Nanowrimo was an interesting ride this year. I actually finished at about 11:20 pm on November 7–my 23rd birthday. By “finished,” of course, I mean I hit 50,000 words. There was still work to be done.

However, my ideas are like wine; they get better with age. It is with that in mind that I put this Nano’s work back on the shelf and continue working on my big projects: Rainbow Covey and Circle of Many Faces. During Nano I wrote an entire chapter of Circle and I managed to squeak out the end of Rainbow Covey chapter 8 this morning.

This Nano has taught me how to produce writing at a good pace again. I remember, before I got sick, I used to be able to do this, and now I finally have it back and it feels so nice.

December will probably be crazy with its unavoidable holiday-ness, but even so, once the new year comes… it’ll be interesting to see where the writing goes.

And at some point, I’ll put more up on this website.

Filed under: Nano07, The Circle of Many Faces, Rainbow Covey, WIPs, Nanowrimo by Eliza | No Comments »

I wanted to have the eighth chapter of Rainbow Covey finished before Nanowrimo begins at midnight on the 31st/1st and I abandon all of my projects for a month, but that looks unlikely, unfortunately. I’m going to work on it today; I’m hoping that blogging about it being unfinished will then cause a reverse in the situation and I will finish it today or tomorrow. Yay!

In other words, I now know definitely how my Nano-novel will begin, and that is a good thing–a sprint will set it off at midnight, and that one is the most important sprint of Nano, as it sets the stage for the entire Nano. If I mess it up, my entire plot could come crashing down before week three, which is about the time the plot would come crashing down anyway.

In other news, this blog seems to have a lone spammer, and I wish I knew how to make it go away.

Filed under: Rainbow Covey, WIPs, Nanowrimo by Eliza | 1 Comment »

I’ve finished chapter seven of Rainbow Covey, first-draft quality, but at least I finished a draft of it. I’m debating whether or not to start eight tonight, because it’s easier to start when you’re riding that wave of success and it’s good Nano practice, but I’m beat. I probably will try to start, but first I have to take the dog out. Funny thing is, much as I hated writing this chapter, it ended up being (at the moment) the longest of all of them. I’ll cut it down a bit in editing, but still.

Even though my word count bars are manual HTML, it does feel nice to add pixels.

Filed under: Rainbow Covey, WIPs, Writing is Weird by Eliza | No Comments »

There are only so many ways to talk about magic in a fantasy realm. You can write “magic,” or “magick,” but they feel so overused to me. I think in Rainbow Covey I may start using “magery” or something like that. Perhaps Asher will still refer to it as “magic,” as he comes from the undeveloped society that still uses words like that, which are thought to be fanciful, the stuff of fairy stories in the outside world.

I keep saying I will finish chapter seven, I will finish, and then not finishing. Well, today’s the day. It has to be, otherwise I’ll go crazy. That and I’m very excited for the next chapter.

Filed under: Technique, Rainbow Covey, WIPs by Eliza | No Comments »

It’s interesting talking to people about dreams and how they dream; some people dream insane dreams, others have dreams with coherent storylines…

I dream in imagery, for the most part. There’s usually some vaguely coherent thought process bringing the images together for a dream, but mainly I see things–scenery mostly, perhaps people or events rarely.

And now, in Rainbow Covey, I suddenly know how it happened and what it looks like thanks to my dream last night. (No, I don’t want to post spoilers from my WIP, and no, I won’t identify it.) I’ve also figured out how to delve into the POV of a character other than Asher (who firmly retains POV throughout the novel) for awhile, one that I really want to explore.

Now I need to come up with a nifty word for those sentinel thingies.

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I’m working on Rainbow Covey chapter 7, which has killed me multiple times. I need a break in the action from 6 and the [planned] intrigue of 8, but this middle bit is infuriating. They talk about things that are practical, but I can’t figure out how to make it interesting. I’ll just have to let the crit group tear it up and see what sort of suggestions I get.

Filed under: Rainbow Covey, WIPs by Eliza | No Comments »