NaNo Check-In

Liiiiiiiiiiifeeee! Mwahahahaha!

Ahem. Sorry about that. I'm just so excited to have an excuse to do something besides writing or work. I mean, I'm writing here, but it's not on my NaNovel or even a piece of fiction, and that's refreshing. Week two of NaNoWriMo, 20,000 words in, and I'm dying.

My motivation has gone and disappeared, even though the story itself has reached the brilliant plot overload that I generally reach in the middle of a really good first draft. It starts with "I have no plot!" and evolves into "Oh, writing gods, what have I done? There are far too many subplots to even know what the main plot is!" Eventually, after several rewrites, that gets boiled down into a single main plot and, maybe, a handful of subplots. I did it with Savior; I do it with every good piece I write. So I suppose it's a good thing that it's happening here.

But it's so frustrating! Dang you, characters! Why must you have lives of your own?! *Shakes angry fist*

Anyone else participating in NaNo and having the Week Two Blues? Or anyone else have major plot disorders in anything they write?

Distraction!

You know of what I have far too many? (We’re going to ignore that awkward sentence structure in light of it being grammatically correct.) Distractions. You know what I love but really should hate with the passion of a thousand dying stars? Distractions.

My favorite distraction? Text-based role-playing. It’s addictive for the writing-influenced mind, I swear. I suppose it could be compared to World of Warcraft or Dungeons and Dragons (I’ll admit to playing the latter, but I’ve never tried the former), except it’s all done with words. It’s all written out. There are no dice to throw or graphics to load, just a good, old-fashioned story to write with your partner(s). It's so helpful for throwing ideas around and a bit of world-building on occasion, definitely character development. What better way to get to know your characters than by sticking them in random situations with someone else's character, after all? 

But there's an inherent problem here. Well, two, really. 1) It's addicting and time consuming. 2) It's a distraction. There have been several times when I wander around thinking about a story and realizing I'm plotting out my characters' next moves in a role play when I should be working on something like figuring out how long it takes to get from one country to another in my actual story, especially without falling into the "Horse as Motorcycle" syndrome. Don't get me wrong, everyone needs a break from their work now and again. But this gets ridiculous. And, I'll admit, there have been times when I'm so sucked into a particular plot line with someone else that I neglect my book(s) for weeks at a time. I tell myself I'm still writing, so it's okay. 

Except that it's not okay. Yes, the role plays are fun and helpful on occasion, but they're not helping me get my book written. (With the sole exception of the one plot my friend and I are attempting to turn into an actual book eventually.) So here's my confession: My name is Emerson and I'm addicted to distractions. 

That's step one in recovery, isn't it? What's step two? I have no idea. For this, it's probably turning the internet off for a while every day and forcing myself to actually work. Otherwise this is going to be a very long, very slow, very painful process. 

What about you guys, all three of my readers? What are your worst distractions and how do you overcome them? 

The Real World

This week has been another slow writing week. This working in the real world and trying to carve out a niche for myself in the company has been rather a blow to my motivation. Which, of course, is hard to accept, since I'm so dang close to finishing the rewrite so I can start querying again. I want to go back to school and be able to justify sitting at home all day and working. And I've only been out of school for a little over a month now.

The good news? I have yet another project idea. This one playing with a faery tale. I know the faery tale retelling idea has been done over and over again, but that's not going to stop me from writing this, for fun if nothing else. I'm planning on tying it in with the history and myth of my world, which should hopefully make it a bit more unique than just another faery tale retold. Let's all keep our fingers cross for that one, shall we?

Oljiru kovy.

Another Slow Week

Not much to say on the writing front this week. Again, packing and finishing up the semester seem to have made my words all dry up. I get restless every time I sit down to work, and it's tough pounding out at least a few paragraphs a day. Oh, well. I'm almost done.

I did get rewrite my query letter, though. That's always fun and exciting.

This week, your bit of fiction is the beginning of an old, old story that I'm reworking. Enjoy.

“Get down!” Ellianna T’fos shouted as she leapt from her hiding spot. She easily cleared the man’s head, landing heavily in the mulch. Dead leaves and debris scattered from the place her boots touched down. Without a moment of thought, she drew her sword to parry the  attack aimed at her head. Steel sang against steel. She moved one foot back a step to brace her against the force of the blow. Recovering quickly, she forced her attacker’s blade back at him and followed with a quick thrust at his gut. 

He barely managed to knock her blade aside in time. 

“This really isn’t—” The man behind her, who had been the target of the attack, spoke in a soft, pleading voice. Until the attacker’s dagger landed in the tree behind him, inches from his hooded head. 

“Shut up,” Ellianna hissed, ducking a blow aimed at her head. She rolled into her opponent’s guard and drove her blade up, into his stomach. If he was what she thought he was, her strike would do nothing but slow him down. Worth a shot, at least. True to her instinct, the man simply staggered back, cursing. She felt a sharp tug at her chest, the center of the magic that kept her alive, as the wound in his stomach knitted itself together again. So he was an Andra, after all. Damn it. That would make things much more difficult.