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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Sept 23, 2018 20:28:39 GMT
Hey everybody! How are you doing, today? We have a word count thread, which is great. I thought perhaps we might want to have a general updates/chit-chat thread. We can talk about our goals or just what's currently going on and concerning us in our lives. Today is Sunday, so I have church. I woke up at 4 am because my feet were sooo itchy I couldn't sleep, and then I wrote up a super long, complicated thread, posted it, thought better of it, and deleted. I often have second thoughts.  I've watched my adorable kitten play, and got to share my love of Babylon 5 again in the off-topic B5 thread. Talking about B5 always inspires me, and this made me think about TUOK. TUOK is a ginormous mess and the story of its creation is very long and fraught with peril, but it's probably the most important thing in my life. I get soooo overwhelmed with it. And then I put pressure on myself and that makes it worse. Step one is to organize everything so that I can actually build and shape something epictacular from it. So my goal for today is to do something to make progress on that goal. Your turn! How is your day going, what are your goals, thoughts, fears? What are you excited about? What are you dreading? We are a community. We care, and we want to know whatever you feel comfortable sharing with us.  |
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Post by prolificwriter on Sept 23, 2018 21:11:20 GMT
I’m doing pretty good right now!
Yesterday I finished my first edits on the book I just finished. Now I’m going to make a print version and when the proof arrives, I’ll do one final read through. I might start a new book while waiting for the proof to arrive.
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Sept 23, 2018 22:15:32 GMT
I’m doing pretty good right now! Yesterday I finished my first edits on the book I just finished. Now I’m going to make a print version and when the proof arrives, I’ll do one final read through. I might start a new book while waiting for the proof to arrive. Yay, I'm glad you're doing good. And Awesome Sauce on finishing the first draft and getting ready to make a print version. You must write pretty clean if you only need two rounds of edits. Nice! (When I pants my work is sooo messy that I need a crane to edit it with, but that's because my creative brain has no logic sensors. I think learning to outline will help me not have to edit quite so much.) Are you doing KDP Paperback or going with someone else? I tap you gently on the forehead with the pen of writing mojo and bless you with the muse of epicness! |
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Post by prolificwriter on Sept 23, 2018 22:49:27 GMT
And Awesome Sauce on finishing the first draft and getting ready to make a print version. You must write pretty clean if you only need two rounds of edits. Nice! (When I pants my work is sooo messy that I need a crane to edit it with, but that's because my creative brain has no logic sensors. I think learning to outline will help me not have to edit quite so much.) Are you doing KDP Paperback or going with someone else? My drafts could be cleaner, but they’re mostly there. I don’t need to do any major rewriting or restructuring. My process is usually write first draft —> spellcheck —> Grammarly (free version) —> first read through where I fix any inconsistencies, wrong word usage, glaring mistakes, etc. —> spellcheck again and maybe Grammarly —> make print version then do another read through and fix any mistakes I find —> final spellcheck —> done! I’d probably find more things to fix with a third read through, but by this time I’m sick of the thing and never want to see it again! And I’m definitely going with KDP Print. It’s pretty straightforward and I don’t want to mess around with buying ISBNs and learning to deal with a brand new printer. Thank you! |
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Post by prolificwriter on Sept 23, 2018 23:15:46 GMT
TUOK is a ginormous mess and the story of its creation is very long and fraught with peril, but it's probably the most important thing in my life. I get soooo overwhelmed with it. And then I put pressure on myself and that makes it worse. Step one is to organize everything so that I can actually build and shape something epictacular from it. That sounds daunting! Is that your epic sci-fi story? I have a few ideas for longer/epic novels, but I’m so impatient I doubt I’ll ever get to them! My longest novel is around 75k but most of my current ones are around 50k. I don’t like to read long descriptions of food, clothes, or locations, so I include a minimum of that in my writing. It’s mostly action, action, action! |
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Sept 23, 2018 23:40:47 GMT
