<–The State of the Writer: 7/23/17 The State of the Writer: 8/6/17–>
A weekly post updated every Sunday discussing my current writing projects and where I stand with them. This will include any and all work(s) in progress (WIP) be they creative writing, essays/analyses, or reviews of any type.
Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 266,907
Prior Word Count: 267,081
Word Difference: -174
Status: Editing
Progress: 4th edit
I know I used this picture for Chapter 6 of Northern Lights, but it goes well with this week’s quote, and I’m running dry on image ideas since I’m well into my third month of and 4th editing adventure.
I think I can say this edit will be the last full one. I kind of do want to really scrutinize the content of this chapter, since it still seems a bit long-winded, but at the very least I’ll be deleting edited words *rolls eyes*
Quote: *I…answered her prayers,* he realized in rue. *I’m what she was begging for.* He blinked several times, staring down at the terrified maid in his arms.
Project: Book Review
Title: An Ember in the Ashes
Series Title: An Ember in the Ashes
Author: Sabaa Tahir
Current Word Count: 1223
Status: Drafting
I had some trouble concentrating on this this week for reasons I vent about in the review itself. I’m happy it’s well underway and hoping I’ll be finished this one with another one started if not completed by the end of next week.
Project: Book Reviews
Title: Various
Status: Upcoming
These are the state of my reviews haha. Maybe I should make a weekly blog post about that #lolsob
- Nightshade City by Hilary Wagner (DNF)
- Talon by Julie Kagawa
- Saga: Volume 7 by Brian K. Vaughn & Fiona Staples
- Stone & Iris by Jonathan Ballagh
- Gaslight Hades by Grace Draven
- A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
- Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez
- The Beauty Thief by Rachael Ritchey (DNF)
- The Poetic Edda by Anonymous
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Volume 1 by Katie Cook & Andy Price
- Never Never: Part One by Colleen Hoover & Tarryn Fisher
- The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow
- Never Never: Part Two by Colleen Hoover & Tarryn Fisher
- Never Never: Part Three by Colleen Hoover & Tarryn Fisher
I finished the Never Never “Series” in about a week. The reason for the quotes is it’s really one novel broken up into three, which I have no issue with (my paranormal romance novel is split into two, and I’d make it three if I could since trilogies are all the rage). I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to review it. Whether or not I’m going to do one or three posts. I’m leaning towards the former, because it’s really just one story with one overarching plot, but I’ll sound much kinder if I review them one at a time (which you’ll understand when I review), but (again) the end of the third book is the end of the entire narrative, and all three of them should technically be judged on that. It’s a conundrum! Let me know what you think I should do in the comments 🙂
Project: Game Review
Title: SOMA
Developer: Frictional Games
Let’s Player: ChristopherOdd
Current Word Count: 551
Status: Drafting
I’m limited in how much I can work on this, because I can’t do it after dark, and I have to work on it first so that I can fill my mind with other things besides some of the disturbing images let along the existential horror of the plot. Be that as it may, I’m happy with how it’s going so far. I got the introduction and my minimal knowledge of the gameplay out of the way. Next weekend I’ll work on summarizing the story. I need to decide if I’m going to weave my analysis of it within or do that on a limited basis, saving the major examinations for afterwards. I’m leaning towards the latter in this case, since that’s how I did my review of Final Fantasy IV.
What are you currently working on? Is it a creative writing project, essay, review, or something else? Have you just started something new or are you wrapping up a long term project?
<–The State of the Writer: 7/23/17 The State of the Writer: 8/6/17–>
The Shameful Narcissist Speaks 
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About reviewing the trilogy. I’d be inclined to introduce the series generally to begin a single post, review each book in a short section maybe highlighting the best and worst of each, and conclude with your impression of the over all series and how the parts work — or don’t work — together. Unless each is written in a different style, or by a different author, it seems to me you might end up repeating yourself a lot if you do a separate review for each book. I’m trying to imagine what three separate reviews might look like for the LotR trilogy. I think the intertwining story lines and character relationships running throughout the whole might require referencing for a review to have a foundation and make sense.
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I think that’s the best idea for the series as a whole and for my time in general. I’m currently sitting on 14 reviews, and this is not including the one book review I have drafted in addition to a game review I’m drafting, too. The less posts I have the better, and killing three birds with one stone is a good idea. Thanks for the insight 🙂
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You’re welcome. I’m always gobsmacked by the number of reading and writing projects you have going at any moment. Currently, I’m working on Elliot’s Adventures, re-writing the first book of the Second Earth Trilogy into a stand alone that begins a series, writing an unrelated novel, and trying to write a bank of short stories, and I can’t imagine adding even a post card to the list. So I look at your list and agree fewer posts is a better plan. Go ahead, let the bird slaughter begin! 😉
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And I always feel like I’m not doing enough! I need to wedge in some time to go back to my essays, but I’m swamped with reviews, which are kind of essay like since I like to analyze books with plots that lend themselves to it. I’d like to say once I catch up on reviews, I can get back to that ,but with the rate I’ve been reading/finishing books, there’s not going to be any catching up. I’ve definitely blown my reading challenge out of the water though. Now I’m just trying to see how many books I can read in a year. I might make it to 60 if I keep up this pace :-O
Are you going to possibly turn Eliot’s Adventures into a novel or is it going to be a blog exclusive? It think it would make a darling book.
