Know the Novel: Part 2
November is here!
And that means NaNoWriMo is here, as well! Bring on the bleary-eyed, over-caffeinated, stressed out authors (but we’re all gonna continue claiming that we LOVE this torture we put ourselves through!) This year, I have decided to participate in as a REBEL, which means that instead of having a goal of WRITING 50,000 words by the end of the month, I am hoping to EDIT 60,000 words and finish this first pass of edits on Towers of Might and Memory, the fifth book in my Turrim Archive series!
It might be more like 65,000 words. We will see what happens with the editing. The big goal is to finish before December. How many words it ends up being will remain to be seen.
This link-up is a beautiful and fun 3-part blogging prompt that my dear friend Christine created a few years ago.
You can read my answers to her October Questions HERE.
THE QUESTIONS
1. How’s the writing going overall?
Actually, quite well. Editing may not be EASIER than drafting, but it certainly has the potential to go quicker. And it’s easier to get through large chunks of words swiftly.
Now, that being said, the first half of this book was the more polished half. And as I get further into the story, I am realizing just how messy my writing became in the second half. Also, at some point in the drafting process I… appear to have… given up on the whole concept of chapters?! What was that all about? It’s just a string of scenes with labels (thank the Lord for Scrivener), and no discernible plan for how I meant to pair them up or merge them together.
shrug
So… I am guessing that figuring all of that out is going to slow me down a bit in the near future.
2. What’s been the most fun aspect about writing this novel so far?
The characters, without a doubt. Though playing in this fictional realm of Turrim is also quite a blast. It’s a really intricately thought out world (complements of my husband, who did a lot of the up-front work), and I think one of the things that’s really kind of sad to me is how much of this behind-the-scenes planning and building the audience will ever see.
3. What do you think of your characters at this point? Who’s your favorite to write about?
My editor is convinced that Marik is my favorite. And he might be right in some of the books. But in this particular, last novel of the series… it’s probably Dalmir.
I love all my characters, though. Even my villains. I’ve not written villains quite like these before and they are an interesting group. I’ve got my evil mastermind, of course, but then there’s also the henchman who’s 400% insane (but also a genius, and a narcissist, and sort of thinks he’s doing things that will help the world… as he helps tear it to shreds), and then there’s my super-dedicated assassins. It’s very interesting.
4. Has your novel surprised you in any way?
Not yet. It has surprised me how little re-writing I’ve had to do on this book so far… but like I said, the first half was the easy half.
5. Have you come across any problem areas?
Not yet… but looking ahead I know where some of them are going to be. I have a very big plan for the ending, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t write that scene or series of scenes in the rough draft, so that will be fun… but also will slow me down… and what I want to do is a little daunting and intimidating.
Also, the big, epic showdown finale is about to get started and I’m a bit nervous that I’m going to find I left it a colossal mess. (I stopped breaking the story up into chapters, after all! That can’t be good news).
6. What’s been your biggest victory with writing this novel at this point?
I think the fact that I might actually get it finished before the end of the year (and hopefully by the end of November!) is the biggest victory. I got hung up last year and wasn’t able to edit or write much of anything, and it was a pretty rough and depressing year in general for me, and specifically with regards to writing. Getting a whole year behind didn’t help improve my mood, as it were.
I went into editing this year knowing that I was already a year behind and with no hopes of being able to get as far as I wanted. The fantasy-dreamland-goal was to get through this first pass of edits on books 2-5 before the year closed… but I thought there was no way that would ever happen.
And, yet, here I am.
7. If you were transported into your novel and became any one of the characters, which one do you think you’d be? Would you take any different actions than they have?
I’d probably be Cathrin. She’s the older sister to Beren (one of my main characters). She’s a school-teacher, and leads a fairly plain and boring life. At first glance, she’s nothing super special.
But she might have caught the eye of a certain pirate captain.
And that might be kinda fun.
8. Give us the first sentence or paragraph then 2 (or 3!) more favorite snippets!
“What is it, Thorben?” Nadia asked as her husband came into the house, his face pale beneath his golden beard. He looked suddenly decades older than he had looked only an hour before, and fear clutched at Nadia’s heart. “What did the messenger have to say?”
Thorben Adelfried crossed the room and slumped into the large chair next to the enormous, double-sided stone hearth that proudly stood in the center of his massive living room. He rubbed his hands across his face. Nadia, sensing that something was terribly wrong, crossed the room and took his hands in hers.