TUOK is a ginormous mess and the story of its creation is very long and fraught with peril, but it's probably the most important thing in my life. I get soooo overwhelmed with it. And then I put pressure on myself and that makes it worse. Step one is to organize everything so that I can actually build and shape something epictacular from it. That sounds daunting! Is that your epic sci-fi story? I have a few ideas for longer/epic novels, but I’m so impatient I doubt I’ll ever get to them! My longest novel is around 75k but most of my current ones are around 50k. I don’t like to read long descriptions of food, clothes, or locations, so I include a minimum of that in my writing. It’s mostly action, action, action! 75k is pretty long and action is the best part! My longest draft is 41,000, I think. That was one the where I finished it and then I was like, "crap. I can't edit this thing. It makes no sense. I hate it. It's sooooooooo long. Why is it soooooooooooo long. HELP. Somebody Help Meeeeeeeeeeeee." And then I went and hid in my apple barrel. Yes, TUOK, is the acronym I use for my universe. I don't like a ton of description, either. I like writing dialogue along with tons of exposition, but my description tends to be too sparse. I have to try and get better at including it. I don't visualize in my head when I'm awake, usually. Only when I dream do I sometimes get those cinematic movies, so that doesn't help, either. TUOK is Secondary World Futuristic Fantasy with sci-fi, urban fantasy, and romance elements. What I would really love to do is to try creating an interconnected storyline like Marvel has, with all of these standalone trilogies that all coalesce into the huge mega Infinity War movies. I really love how Marvel did that, and it could work since I have tons of characters in different parts of the universe doing different things which all lead up to the war to end all wars. This morning in church I asked myself what makes TUOK - Tuok? Wrote down the answer, and then filled out some details about different worlds. Next, I need to plug in the flashdrive that has the most recent form of my documents folder and try not to weep too long whist I get up the courage to organize it a bit more. |
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Post by Jeff Tanyard on Sept 24, 2018 0:03:02 GMT
My progress has come to a halt thanks to the kboards dumpster fire. I spent two whole days overwriting posts. I'm still kind of blitzed from all the excitement, you know? I'm trying to get back in the Wheel of Fire mindset, but it's not easy. I'm editing book 3 at the moment. I'd love to get this thing published in October, but who knows.
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Sept 24, 2018 0:57:59 GMT
Yeah, the Kboards fire has been very distracting. *sympathetic poke of writerly solidarity* Jeff Tanyard. What's something that inspired you to first begin writing your WIP? Perhaps if you revisited it you could regain your vision. I have no clue what I was doing before it started. (shakes head) I was the same as captaincranky with reading Kboards being part of my daily routine. Even though I was mostly a lurker. kinda funny now since I'm a posting machine, but that' just because I feel much safer posting here. Kboards had experts and cattle prods, and I was shy. I haven't done anything with my posts because I don't think anything I've ever said would be a big enough draw for them to use. Sorry you're not feeling well captaincranky, glad it's not serious, but it still doesn't sound fun. And oh noooooos on your daughter's rat dying. That's the sad part about pets, they rarely live as long as we do. ;( Hurraaaays for figuring out what was going wrong with your supernatural suspense story and getting the victory over the nefarious plothole! *Hi-Five is for Victory* |
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Sept 24, 2018 1:25:33 GMT
I can't speak for anywhere else, but you definitely fit in here captaincranky! |
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Post by Jeff Tanyard on Sept 24, 2018 3:19:08 GMT
What's something that inspired you to first begin writing your WIP? Perhaps if you revisited it you could regain your vision.
I'm doing it right now, believe it or not. I'm watching old Babylon 5 clips on YouTube and talking about it with you.
In all seriousness, my Wheel of Fire series was inspired by other things first. I had the first inkling of it when I saw this image of Hoag's Object and I began to speculate about what the big yellow thing in the middle might be. That's what really started the ball rolling. Then I added in some Blavatsky-style theosophy, and that's when the thing started to take shape. But the series is a space opera, so there's interstellar politics and space battles and stuff of the sort you might find in Babylon 5. Watching those old clips really does help a little.
I hate that for both of you.  And you're definitely not alone, because a number of people at Tim's site have posted saying pretty much the same thing. "I only lurked on kboards, but I'm hoping to be more active here." And I hope they carry through. I hope they do become active posters over there.
