite all my tears when I said goodbye to Amy, part of me actually thought that I would be home by dinner and we'd have a good luagh together. But there was the very grove from my dreams - I recognized the almost perfect arrangement of the trees - and it was inhabited.
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Down from yesterdays highs. Still really enjoying writing this part though. I managed to squeeze out a nice word count too.

Novel Stats

Metrics for HAPPY, THE END

Daily Word Count: 630 today 22.8k total (out of a likely 60-80k)

Inspirations: Emily Bronte, Kate Rusby, Stephen King.

The good:
It interested me that hundreds of years ago Arthur and Katie had sat on this very rock and etched their names in the stone and moss. I ran my hand over the letters, imagining that Arthur had once done the same thing. Had he looked anything like me? Then I thought that one day, when I was dead, another boy and girl would sit on this rock and never guess that Amy and Jack had been here too. Suddenly I wanted hold Amy’s hand.
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Today I was on. I had to write a sad farewell scene and I was hoping that I could pull it off. I did. Some days writing is painful, other days it's like connecting with a pitch in the bat's sweet spot and watching the baseball soar away. Today I hit a home run.

Tomorrow I'll be back to grounding out. :-)

Writing a book is a lot like writing a song...

Anyone who knows me well knows that my favorite band is The Smashing Pumpkins. I remember the first time I heard Bullets with Butterfly Wings, it was like a switch flicked in my head and wires ignited. Billy Corgan, I'm still convinced, is one of the best pop composers of the last century. The scope of the music he's written and produced is staggering.


My first band, The Smoothies. That's me, 3rd from the left.

I was a band for the majority of my teenagehood. I wrote songs, sang, and played guitar. I was hugely influenced by The Smashing Pumpkins. You might think that my songs weren't half-bad, being influenced by such a greatness. Actually they mostly stank. Now I that I'm writing a book I think I know why I never wrote great songs.

Let me back-track and play a track by The Smashing Pumpkins. Of all their excellent songs, I think that Tonight, Tonight may be their best. That orchestra, the pounding drums, the guitars; it's a grand song. I dreamed of writing a song so able to sweap the listener away.

Listen to it here and you'll see what I'm talking about:

Tonight Tonight. Final Version

powered by ODEO

But the song didn't start that way. One of the b-sides that the Smashing Pumpkins released was the original demo of the song. The one that Billy Corgan recorded on a tape deck right after he wrote the song. Listen to it here:

Tonight Tonight. Original Demo.

powered by ODEO

If I heard that song I probably wouldn't ever need to hear it again. His voice is off-key in a few parts. The production sounds like he recorded it on a tape deck. His guitar is out of tune.

But it's all there! The structure, the chords, the melody. The song was completely written except Billy Corgan was the only one who knew what it was going to be. Listen to it, it's just missing the pounding drums, the violins and the intesnity.

That was my problem. I thought that great songs were made up of violins and dynamics so I tried to write songs that had those things. But I really just needed to sit down with a guitar, forget about all those sweeping grand sounds, and write a good melody, with a good stucture, and a good chord progression. I was trying to build castles without laying a foundation.

After Billy Corgan wrote Tonight Tonight, he went into a studio and perfected it. He rehersed it with the rest of the band until they found a drum beat that worked and guitar lines that meshed; and then, at some point, they decided to bring an orchestra in. Then they finally spent weeks in the soundroom, mixing it to perfection. But the core of the song never changed.

This all really reminds me of writing a book. When I think about my story, my head is full of grand moments! climaxes! dispair! romance! music! But I can't write a book about that stuff. I need to sit down and, line-by-line, write a first draft that's good enough. I need to lay the foundation of my story. I don't need to focus on the minuta of sentance structures or finding the perfect metaphor. In other words, I need to stop dreaming of orchestras and just put together a good song.

Billy Corgan sat down and recorded a song that only he understood. One year later, after a lot of hard work, the rest of America understood it.

Right now I'm focusing on writing a story that I understand. In later drafts I'll (hopefully) make it into a story that other people can understand. If you read it right now, you'd think it's a mess: Plot threads are completely dropped, dialects change, motivations reverse. But I'm clearer on it than ever.

Hopefully I'll be able to see it through.

Novel Stats

Metrics for HAPPY, THE END

Daily Word Count: 450 today 22.1k total (out of a likely 60-80k)

Inspirations: Emily Bronte, Kate Rusby, Stephen King.

