Since coming back from my trip, and having to deal with the holidays, I’ve been struggling to fit writing back into my life. The book’s outlined, the stories there, screaming to get out on paper, but I just wasn’t giving myself the time to write. Then, on the advice of Cory Doctorow, I decided that instead of trying to eke out several solid hours a week to write a big chunk, I’d try to split the writing up over the course of the week. Afterall 5 sessions of 500 words is just as good as 1 session of 2500 words, right? Plus, it’s easier to find 30 minutes to an hour each day rather than trying to eke 4-5 hours in one big chunk.
Turning that corner was a bloody good idea, considering I’ve finished two chapters which brings me up to 20 out of 28 chapters. What’s that? Is the finish line in sight? Oh yeah.
| Chapter One: 1,419 Chapter Two: 2,123 Chapter Three: 3,090 Chapter Four: 1,944 Interlude: 829 Chapter Five: 3,164 Chapter Six: 3,774 Chapter Seven: 2,379 Chapter Eight: 2,842 Chapter Nine: 4,011 Chapter Ten: 2,512 |
Chapter Eleven: 3,173 Chapter Twelve: 5,309 Chapter Thirteen: 3,528 Chapter Fourteen: 2,964 Interlude: 784 Chapter Fifteen: 2,671 Chapter Sixteen: 2,350 Chapter Seventeen: 4,324 Chapter Eighteen: 2,204 Chapter Nineteen: 3,764 Chapter Twenty: 2,148 |
Chapter 29: Lud, in the Mist
This was the first chapter I wrote after a hiatus of a few months for travelling and the holidays. Frankly, I was amazed at how easily I got back in to the world and the heads of the characters. This chapter introduces two characters (well, one of them has shown up before, but this is where they both get their place in the spotlight) and they’re two of my favourite characters in the novel.
Not only do the two of them (a sort of Odd Couple-type, vigilante Faeries) give me a chance to have some fun with dialogue, but they’re very different types of characters than I’ve had the chance to write elsewhere in the novel. The two of them kick of a very important plot string that leads right up into the climax of the novel and are a major component in one of the first scenes that arrived fully formed when my novel was still in the dreaming phase.
To say I’ve been eager to write them, to truly meet them and get to know their characters, is a severe understatement.
Chapter 20: Dust, Death and Sunshine
This was an interesting chapter to right, if mostly for the drastic shift in tone from the beginning to the end of its relatively short length. It starts off an exploration of a part of the Fey world that Rowan doesn’t really realize exists and ends with a life and death battle with a face from her past. The two characters I mentioned from the previous chapter really get to shine here and strut there stuff.
A damn fun chapter to write.
Hey, it’s great to read about another writer going through some of the same struggles and issues that I’m facing. I know that when I don’t get to write for an extended period of time, it’s a torturous feeling and I’m always itching to sit down and get going. If that feeling is denied I feel desperately unproductive. But for me, like you, it’s all about an hour here, an hour there. Thanks for putting it out there and being so open about the process!