“Tell me,” she said, her voice quiet and calm.
Snippet 1
The older man’s face filled with shadows as his wrinkles deepened in wry grin. “We got the news of the sighting, too, colonel. I understand your anxiety. But our scout was able to estimate their speed. We won’t see our enemy for a day or two, yet. More if they intend to be any kind of intelligent about a siege. A wise man would get the rest he needs while he can.”
Ioan gave a jerky nod. “You’re right. I know it. But I can’t quite get the message to my nerves.”
The older man waved a hand at the railing. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you like. Want a biscuit? The wife just brought me dinner a few minutes ago.” He pressed a crumbly, buttery mess into Ioan’s hand. “I’m guessing you haven’t eaten either.” He raised a hand to ward off Ioan’s protests. “The wife keeps me well fed.” He patted his well-rounded stomach with a chuckle. “She always brings more than I can reasonably consume in one shift. You youths never eat or sleep when you ought to. I know you think you’re not hungry, but take a bite. You might change your mind. There’s a pot of beef stew I can share if you find your appetite.”
Ioan’s stomach rebelled at the idea of food, until he brought the biscuit up to his lips. The scent of baked bread and melted butter and the warmth of the freshly cooked biscuit vetoed his entire worldview. A second later, he was licking the crumbs from his fingers and his stomach gurgled loudly, demanding more.
Snippet 2
Marik took a thoughtful bite of his dinner. Memories of home washed over him as the familiar flavors combined in his mouth. For a brief instant, nostalgia gripped him, then the bitterness of everything that had happened washed through him, ripping away the fond memories and burying them beneath a mountain of sorrow.
Snippet 3
Cathrin scrubbed the cloth vigorously over the washing board again and again, heedless of how wrinkled and red her hands were becoming, or the fact that she had been washing the same article for the past several minutes.
“If you don’t stop, you’re going to wear a hole right through Ioan’s shirt.”
Cathrin jumped, startled at her brother’s voice, and then looked down at the soggy mass in her hands and grimaced. “Oh. I got a bit distracted.”
“Thinking about a certain pirate?” Drengur grinned, then danced out of the way with a yelp as Cathrin flung one end of the sopping wet shirt at him, spraying him with a shower of soapy droplets.
“Thinking about a lot of things, actually.” Cathrin rubbed the dryest corner of her wrist across a sudden itch on her cheek.
Drengur sobered. “Papa and Ioan?”
“I wish there was something I could do to help. I feel so useless.”
“You should come with us.”
“Us?” Cathrin’s eyebrows shot up in alarm. “What do you mean? Where are you going? Surely Papa didn’t agree to let you join the Defenders!”
9. Share an interesting tidbit about the writing process so far! (For example: Have you made any hilarious typos? Derailed from your outline? Killed off a character? Changed projects entirely? Anything you want to share!)
I never manage to make hilarious typos. I wish I would. But I always just have ordinary, mundane, boring typos.
It’s a curse.
Interesting tidbit… hmmmm.
Nope… got nothin.
10. Take us on a tour of what a normal writing day for this novel looks like. Where do you write? What time of day? Alone or with others? Is a lot of coffee (or some other drink) consumed? Do you light candles? Play music? Get distracted by social media (*cough, cough*)? Tell all!
A normal writing day for this novel generally happens in the afternoons after we’ve finished up school for the day. I hide in my room on the sofa, and get interrupted a bajillion times by various family members who need answers to questions, hugs, permission for something, bandaids, or various other maladies that seem to only strike when I’m out of sight.
Sometimes I also do some writing in the evenings after the munchkins are in bed.
I haven’t been listening to a lot of music with this one, though I did put on some instrumental Christmas music the other night. Occasionally I’ll pop in my headphones and listen to a playlist of Lindsay Sterling… her music has been a massive source of inspiration for this series.
I do get distracted by social media far more than I ought to. cough cough but I do try to stay off of it until I hit my word count for the writing session.
I do not drink coffee… but I will say that a lot of Dr. Pepper has been consumed during this project. grin
And that wraps up my answers to the second installment of Know the Novel!
I hope you enjoyed learning more about my editing process. Did you like the snippets? I’m getting more and more excited about sharing this series with you, dear Reader! And I’m planning to share a lot more about this project soon! Things are in the works! And they shall only be secret for a short while longer.