Well I’m impressed! I can never seem to write more than one novel at a time. I can write one while editing another…barely. I could write a novel and edit a short story. I’m so neurotic about writing with a fear that if I leave it for too long, I’ll come back and not have any words, so I throw myself almost completely into one thing. Tthat’s going to be interesting when I attempt to write a novel for NaNoWriMo in November, since I’ll have to give up quite a bit of my weekly posts for that.
I’m definitely going to do it as one! It makes the most sense and will save me some time 🙂
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There are some trade-offs, aren’t there? I’ve spent more time writing my own stuff and reading news reports this year than reading for pleasure, and the books I want to read are piling up. I refuse to stress about it, so I allow reading to be the delayed indulgence. But the reviews I write are just for me, not the public, so I don’t feel an obligation to push myself.
Elliot’s Adventures began as a serial on my Facebook author page 4 years ago, and then life interrupted, so I let it stew till last April. Even back at the beginning, I got quite a bit of feedback suggesting I should release it as an ebook. The issue of course, is that I don’t own the rights to most of the photos. Five of the photographers are people I met through Google+, and they actually gave me permission to use theirs, and I’ve spent many hours digging for the creators’ names when they aren’t marked. I think it shouldn’t be a problem if I were to give the book away, but I’m not in a position to purchase rights. So for now, I intend to continue the story to its end. I’ll stay open to the idea of publishing, because I think I’d like to, but I won’t decide till I have it finished. In the meantime, I’m playing with the idea of illustrating it myself. I’ve inserted a couple drawings and several photos of my own, but I’m not sure illustrations have the same impact as real photos of these fantasy characters. Would the story carry itself without them? Sometimes I think it would, and other times, I’m not so sure. Ah well, problems to solve in the future.
You probably don’t need to worry you won’t have any words if you let a piece sit for a while. I’ve found that when I re-read what I’ve written after I’ve been away from it, two things happen. First, I experience it as a reader, with objective observations about how well it’s working and a reader’s curiosity about where it’s going. Second, the intervening time helps the storytelling mature — so far, it seems to me it’s been for the better, lol.
Good luck with NaNoWriMo! I’ve never taken part. I know I’d view it as an artificial deadline, and just continue on as I have been at my own non-frantic pace. I do admire people who accomplish their goal that way, though! I hope you’ll share what you create with us afterward. If you need a beta reader, I’d be happy to serve. 🙂
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I actually feel more relaxed with the schedule, but I’m a pretty neurotic person and I bit of a self-control freak. I think it’s because I run a balancing act between day job and night “job” with chronic fatigue in the mix, so I’m always trying to figure out how to maximize my time. I was doing barely ANY reading at one point, so scheduling it out helped that immensely, but I can see how many people would see it as an obligation if they did something similar 🙂
I think Elliot’s Adventures would be a great book to illustrate! I completely understand the artwork issue. It can be so difficult tracking down the original artist/photographer, and not doing so can land you in a sticky situation. I’ve heard horror stories about people being caught using unauthorized pictures on their blogs even if they give credit. If they didn’t get permission. I sometimes walk a thin line with that myself, though I always try to give credit if I can find it, and I have some decent resources for locating images.
That’s usually how I write, as well! I always reread what I wrote the day before to put myself back into that world (doing some mini editing as I go along) then I continue with the story. I’ll often leave off in such a way that it’ll be easier to just pick up the thread. Like I’ll have a question posed or begin the start of an exciting scene. I try not to stop at the end of something, because I might not know how to begin, but I can usually continue pretty well from a more intense scene.
Thanks! I’ve done it in some capacity a couple of times, but I’ve never actually attempted to do what the contest suggest. It’ll be an experience no matter what happens 🙂
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Trilogies are pretty damn awesome! 😀 My opinion would be to do one post to cover the whole Never Never narrative. That may result in less of a workload for you, maybe? I dunno what I’m talking about though, but good luck with all those book reviews.
I spent all day panicking over writing my post for the Adventure Rules Blogger Blitz event, that has to be posted tomorrow. It’s done now, but I’m not sure how it will read, or how badly it sucks… This is also be the first time other people will be judging/critiquing my writing so… 😱😱😱
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I’m leaning that way, too! I’m SO annoyed with how it ended though. It’s probably going to be a rant fest.
Ack that’s so nerve wracking! I always get an army of butterflies whenever I put anything I write out there. I’m not so bad with blog posts anymore, but when it comes to any kind of story stuff I’m always a nervous wreck. It’s awesome you decided to put yourself out there though. I know how scary that is for you.
