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Storytelling is a talent passed down through the generations in my family. It is a way of life in that the more you live, the better the story; the deeper the experience, the broader the plain to connect with readers. Just like life is about people so writing is about people - about their love, their loss, their triumphs, their failures, and their x ever after. I write to understand myself and make sense of life. I share my work in order to find others who can relate to my characters, or their lives, or the moral of the story.

Tuesday, December 02, 2014

After five years...

Listening to: Fall Out Boy - Centuries
Mood: Still reeling emotionally
Writing: Chronicles of Derenvere - Black & White (Book 1)

So after five years of participating in Nanowrimo and only barely scraping past the mid-20k, I've finally done it. I won my first Nano with a strutting 50,234 words.

I say strutting because I've just gone past the halfway point in my novel and have another 5 chapters to write to get to the end, and the muse is still running ahead.

I'd really like to join in the What Now months coming up (January and February 2015) so my goal is to complete this novel by the end of December. As it stands, Tuesdays and Fridays are the best days for me to write because the kids are all at school. I also want to continue the writing routine I've adapted during Nanowrimo and write every night. 

I know my family have been asking to read this book. I know the version I have up on my Fiction Press is old and incomplete. But I do have my standards, and since this was NANO, the majority of what I've written needs to either be hammered into shape or cut out completely. Until it's in decent enough shape, I'm not sharing it with anyone.

Congratulations to everyone who won Nanowrimo 2014. 
To those who didn't win: it took me years and I finally got there. Just don't throw in the towel!

Happy writing and reading :)

Friday, October 24, 2014

Taking the Plunge


I wasn't going to do it this year. I wasn't planning on joining in, anyway.
Yet here I am, 6 days left to go and scheduling in my Nano calendar.
So I guess it's safe to say that I have not gone sane yet. 

Monday, October 06, 2014

The One-shot habit




Listening to: The Pretty Reckless - Heaven Knows
Mood: dipping my toes back in the water
Writing: One-shots/cut scenes for Chronicles of Derenvere


I don't know if any other writers out there do this, too. 
I picked up this habit on fanfiction sites such as Twilight Tales and Fanfiction.net. 
Whenever I try to get into, or back into, a fandom, I start off with one-shots. 

One-shots according to the online dictionary:
1. Occurring, appearing, done, etc, only once.
2. Achieved or accomplished with a single try.

Or, in more defined writing terms as explained by JustPeachy on Yahoo Answers:

~A different meaning of "one-shot" is often used by authors who write series of stories, generally in their own alternate universe of a given fandom. Often an author will write several disjoint series, but additionally, single stories (of any length, but generally comparatively shorter) which are standalone, not tying into any of the writer's other continuity; these are called one-shots, as the author doesn't plan to extend or revisit them.~

A note for readers on FF.net - please go reread that last sentence there, and spare one-shot-addicted authors the pain of gritting their teeth and ramming their heads into their desks and lamenting about people not understanding what it means when a story is listed as 'complete'. Thank you kindly.

Where was I....
So I start off with one-shots, both to test the water and see if I can write the characters in-character (which is not always an easy feat), but mostly to test the water. To see whether I'll be burned with fire or welcomed with chuckles and head shaking by the fandom. Thus, I write humour as my introduction to a new fandom. Son of Sparda Mode is a prime example (and also my most liked one-shot with 33 people having added it to their favourites, whoo-hoo!)

Once I've got my foot in the door, I dish up some more one-shots of differing genres. Sometimes it's to try my hand at something new such as cropping an adventure into a one-chapter story, but most of the time it's to get to know the characters better. Test them in various situations, put them in other genres, and see how they tick. 

Which is why the habit of one-shots has stuck and follows me into both fandoms and original projects.

So!
In short, I'm starting work on one-shots for Chronicles of Derenvere to get back into my character's mind. Here, have a read. Be warned, it's not a funny one to start off with.

Happy writing and reading! :)


Wednesday, October 01, 2014

Write, burn-out, beta-read, rewrite, repeat.


Listening to: Avril Lavigne ft OneRepublic - Remember When
Mood: Meh.
Writing: The Chronicles of Derenvere


I'd like to start this post off with: No, I am not participating in Nano next month. It would be the first time since discovering Nanowrimo that I don't join in the chaos.

But I am getting back into the swing of writing again. Not to imply that I haven't been writing, but I am mentally gearing myself up to make this my 8-6 job, 5 days a week. I think that I have reached the point that I just want to polish off the manuscripts I have, whilst working on those still sprouting stories, and send them into an agent.

See what happens.
I wouldn't send my work in anywhere if I didn't think it stood a chance.

But hey, it's 2014, and considering the smut selling like hotcakes in the literary world these days, I'm confident that I can feed the readers and satisfy everyone.  Especially (or rather hopefully) the other writers out there who are discouraged and outraged at what is being put forward to readers.

Respect the readers.
Respect the writers.
Respect the craft.

Write on, my friends.