And I hope both of you feel comfortable enough to become active posters there, too. K'Sennia might especially be interested in the space opera subforum Tim set up. I intend to start a thread there as soon as I can think up a good enough topic. lol
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Sept 24, 2018 3:38:49 GMT
Jeff Tanyard I tried quoting but it looked awful, so am just gonna tag you instead. Ring galaxies are so cool! I sort of have my own ring galaxy in TUOK, only it's the fantasy version of one. I, too, find talking about/watching Babylon 5 to be inspirational.
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Post by Jeff Tanyard on Sept 24, 2018 4:07:22 GMT
Yeah, I'm still trying figure out the quoting thing, too.  |
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Sept 24, 2018 18:13:09 GMT
My goal for today is to once again sort through my docs so that only my TUOK ones remain. I started at over 17,000 at 5 am and now at 8 am I'm down to 14,318. I've done this like eleventy-billion times already, and then I keep undoing it cos I get overwhelmed and stuck and stupid. So I'm doing it once more, and then after that I get to start actually organizing TUOK. Also I have a headache because I got up too early. But it's a minor one, so far. Like a 3, so it'll be fine. Just annoying.
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Post by corabuhlert on Sept 25, 2018 3:48:04 GMT
Sorry to hear about your daughter's pet rat, captaincranky. I also hear you about being tired. I've been very tired these past few days, too. I often get tired around the start of fall, whích is apparently a normal physiological reaction to the days getting shorter. Besides, we've had a rapid shift from warm and sunny to cold and rainy weather. And though I welcome the cold weather, the rapid shift apparently makes me even more tired.
I'm currently heading towards the end of a science fiction novella and it's tough going. A character is forced to fight as a gladiator. All fights are to the death, but he is told that if he beats is opponent, he'll be let go. So he wins his fight and - surprise - the bad guys were lying and just send in another opponent. And another, until the good guys show up to rescue him. All of which is thrilling stuff, except that I have to write several gladiator fights in a row and still make them exciting. I now feel as if I've been writing fight scenes for days and I just want the chapter to end, so I can write about something else.
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Sept 25, 2018 4:21:36 GMT
corabuhlert I think writing good gladiator fights would be super difficult. It sounds like you're good at it though, but I can still see it becoming repetitive and trying to make each one new and different enough could become painful. *hands you a super rejuvenation cake and a double shot of mocha inspiration* Hope you finish your chapter and novella soon!!!
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Post by Jeff Tanyard on Sept 25, 2018 4:39:49 GMT
corabuhlert I think writing good gladiator fights would be super difficult. It sounds like you're good at it though, but I can still see it becoming repetitive and trying to make each one new and different enough could become painful. *hands you a super rejuvenation cake and a double shot of mocha inspiration* Hope you finish your chapter and novella soon!!!
I've got sword fights in my space opera, which can sort of be considered gladiator fights, I guess. I try to vary them up by changing which limbs get lopped off, where somebody gets stabbed, how they react to their wounds, and so on. I also try to add some "chaos" to the scene by having the fighters slip on blood and wet rocks and fall down stairs and stuff. I think that makes it more realistic anyway. Real fighting is way more chaotic and clumsy than the choreographed stuff on tv and in movies. In my opinion, the more chaos you can throw in, the better, so long as it doesn't get campy.
And don't forget that teeth are a weapon, too. I've written characters that have bitten off noses and ears. Some of my genetically engineered characters like to rip their opponents' throats out with their fangs when the opportunities present themselves.
Hope that helps give y'all a few ideas. |
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cate
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Post by cate on Sept 25, 2018 6:02:11 GMT
I'm finishing up edits for book 2 of my fantasy trilogy, which goes to my editor this week for a proofread, and working on book 3. I'll be publishing all three in November/December, while working on the first two books of the next trilogy. I'm one book ahead right now, and that will jump to two books ahead in December, so I'll be writing the first of 2019 books at the end of this year.
This is a first for me - I'm usually scrambling to meet my deadlines. But I took a long break this year, stepping back and reevaluating. It gave me time to write, write, write, with no self-imposed deadlines. I look forward to spending all my writing time in my favorite genre, creating worlds and throwing my characters into them.
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Post by corabuhlert on Sept 26, 2018 0:00:34 GMT
corabuhlert I think writing good gladiator fights would be super difficult. It sounds like you're good at it though, but I can still see it becoming repetitive and trying to make each one new and different enough could become painful. *hands you a super rejuvenation cake and a double shot of mocha inspiration* Hope you finish your chapter and novella soon!!!
