Fortifications

Hello world!

Long time, no see! Apparently this is a direct translation from Chinese. I have a thing for litteral translations these days.

Anwyay, I was in France on holiday so I didn’t have an internet connection to post with. I also haven’t written much in spite of that, just over 1000 words. And if you’re thinking of asking about that sewing project, go see somewhere else if I’m there (direct translation from French. I think you can figure it out.)

I did have a lovely time, though, and I did a lot of thinking about my story, which is what holidays are particularly good for. I also visited places, which is also good for thinking.

Bayonne

One place I visited is Bayonne, which has ramparts running around it. Then I saw this programme on telly about Carcassonne’s fort, and it hit me that none of the cities in my world are fortified. That’s not a problem in itself, but after discussing how the way wars are the impact the kind of town that people build, I realized that is my problem. There isn’t a reason for my towns to not be fortified. I just haven’t thought about it.

Carcassonne

My conclusion was that I need to work a bit more of the history of my world, so that I know if I need to revamp my towns. Except my world is 12000 years old, of which I have written about 1500. Which is stupid because, if nothing else, my characters are going to refer to the recent history of their country. I have also, for some reason, focused on the other countries (it’s because it’s where my ‘evil immortal sorcerer’ comes from).

How to remedy this grave oversight on my part? If I start writing 12000 years of history, it won't be tomorrow the day before that I’ll be finished (read: any time soon – gosh, I’m really on fire with those French idioms, I should start my own version of Sky! Mortimer!.

I have an idea of how to get around it (that doesn’t involve making my world much younger, which is another option). In a nutshell: be vague. But I thought it would be a good occasion to share some of this history with you, since it won’t spoil the plot. Yep, just like that. No strings attached. Cadeau.

I also have some big plans to share more of my world, probably around the one year birthday of the blog. But shhhhhh! It’s top secret. Unless you’re one of the few I have already told. In which case… shhhhhhh!

Setbacks

I am told every good story has setbacks. It can’t all go according to plan,

By those standards this is a good story. The story of a girl trying to write a book. First things get in the way, like quitting her job and having to spend all her time finding a new one. Then she is ‘sent’ on new missions that distract her from her main goal. For example, she decides to go to a festival and sew a costume in spite of the fact that the last thing she made was six years ago and she isn’t sure she knows how to work a sewing machine any more. She has no time for her book, and she keeps on saying, ‘I’ll write soon, when I finish the costume. I just need to…’ But each time, there is something else she hadn’t planned, like washing and ironing the fabric and pinning the selvages together. Just when she thinks she is ready to sew (not long until she can get back to writing) the evil cat decides to throw up on the fabric, rendering all her efforts useless. Now she needs to start all over again! Will she be able to do everything in time for the festival, or will it have all been in vain?

Now in a good story, she would double her efforts and finish everything just in time. There would even be great action music in the background.

Right now, though, I’m doubting my life is a good story. Just feeling like giving up. And like shaving my cat so she doesn’t throw up fur balls on my stuff anymore.

May update

So, May has come already, and I have so much left to write!

What’s that? Nano, you say? Oh yeah, that… Well, I finished with 10 686 words, which I reached on the 25^th April. Rather than 25 000. You could say I have failed. Or you could say it’s 10k closer to the end, which is how I like to look at things (I’ve been trying to ban words like ‘failure’ from my vocabulary. It’s tough.).

You might have noticed I didn’t write anything in the last 5 days of the Nano, which is disgraceful and all. You might ask what on earth I’ve been doing all this time that could be more important.

Well, I’ll enlighten you. I have paid taxes, gone cycling, looked for a job, gone to interviews, looked for more jobs, written application forms, visited relatives, celebrated birthdays, gone running, read a trilogy, opened mail, cleaned the bathroom… life, in short. And life has given me little time for writing.

Now I have read that real writers always find time for writing. I’ll argue I’ve written lots, but only in my head. I’ll admit, though, writing hasn’t been my priority. In fact it’s been pretty low on the list. I mean, come on! Behind cleaning the bathroom? It doesn’t get much lower than that. Yet they were things I felt I ought to do, whereas writing is for pleasure, and therefore optional. I suppose that’s the beauty of the NaNo, when done following the rules: writing becomes your priority. For it to work, you have to accept that life will come second.

