A Sand Flea Breakthrough

esAfter writing the second draft of the Sand Flea for my first National Novel Writing Month, I’ve been stuck.  I tried to rewrite this problem story in Camp NaNoWriMo, but it wasn’t to be, and I failed utterly, despite being psyched up for the challenge.

However, after Two years, I feel I am ready to look at it with fresh eyes, and I realize something.  Ask is the protagonist, but that doesn’t mean the story has to be told through his eyes.  The POV character came shortly after, in the form of Korenila.  This will allow the reader to watch Ask’s outward changes that he wouldn’t notice, give insight into the priestess and her bodyguard Evoxe, and perhaps see more of the world in which they all live.

It should also follow a more solid timeline that the reader can track, and will eliminate the boring points when Ask is bedridden and nothing is happening from his perspective.

This is still his story.  The voice telling it is simply someone else.

 

Editing Day 8

I got nothing done yesterday, and I’m halfway convinced the frightening dream I had yesterday morning was some sort of unconscious punishment for that.  Mostly because the idea is silly as heck.

Anyway, I’m exhausted mentally.  I look at large clusters of words and my vision blurs.  I’m going to recharge as much as possible before the team-editing starts.  I’ll keep you posted.

I recently purchased The Elder Scrolls: Online (when it launched… after playing in the beta and then forgetting I owned it until a few days ago, and have been rewarding myself for making goals with play time).  If anyone is interested in playing with me, look up Vianmil on the Aldmeri Dominion side.  I’m level 17 or 18– I can’t remember, but I have open character slots if anyone wants to find me and play with me.  I make a pretty good healer, apparently, when I don’t run out of mana.

I really just need a good night’s sleep, though.

 

Editing Day 6

I feel like I’m still asleep.  I’ll do what I can, but so far today, any time I try to concentrate on something, I end up on imgur, even when I exit the browser tab.  Hopefully getting something to eat helps with this, but if not, one day of no work in nearly a month probably won’t hurt me– though the idea rankles.

My plan to get over this?  Give in for a bit to my urges, get something to eat, and keep my file open.  The mere fact it’s there and untouched will drive me to look at it, and by looking at it, I’ll start editing, I’m sure.

Wish me luck!

 

Editing Day Five

I think I have the day number correct.

Anyway! I did finish editing a 3k-word-long scene yesterday.  It dragged on and on, so I believe I need to trim and shorten any scene over 3k words– that, or inject more interest and tension.  Something about the whole thing is off, and I don’t want my readers to have to feel like they’re slogging through it– though that fix may come in the next step of editing, when I go through it with my more poetic friend.

I need to move on from that for today though.  The next scene needs a look, and I’ve got a nice, quiet hour ahead of me to do just that!

 

Editing Day 4

Day four begins with waking up late and the kid I watch (not Charles– still bitter about that) is already on the television. I also have to be delayed in my editing time, since I slept in so late.  I’m so dissappointed!

I’m going to get in as much as I can before I have to make dinner.  Wish me luck!

 

Editing Day 3

I forgot to post earlier, but I did get several scenes edited– and finished chapter one!  I think it’s still clumsy, but that will be for outside eyes to help with, now that it has fewer stupid mistakes and plot holes.

Things are going on schedule, even though I only got a half hour of editing in– I doubled the amount I edited yesterday!

 

Editing Day 2

Day one, I didn’t get many additional words in, but I did go through the initial scenes and found a few errors that needed fixing.  No continuity errors, thankfully.  I dealt with those as I wrote by highlighting with grey to ‘erase’ and then typing around them.  It keeps me gaining, and I don’t have to deal with the ego hit of “I lost x words editing!”

Just as soon as I finish pepping up and brainstorming with the friend who asked me to do the April session of Camp NaNo, I’ll begin my editing for the day!

 

Editing Day 1

I may have finished my 50k goal, but I’m not stopping until this thing is polished.  I have a few scenes to add and finish, I have some trimming and some shining to do, and I need to come up with a much better title than “The Forest Witch”.

A lot of work, but it feels strangely freeing to work on beyond the 50k goal.  I want to dedicate at least one hour each day to this, and in May, I’m going to start collecting beta readers.  Unfortunately, I can’t pay right now for help with this, so I’ll mostly do book exchanges– I edit for someone, and they edit for me.  I hope I don’t let anyone down while I’m taking my turn to edit their work.

 

50,000

I completed the Camp NaNoWriMo challenge just moments ago, with the words “You got hit by a fucking car!”.

The story isn’t yet complete, but I’m so happy I made 50k in twenty days.  Some days were harder than others, and some days went by quickly.  Today, went by in a flurry of typing, and I’m going to dedicate the rest of the month to further work on my novel– writing out those last scenes, adding more scenes, and preparing for the rigorous editing process.  Wish me luck!

 

Day 20

I’m so excited!  I have less than 3,500 words to go!  If I really push, I might finish today, but chances are low for that, so I’m just going to try my best and see if I can finish by tomorrow.  After that, I’m going to edit and work on making this story tolerable– quality has dropped significantly since the start, but I still feel confident that I can improve it.

The weak part is the climactic rise, which I’m still typing.  I’m pretty pleased with my plan for the ending, and can’t wait to reward myself for finishing the rise by typing that and the anticlimax!

Today, my “I’ve had a mental breakdown please send help and no-bake cookies!” count is 1k.  My real goal is 2k.  I’ll probably die of excitement if I manage 3k.

If I finish my 50k, I’ll probably hide under my desk because it means I won.  Wish me luck!