I've got sword fights in my space opera, which can sort of be considered gladiator fights, I guess. I try to vary them up by changing which limbs get lopped off, where somebody gets stabbed, how they react to their wounds, and so on. I also try to add some "chaos" to the scene by having the fighters slip on blood and wet rocks and fall down stairs and stuff. I think that makes it more realistic anyway. Real fighting is way more chaotic and clumsy than the choreographed stuff on tv and in movies. In my opinion, the more chaos you can throw in, the better, so long as it doesn't get campy.
And don't forget that teeth are a weapon, too. I've written characters that have bitten off noses and ears. Some of my genetically engineered characters like to rip their opponents' throats out with their fangs when the opportunities present themselves.
Hope that helps give y'all a few ideas. Thanks, Jeff.
The opponents already suffer different wounds. The first opponent - where the fight is described in the greatest detail - gets stabbed in the heart, while he is trying to strangle my character. The second opponents gets stabbed in the eye. The third opponents stumbles and falls (slipping on blood is a great idea BTW) and has his throat cut. The fourth opponent is about the strike the killing blow, when he is shot in the head by one of the rescuers. That's a pretty high bodycount for me - I usually try to keep killing to the absolutely necessary minimum - but sometimes it can't be helped.
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Post by corabuhlert on Sept 26, 2018 0:05:30 GMT
Sorry to hear about your daughter's pet rat, captaincranky. I also hear you about being tired. I've been very tired these past few days, too. I often get tired around the start of fall, whích is apparently a normal physiological reaction to the days getting shorter. Besides, we've had a rapid shift from warm and sunny to cold and rainy weather. And though I welcome the cold weather, the rapid shift apparently makes me even more tired.
I'm currently heading towards the end of a science fiction novella and it's tough going. A character is forced to fight as a gladiator. All fights are to the death, but he is told that if he beats is opponent, he'll be let go. So he wins his fight and - surprise - the bad guys were lying and just send in another opponent. And another, until the good guys show up to rescue him. All of which is thrilling stuff, except that I have to write several gladiator fights in a row and still make them exciting. I now feel as if I've been writing fight scenes for days and I just want the chapter to end, so I can write about something else.
Thanks Cora 😁 We've just come out of a pretty brutal winter (for us) and I thought I'd be feeling better with the slightly warmer temps, I've been waking up earlier and easier but still dead tired during the day. I just found out today I'm really low on iron, so that explains that! I should start feeling better soon enough, hopefully I won't feel so foggy and can write more 😁 We get quick shifts in weather where I am too, they can have a negative effect on me as well, so I feel ya! I love myself a good fight scene, but can imagine it would get tedious writing a bunch of them. Can you move on to the next chapter and come back so you can break them up, or are you a linear writer? Goodluck on getting it finished! I'm off to check out your books 😊 Ah, you're in the Southern hemisphere. Then it's probably what we call spring tiredness in Germany. It's caused by the same reasons, though. Rapid changes in weather, temperature and day length and the body trying to cope.
I try to write linear, but if all else fails, I'll skip the fights and move to the final wrap-up chapter. Though for now, the gladiator fights have been interrupted by the rescue attempt, though that means more fights against guards.
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Sept 26, 2018 0:38:00 GMT
It's really hot here. It has been since last week and I hate it so much! I miss the wind and rain. I can't focus on anything when it's this hot. Of course I can 't focus when it's not hot. Either way. Heat bad. Me grumpy.
This makes me feel better though.
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Post by corabuhlert on Sept 26, 2018 0:59:41 GMT
German Apfelmus, so good that even cats will eat it.
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Sept 26, 2018 1:04:55 GMT
captaincranky Hurraaaaaays for rain!!!!!!! I love rain always and forever. And I've lived on a cachement tank so I know about needing water. corabuhlert I didn't realize the kitty was German. Awwwwee Well at least he eats German applesauce.
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Post by corabuhlert on Sept 26, 2018 2:35:21 GMT
Not sure if the kitty is German, but the Apfelmus sure is. Though the best Apfelmus is homemade. Which reminds me that I have to make another batch.
