ROW80 Update 8/31

I haven't had time to work on my story and it's frustrating! I've been busy with my music stuff and planning vacation next month and yesterday was my birthday so I didn't get to any writing then and then, believe it or not, yesterday evening the family cat, who is 19 years old, looked like she was dying. She can't really stand or walk or anything. She's still alive but still can't really move. It's so sad. She doesn't seem to be in any pain or anything but still. . .

Anyway, I'm sorta glad this didn't happen while I was out on vacation next month when she would've been alone.

Sorry to make this a sad post, so I'll leave that alone now.

So, I won't win Nano, and haven't been keeping up with my ROW80 goals the last couple of weeks. That's pretty much all I can say on that.

As for vacation next month, I can't wait! It'll be fun and probably good for me; I can't believe how boring it is around here where I live.

Find other ROW80-ers here!

ROW80 Update 8/10

Things are going great so far. I keep trying to world build and keep up with camp nano (which my wordcount is a bit behind at the moment). And I keep hitting world building snags that I need to work on like, why do they were clothes like that? And why do their houses look like that? And stuff like that.

Actually, the writing is going really good. I'm finally getting to the meat of the story where the things start to happen and I didn't rush it like I usually do when I start writing. I'm usually so anxious to get to the part where the MC goes places that I just skip the other important things. But I didn't this time.

There's still so much I have to figure out though, even though I've started writing. Like I still don't know how the magic should work, really. I mean, should they use wands or staffs? Not need those? Is it ritual like? Do they have to say certain words or no? Movement?

And then there's the laws  of the magic I have to figure out. What are the limits? I don't have a clue. But I'll just have to figure it out somehow.

I'm trying to look around at mythology and - believe it or not - science to get ideas for the magic in my books but so far I've still got nothing.

But otherwise, thing are going great. :)

To find other ROW80-ers, go here.

ROW80 Update

Things are going really good! Actually better than good. I found something that totally makes world building easier.

I made a wiki about my world.

Yep, that's right. I wiki'd it.

I got the idea from the Wicked and Tricksy blog where they recommended tiddlywiki. And while I initially liked it I began to dislike the way it looked and worked and there was no way I could find to at least changed the color of the font. So I instead found Google Sites where you can make a pretty awesome wiki. And it's easy to link from one page to another and when you're writing you can instantly create a new page right from where your writing so you can link a word, even if there's no info on the page.

And every subject gets it's own page if you want it that way. And you can keep your wiki private to just yourself or share it with a handful of people you want to share it with. And it's free. That's always a plus ;)

So, it makes it so easy to keep all the information about your world, or even your plot, all in one organized place. No longer in journals where you have to endlessly flip through things and rediscover things you've forgotten. No more piling it in one or more computer documents. It's all in one place. In your world wiki! :D (If you can't tell, I absolutely love this thing :D)

And I've been keeping up with this August's Camp Nano, except for the first day, it sort of snuck up on me and I was all amped up about the pottermore thing. Well, scratch that, I'm still amped up about the pottermore thing :D

To find other ROW80 participants:

Getting More Characters/ROW80 Update

Wow. Looks like I took a bit of a break there! Well. I've no excuses.

So. . . Looks like I won't win camp nano this month. I've only written about 15k and there's no way I'm going to catch up now. But, I have been trying to keep up with my ROW80 stuff and have been plotting and planning everyday for the last couple days. I've got to admit that I didn't do a lick of planning until a couple days ago. But! It's been awesome. I've expanded my cast of characters immensely! And this is good.

You see, before, I only had the MC, his sister, his dad, his mom, and one other character. That was it. No one else. It's a bit boring only having five characters and I didn't really know where I should put another character. So yesterday I decided that I would work on a family tree. The MC's family because there wasn't any other families to be had. I've now discovered that the MC has two uncles, two aunts and three cousins on his fathers side. As well as a great aunt and uncle and a grandmother and two first cousins once removed. Almost all family on the MC's mother's side is dead except for the great grandmother, and she's nearly dead herself.

And, thank goodness, I've given my poor MC some friends! I've got parts of their families figured out but not much passed the mothers and fathers (yet anyway). I am extrememly happy with what came out of this whole family tree thing. When I first started it I didn't think much would happen but now look, family and interesting characters abound! I can't wait to write about these people! Some of them are quite strange but that just makes it more fun right?

So, I'd say things are going well, and perhaps I'll be ready for Nano next month in just a couple of days?

I'd also like to say hello to my new followers who found me through the Gearin Up to Get an Agent blogfest! I hope you like it here :)

Gearin Up to Get an Agent Blogfest and ROW80 Round 3

Time for the Gearing Up to Get an Agent blogfest!! Find out more here.

So, for week one I'm supposed to ask the biggest, weirdest writing question I have. At first I was thinking of things like, publishing, and getting agents and stuff like that but I don't really have a question for that. Actually, the biggest question I have has to do with both writing and reading.

Why do some people seem to think that reading a 'bad' book will, like, taint you or that if you read certain books you must be just like that in real life?

Or, since you write about killers and murderers and people doing bad things then you must think about doing stuff like that in real life. Or that your just weird in head or something. You know those weirded out looks some people might give you when you tell them of something unsavory that happens in your book.

Well, I just want to know why some people do stuff like that. You remember the big thing about Harry Potter being against the bible and stuff? Well, I still know people whose parents won't let them read the books. Why?

And you know what: Why take some one else's word for how 'bad' a book is instead of investigating it yourself? In fact, you might find that the 'bad' book has some important themes in it and that it's not so 'bad' after all.

And you know that person who writes that 'dark' stuff? Well that doesn't mean they do any of it, or want to do doing any of it. It's just a book. Just a story full of made up characters that have their own personality that may be darker than yours and which tells an entertaining story for the people who enjoy it.

So. Why must some people judge us writers by what we write, or what we read? Think that reading one 'bad' book (which may not even really be 'bad') will somehow taint a person?


And now for ROW80 Round 3!

So. You guys know I'm already doing Camp Nanorwrimo, and I'll be doing it next month too so I've pretty much already got a daily wordcount goal. So, with my ROW80 goals I will:

• Work on the world building stuff for 30 minutes a day. 

• Get at least a first draft of The Chronicles this round.

 And that's it! Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with the world building this time around!