But now it’s the bank holiday, and although I have a costume to make and more application forms to do and a course to prepare… I’ll make time. Because when I take the time to think about it, I remember how much I love my world.

Camp Nano Day 19

This is the update for Day 19. Nearly 3 weeks in, which means I should have written nearly 16 000 words. What do you think?

Of course I haven't! BUT I have written 8327 words, so it's not that bad.
I've had a good stab at my dreaded first chapter, managing to scramble over some hurdles, though I'm not done yet.
I've also worked on some of the last scenes. I wanted to make some changes for two reasons. The first is that as part of my ongoing attempt at making my story less moralistic, I've cut down on the preachy stuff and therefore had to condense some of it and change the scenes. Now it's all at the end and is fairly short - kind of Dumbledore style.

Love Richard Harris!

The other reason is that I have added an epilogue! Wouhou!

The other day I was in the pub with friends from singing and talking about my prologue. I was saying I might change it because, although some of what happens is hinted at later on, it never gets explained. In fact it only really gets explained in book 2 (have I mentioned this is a trilogy?). Which is a tad problematic. So my friend Chris suggested writing an epilogue from the point of view of the character from the prologue, to tie things together. I thought it was a brilliant idea because it would allow me to reveal some things but only to tease the reader, and tie the whole trilogy together through these tidbits at the beginning and at the end. And it allowed me to keep my prologue, which I like.

So there, that's the rundown so far. Some progress is better than no progress, I always say! On the other hand, I've looked at how much I have achieved so far compared to how much I still need to do, and it's rather depressing...

cover

A couple of weeks ago I had made a cover for the book for my NaNo page (which you might have noticed already). I tweaked it a little, so for your enjoyment and enteraintment, I reveal my book cover:

This reminds me I never really mentioned what my book is called. I think I'll do a post about that some time, so if you have any thoughts... hold onto them!

Feel free to comment on the cover, though, but please note I am limited by my very rudimentary photoshopping skills. The original picture is this:

I love the colours, and it was a shame to lose them, but the greyscale fits better. I might try and make one later keeping the colours but fiddling with the cover somehow.

If you are at all interested, this is the technical bit:

I used the freeware GIMP to set the pixel size (needed for the NaNo website), change the colours and add a title. Thinking about it now, I should have probably made a high res poster and then restricted the pixel size, but nevermind. 

I found the picture through Google Advanced Image search but it is hosted by pixabay. The picture is completely public domain -it has a CC0 license, which means it's free to edit and use, even commercially. It always amazes me that people are willing to put their work up for others to use as they wish, with no restriction and no need for recognition. Still, I feel the guy deserves some credit, so this is his page. The same goes for the acorns. It's some old engraving that is now royalty free and hosted by openclipart.org.

Let me know what you think!

NaNo update day 13

I like the number 13. A good day to report on my NaNo progress.

I have finally started, which is, you know... good. And what's more I've been working on Stus and my first chapter: 3350 words down! It took me a long time to get back into it, so some of those words are background information. It doesn't really matter for the camp, though. Since I'm rewriting it's not about making my book longer but getting those revisions done, and here writing some background was needed. 

Day 13 means I should be at nearly 11k, but considering I've been on holiday and visiting relatives (and only started 5 days ago), I think it's not too bad.

Nano Update week 1

Just a quick one before I fly off to France, since I haven't given an update on my NaNo yet. It’s been going on for a week now, and I am proud to announce that I have written a grand total of 0 words.

Yep, that’s right: I haven’t written anything!

I do have excuses. I’ve had a very busy week and an even busier weekend. ‘What could possibly be more important that the NaNo?’ I hear you ask. Well, a lot of things, it seems. Things that were becoming urgent, like clearing up the room that had been taken over by folders and papers I had taken home from school. Or getting my parents’ car’s MOT done. Then, since I had gotten started, I thought I’d do ALL my chores before writing. That way my mind would be worry-free. Except it’s taken me three days to do the chores, and I’m not even sure I’m finished.

I swear it wasn’t procrastination: I have been itching to write all weekend. I even have ideas for a new prologue (that, on the other hand, might be procrastination).

But now I’m off to France for a short break and I can finally get started. After I proof read my sister’s script. And write a review for a book I loved. After that, I promise, I’ll get started.