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Post by corabuhlert on Sept 26, 2018 4:20:12 GMT
I finally finished the gladiator fights and the rescue is now in full swing. But my characters just got surrounded by a squad of guards, so that means even more fighting. Sigh.
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Sept 26, 2018 4:41:10 GMT
Yikes corabuhlert you and your poor characters must be exhausted with all that fighting. It's good exercise, I suppose, but still. Congrats at finishing one part though! |
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Post by Jeff Tanyard on Sept 26, 2018 7:00:45 GMT
I'm in revising mode. I'm hoping to get this book out the door next month.
My OpenOffice file is 249 pages, and I'm on page 178 at the moment.
My hero is currently unconscious. He's in a hospital tent in a snowy forest. He fell on the planet from space.  Naturally, he's on an island full of enemies.
Poor guy just never gets a break. 
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Sept 26, 2018 17:12:53 GMT
Jeff Tanyard at least the poor guy fell on soft snow and not on top of lava rocks, so he's had one break already! Today is shopping day, and I have to do something with TUOK. I don't know. A 125-year woman who lives in a space station in the far, far, far future where everyone now lives in space (or so she believes) was talking to me last night. She had some interesting viewpoints. So she gets added into the TUOKsphere. One more voice screaming into the dark. Not that she was screaming. She was quite pleasant, actually. A bit snobby, perhaps, but not unbearably so.
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Post by Jeff Tanyard on Sept 26, 2018 23:35:04 GMT
Jeff Tanyard at least the poor guy fell on soft snow and not on top of lava rocks, so he's had one break already!
Lol... Yeah, no lava rocks. Not in this book, anyway. He slipped on volcanic rock in the first book, though.  In the current book, he crashed through the pine forest. All those tree limbs breaking helped absorb his momentum. That kept him from going splat on the ground. He was wearing his combat suit, too, and those things are pretty rugged.
Anyone who makes it to 125 years old is worth listening to. |
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Post by K'Sennia Visitor on Sept 27, 2018 0:10:26 GMT
Jeff Tanyard you shouldn't baby your characters so much. It's not very interesting if nothing bad ever happens to them.  In Cherida's timeline people live to be 200, so she's just past middle aged and is expecting another 75 good years. I haven't asked her how they determine what a year is though since they live in a space station. All I know is that she hasn't been sick a day in her life and that the idea of breathing in polluted, unsanitary atmo-air horrifies her, as does the prospect of all those nasty germs floating around outside. She is also extremely prejudiced against strangers from other space stations. Who knows what kinds of nasty germs they could bring with them? But if you've truly never been sick before because you live in a purified air bubble I could understand her fear of strangers and of outside. I already fear outside and only go there when I absolutely have to. I also learned today of the water people, who live on a beach someplace. They are always naked because why wear clothes? They swim and fish, climb trees, and build art in the sand. And their bodies are able to absorb saltwater so they can drink from the ocean. They build huts from seaweed to sleep in. And the inner people on the island fear them and think they are fish devils. But then the inner people fear the ocean. They think it's a demon who wants to kill them. They can't swim. Can only drink freshwater from streams. And live in houses and villages. They also wear clothes and have religion. Cherida has dreams of them, especially one little girl who is a waterperson. She doesn't know why these dreams plague her, and she says she doesn't care, but I don't believe her. Why bring them up out of the blue if she didn't?
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Post by Jeff Tanyard on Sept 27, 2018 1:33:31 GMT
Just tried the LOL feature. It works.
I'm LOLing at the first line, by the way. I think the last thing my characters would accuse me of doing is babying them. |
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I've watched my adorable kitten play, and got to share my love of Babylon 5 again in the off-topic B5 thread. Talking about B5 always inspires me, and this made me think about TUOK.
And you're definitely not alone, because a number of people at Tim's site have posted saying pretty much the same thing. "I only lurked on kboards, but I'm hoping to be more active here." And I hope they carry through. I hope they do become active posters over there.
Naturally, he's on an island full of enemies.
In the current book, he crashed through the pine forest. All those tree limbs breaking helped absorb his momentum. That kept him from going splat on the ground. He was wearing his combat suit, too, and those things are pretty rugged.