The good:
We didn’t associate with other kids much. They had different sorts of games then we did. I only had look at Amy and know that she was about to run and I was supposed to race her and she always knew when to stop before I got too tired. Besides the other kids were usually crude – always joking about their parts - and I’d end up warning them to keep a wholesome tongue, which led to them asking me what I was going to do if they didn’t, which then led to Amy bloodying their noses and making them cry. So it was best that we kept to ourselves.
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Still doing character development. This is a character that I'm having a great time exploring. He's about 11 years old. That's an important age, when a guy is just getting wise to all the stuff that will occupy his thoughts for the next sixty years. I hope I can pull this character off. I'm more confident about him than anyone else though.

Novel Stats

Metrics for HAPPY, THE END

Daily Word Count: 300 (bah!) today 21.6k total (out of a likely 60-80k)

Inspirations: Emily Bronte, Kate Rusby, Stephen King.

The good:
The weeks passed and the late summer turned to a warm autumn where the leaves persisted to cling to the trees, reluctant to fall. I rarely kept indoors. It seemed entirely wasteful to refuse the sweet air and the warm touch of sun that the season continued to offer just before school started.
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I need to get this plot moving! The problem is that I'm introducing a new character and also filling out backstory events. Not very exciting. I need to blow something up. :-)

Now THAT'S a cover

I've been reading Jeffery Overstreet's blog for years. He's a film critic for Christianity Today and always has interesting posts.

Anyway, he reveled about (two?) years ago that he had landed a deal to publish his fantasy novel, Auralia's Colors. Just last week he proudly revealed the cover. I'd say he has full rights to beam over this gem.



I hope that if I'm ever blessed enough to have one of my stories published it looks as good as this. I will be very happy. Congratulations, Jeffery.

Can you imagine the opposite? What if you slaved for years, pouring your heart into a story. You finally manage to get it published and the publisher decideds to go with a cover like:



or *hold back bile*



I shudder to think...

Novel Stats

Metrics for HAPPY, THE END

Daily Word Count: 450 today 21.3k total (out of a likely 60-80k)

Inspirations: Emily Bronte, Kate Rusby, Stephen King.

The good:
We focused mainly on playing. Each day whittled away the amount of time that we still had together; but instead of this making us gloomy and sullen it inspired us to a frenzy of play. The stairs became hills of battle that witnessed fierce charges and desperate last stands; the beds transformed into pirate ships and the carpet a raging sea. She was an immortal Elf, a warrior queen, a nurse on the field of battle. I became Aragorn the Dúnadan finding the paths of the dead, Sir Galahad seeking The Grail, Kay Everling dueling with Maleficus on the Jericho plains.
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Moving right along. I decided to change my writing time from late at night to my lunch break. I'm hoping that I'll be more productive at midday than midnight.

We'll see how it goes.

Novel Stats

Metrics for HAPPY, THE END

Daily Word Count: 500 today 20.9k total (out of a likely 60-80k)

Inspirations: Emily Bronte, Kate Rusby, Stephen King.

The good:


Let us then go silently:
To bear him forth to the cool night-air
The summer night drinks from the sea.

The song had more verses that I can’t remember but the last line made me cry. I stood, holding hands with Amy and let the tears steam down my cheeks unashamed. I wasn’t crying because I was sad. (I don’t cry over sad things.) I cried because it was all so completely beautiful: The handsome men and lovely women - even more beautiful in their solemnity – marching through the gates on a mission of mercy; the stark brass music, mourning the fallen; even the pale autumn light, it all gripped me deep in my bosom.

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I'm doing some plot-exposition right now and it's tough to keep it interesting. I just gotta get through it and I'll fix it in the rewrite. That's becoming my mantra for this book.

I've discovered a fun technique for inspiration: Just before I start writing I read a few pages from a book that I like. It really helps to get those writing-juices flowing. If your struggling for inspiration I'd highly recommend it.

Novel Statss

Metrics for HAPPY, THE END

Daily Word Count: 400 today 20.4k total (out of a likely 60-80k)

Inspirations: Emily Bronte, Kate Rusby, Stephen King.

The good:

“Come back!” she hissed and her hand squeezed mine so tight that it hurt. “You promise not to die! I know your head, Jack. It’s different from mine. You’re always dreaming; even when you’re awake. Just say that you’ll come back when your story is over. Tell me how that one you used to tell – with the princess - how did it end? I liked that one.”

“They lived happily ever after,” I said.

“’Happily ever after...’” she breathed. “Promise, that’s how this – your story is going to end. Okay?”

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*Sigh* what a week. It's my first tax time as a self-employed person, so I've been working some late hours to pay The Man. Because of this, my word count for this week is atrocious. Hopefully I'll be able to make up some this weekend but my eyes are getting heavy and it's only 7:00 PM.

