Writing Update

Hello dear readers! I actually wrote a version of this post three weeks ago but I never published it because it had ceased to be accurate. Like most times I had bitten off more than I could chew and had really grand plans to write a novel this summer. One can dream, can't they? Well, my new job, while only part time, does take more energy than I had planned and every time I sat down to work on my novel words would not come out at all. It was a terrible case of both writer's block and lack of motivation to write anything, so I stepped back and reevaluated my plans because I still wanted to write this summer and I settled on a happy medium that I couldn't be more excited to share with you all, now.

Quick digression: I do plan to try and do writing update's every month or so because I like the idea of keeping you updated with how this is going. Both for my own motivation and because it's fun to talk about my current projects.

I've decided to work on a passion project of mine that I've been too afraid to try and attempt because it at once seems like a huge task and a very personal one because it definitely deals with a lot of the internal things I deal with. And that project is a collection of original fairy tales.

So far I know three of the stories that will be in there. One of them is a novel I worked on and finished last year (or maybe it was two years ago at this point). You may remember me talking about a project called The Queen's Ransom. Originally the idea for that was a novella but I reshaped it into a novel with really poor results. I want to take it back to the original novella format and high light the fairy tale aspects like it originally wanted to be. (When I wrote it as a novel it became more focused on a quest portion and not the Grimm fairy tale vibe I really wanted for it.) The other two are more traditionally structured fairy tale stories. The first one I'm working on is tentatively titled The Winter King and the other very, very tentatively titled The Thames Spirit.

I've begun writing The Winter King and have been handwriting it on scraps. I want to finish handwriting it before the end of the day on the 12th and I think as long as I put time aside I should be fine, I'm already about a third of the way through. I'm then going to type it up and edit it a bit as I type, make it more cohesive and such. After that I'll do a proper edit and send it out to some friends I trust.

That's where I am with writing so far this summer and I hope to finish at least two of the stories in the collection before I have to go back to school. As of right now I don't really have a title for the collection (though I would like it to be an ode to Midsummer Night's Dream, I think) so I'll probably just continue to refer to it as my fairy tale book.

I'd love to talk shop with people so feel free to hit me up on twitter or even in the comments here. I hope everyone is having a great summer so far and thanks for sticking around!

Writing Corner: My WIP

This is a new monthly post I'm going to try out.  It'll be a way for me to check in, tell people about how and what I've been writing, and also hold me somewhat accountable to keep writing.

I've wanted to be a published author since I was much younger, but I've always had trouble finishing stories that I've started.  My friend and I did finish writing a novel one time (though we both agree it's best to leave that one locked away since it's not very good) but on my own it's hard to keep up the momentum.

The project I've been working on, which I've named Sand and Storm (SaS for short), is one that I've been working on for eight months (I originally had the idea in August of 2015).  It's gone through several iterations in its time.  Sand and Storm is a fantasy western where it hasn't rained in hundreds of years (they get their water from oasis'- sources provided by the gods).  The main characters, Will (short for Willow) and Short (a translation of his name), accidentally awaken the goddess of the storm, who has some revenge in mind for the world.  With her they also awake the trickster god, Coyote, who must play an integral part of taking her down.

Here's how I got the idea:

I was lying in bed thinking about how there aren't enough western's in YA literature and decided I should write one.  I quickly realized the amount of research (by that I mean watching and reading westerns, a genre I'm not too fond of) was overwhelming and would take away from the fun experience of actually writing the novel, so I couldn't actually write a western.  It then came to mind that it could be a fantasy world set, pretty clearly, with roots in the stereotypical version of the Old West, with the major differences being the magic system and the pantheon of gods.

I started writing it shortly after this idea came to be and was keeping it on a flash drive.  It was coming along well, though I had the novel starting around where chapter three is located now.  Which was fine, but a little rushed now that I think about it.  Then, my flash drive wiped itself.  All my work was lost.  Forever.

The next day I decided to start over, completely, rather then let it get to me.  But instead of writing, I planned out the first couple of chapters in rather large depth.  And in this planning I decided that it wasn't going to be a YA trilogy anymore, but an adult duet (possibly trilogy).  So I started writing it as if all the plot I had for the first three novels would be built into one.  I also started the novel several chapters ahead of where I start it now with scenes that don't exist anymore (and won't exist, ever again).  I realized quickly that the story was becoming something I didn't want to tell and that I wasn't connecting with the characters at all.  So I scrapped that and started again, with my original plan.

Which was going fine for several chapters, but around chapter ten the plot completely stopped, the motivation was strange, and I was still having a bunch of trouble connecting to one of the main characters.  It was a struggle to write and I had no idea where anything was leading, so I stopped for a month and made a big decision.  I would give the novel one more go before I put in a drawer and worked on another project for some time.

I tried starting chapter one a couple more times, once or twice on my computer, where I quickly realized it just wasn't flowing, and then again handwritten.  This was working for a while, but I was writing during class when I should have been paying attention, and both the novel and the grades were suffering for it.  So, deciding none of these were my official "last go at the novel" I bought myself a writing pad, decided I should give myself two or three days per chapter, and began writing again.

This version, which will be my last Rough Draft before I take a break to focus on something else that might actually flow a bit better (I've never given myself so much dedication to one work before; normally if a problem arises I try to fix it once and if that doesn't work, I go on to something else), is very similar to my original ideas, but has the bonus of all the internal development I've created for the novel from the point of the first version to this one.  I've already written two chapters and a prologue, which amounts to around 12 pages handwritten (or 3k words, which is shorter than I originally wanted, but when I transcribe it to my computer I'm fairly certain it will get much longer).

I hope to keep you guys updated.  Maybe I'll write my next post when I get through about half of the novel.

Thanks for reading!

An Update

So far the blogging has been going VERY WELL and I want to thank everyone who has visited recently and particularly those who come on a regular basis.  The coming weeks should hold even more books and such.

As for this week, you may have noticed that I haven't posted a book review in the last few days.  Most likely, I won't get another one out until Sunday.  This week has just dragged by, I've been so busy with school and work.  I am reading, but I'm reading longer books, which is another holdup.  Also, TV shows are coming back.  I watch a lot of TV and keeping up is often a challenge.  It's never top priority, but I do have to factor that in.

The next reviews you'll see are tentatively scheduled as follows:

• The Vanishing Girl - Saturday/Sunday
• Masters of Blood and Bone - Next Thursday
• The Well of Ascension - Next Sunday

Hopefully I'll be able to get to a few more than that, but we'll see.  As for my TBR so far this month, I think I've done a pretty good job.  I started with a rather large TBR on purpose- I like to give an idea of what's on my mind but still have some space to choose from an array.  Next month will have an even larger TBR, so don't expect me to get to all of them.  ARCs are top priority for the most part, so those won't change much, but the rest are just ideas.

In other news, I've started writing again!  It makes me feel great and I've made pretty fantastic progress.  My goal is to finish the project by the end of April, so I'll keep you guys updated.

If you have any books you think I should read or any posts you want me to do (like a recommend: certain genre) let me know in the comments or through an email (although comments are easier and go straight to my email anyways).  Hope everyone else is having a great month reading wise.  Ta!