We'll see...

Novel Stats

Metrics for HAPPY, THE END

Daily Word Count: 450 today 20k total (out of a likely 60-80k)

Inspirations: Kate Rusby, Stephen King.

The good:

“Why are you crying?” I asked.
“Because you’re going to leave,” she said, sniffing. “I just thought of it.”
“I know... But I’ll come back.”
“It is very important? What does the lady needs you to do?” she asked.
“It’s because of the books I read,” I said.
But what’s in the books? I wondered. A path, came her answer, the books are a map. You are a guide.

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Not much to say tonight. One character is getting news about a catastrophe in my story. I'm trying to remember how everyone acted on 9/11.

This is why I stayed up til 12:30 last night

Wuthering Heights is hands-down one of the best books I've read in a long time. Emily Bronte is an amazing writer... I absolutely loved this book.

Everyone should read it but don't be fooled by the dust jackets advertising a romance. This is a dark story about obessesion. The main character (Heathcliff) is about as wicked as Englishmen come. The only bit of Romance comes at the very end.

Highly reccomended.

Novel Stats

Metrics for HAPPY, THE END

Daily Word Count: 250 today 19.4k total (out of a likely 60-80k)

Inspirations: Kate Rusby, Stephen King.

The good:
Kay Everling cut off the head of Maleficus with Acheron. He stood victories in final battle at Devils Water with Acheron raised high. But the thing about Acheron that intrigued me the most was that it was missing. After Kay entered New Camelot no one ever saw it again and he wouldn’t speak of it. My sister, Amy says that he probably just lost it and was too embarrassed to tell anybody. Amy’s always saying dumb stuff just to set me off. But even she knows, deep down, that the sword was special. Just like everything else in those days, it was magic. Kay didn’t loose the sword. He hid it away for another battle.
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I'm liking the new POV. Hopefully it won't take me so long to figure out this character.

As evidenced by the excerpt above, I'm filling out the backstory. It's a stretch for me. World-building has never been my cup of tea. I don't like making up funky names or creating elvish races or figuring out magical systems. My worlds always tend to be distorted versions of Earth. I'm okay with that.

I'm working on it...

Yes, I have big plans on sitting down and starting the next chapter tonight. I swear. :-)

************

This morning, on a whim I cracked open some of my first attempts at writing a book. Ack! Gag!

I was nineteen years old when I dicided that I wanted to write a book. That was five years ago. Let me tell you about that book.

It was funny. It was romantic. It was sad. It was much better than everything else on the bookshelves. It was allegorical of humanity's relationship with Christ, I.E. Deep.It was a heartbreaking-work-of-staggering-genius.

It was terrible.

I can't believe how transparent all my failings are. It's so painfully obvious when I'm trying to be funny. My grammer is atrocious. I address the reader in almost every paragraph like I'm Santa Claus ("And remember, dear children, love is the highest virtue... Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!"). And - because I was trying to be allegorical - the plot makes little sense.

I think I've learned a few lessons since then. Here's some that jump out at me:

1. No allegories! Best lesson of all. It's paralysing to be allegorical. Say I'm writing a character that represents God: God can't, you know, do anything wrong or make any mistakes, right? So I guess this character can't ethier... Oh and I guess he should be omniscient too. What about omnipresent? No allegories! If my story happens to have deeper meaning great! If not, great!


2. The correct way to use commas, semi-colons, colons, and dashes. I'm no grammar expert now, but I'm better. Thank you, Elements of Style!


3. Show, don't tell. Instead of waxing on about how wonderful my characters are, maybe I should just let the reader decide that for themselves.


4. Don't write about things you don't know anything about. The center of my first story is a father, daughter relationship. Reading it now, my story is pretty much how a nineteen-year-old with a pregnant wife would envision parenthood. Everything is sweet enough to make you gag. Lots of "daughter running to greet her father after work, father scooping daughter up in his arms, they frolic through meadows" stuff. Now that I've actually had three kids I have a better idea of how the whole thing works. It's embarrassing how off I was.


5. Everyone doesn't have to be good-looking. I described all my characters like movie stars. The guys were ruggedly handsome. The little girls were cute. The ladies were hot. When I was nineteen I was shallow concerning physical appearance. I'm still shallow but I think I'm more balanced with the whole outward-beauty thing. (Penelope has a slight issue with her weight, btw.)

Those are just a few lessons but it's nice to sit back and reflect on the ground I've covered in five years. I'm sure in another five years, I'll read the stuff I'm writing now and cringe but at least it won't be as bad as when I started.