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Thank you for the understanding! It’s posted now so I can rest a bit easier, haha. Judgement day is Friday…
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I saw it! I didn’t get a chance to read it since I just caught up on my blog subs from yesterday. I’ve been doing better with keeping up by, er, checking my email at work o.O
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Great use of work time there! Side note: I think something’s up with the comment settings on your blog (WP is so glitchy lately…) I sent you a DM on Twitter with my theory for what’s going on. Let me know if you need my “expert” tech advice, haha.
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For some reason I can’t “reply” to people’s comments anymore, so I’ll just smash everything together in one original comment until I figure out what’s wrong with my account…? (haha)
Wow! I’m impressed with your ability to keep all those stories straight to review at all. Regarding the trilogy, I agree that one review with maybe little sections for each book but also an overall intro and conclusion would probably suffice, especially since the books aren’t that long? (Not having read them means this is my uneducated opinion, but it also means you don’t have to write three separate posts). I need to watch Soma faster! Although I will still read your review even if I’m not done.
My (not blog-related) projects continue to include my DA fanfiction, since I’m continuing the adventures of Renya and Leliana through DAII and DAI because I’m apparently a sucker for punishment. I’m also starting on an original story that’s been banging around half-formed in my head, so it will be nice to start getting it out, although I have a completed story I should probably edit first. Oops. Oh, and editing my thesis for publishing, because it Never. Freaking. Ends.
In response to LightningEllen: I am a judge-y little punk, so… rawr and stuff, I guess…?
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That’s really weird. Can WP Help do anything about it? I know every now and then the spam filters will go into overdrive and they’ll put every comment from particular users into them. It’s why I always scroll through my spam folder before deleting it just in case.
I keep notes! I have a tab for Book Reviews on OneNote and each story has its own section within the tab. As I ready I jot down anything interesting or that I want to talk about in my review, that way when I get to it, I’ll have an idea what I want to say. since I’ve been finishing books so quickly, I’m waaaaay behind with my reviews, and I review them as I finish them so something I complete today would go on the bottom of the review list.
I think I’m going to do one review for all three, but maybe split it into sections.
Where are you in SOMA? Ahh, I can’t wait for you to finish it. One of my favorite classes in college was physiological psych, and I loved how certain parts of the study crossed over with philosophy, because the idea of consciousness is one of those. I can only work on the review on the weekends when I have enough daylight hours since I want to be far removed from delving into it once night descends.
I think all writers are gluttons for punishment hehe. There’s just something cathartic about writing your characters into precarious situations or seeing how much trouble they can get themselves into. It’s funny how people think we wholly create these worlds, when a great deal of the time we’re just along for the ride attempting to describe and transcribe what we see 😉 I’m in the same boat with the completed story and ones I want to write. Again…I have many, MANY notes. I’m going to attempt to write the story I wrote The Broken Rose for this November for NaNoWriMo and actually get to 50k, because I’ve never done that before. I still have my first paranormal romance novel to edit though and re-attempt to find representation for. One day, one day…there really is no end in sight.
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It was just your site, and it’s magically fixed now, so that’s good.
Ah, I need to get better with my note-taking. I’m primed to do it when I read journal articles, but when I’m playing a game or reading a book I just forget.
I’m afraid I’m not very far along. I think I’ve watched the first video like 3 times, since I keep watching them before I go to bed and I fall asleep. I’m already enjoying it, though!
And I hear you. Maybe I’ll NaNoWriMo myself, seriously this time. It’ll keep me accountable for actually writing my own stories haha.
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It was the thread issue! I thought I’d updated it to accept more threads, but apparently I got rid of them all o.O Now it’s 10 threads deep, which is the highest it can go.
You’re watching before you go to bed o.O You’re a braver soul than me. Once the sun goes down, I can’t stomach any kind of horror hehe.
There’s a website for it! It’s supposed to help you keep accountable.
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Haha we’ll see how it goes. The LP’er pretty much wanders around his house and then I’m out like a light. I’ll start watching it earlier… I’ll also have a teddy bear at the ready.
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I was lulled into such a false sense of security in that part, because it’s so mundane. I need to go back and listen to what the guy is mumbling on the train. That’s the part that happens next. It’s the kind of game where things that happen in the beginning tie into to the end, but you don’t really remember everything so you have to re-listen to some choice parts.
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Yeah I found another LP’er because the first one didn’t finish the game. It’s interesting. I’m about halfway through. It’s so far not the mind-shattering game I wanted it to be, but I do want to see the end! I’ll have to find another video without commentary to check out the train bit. She chatted through the ride 🙂
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I’d recommend Christopher Odd! The existential horror doesn’t really hit hard until about halfway through. It’s one of those slow creeps 😉
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Gotcha!
Oh no… I don’t want to switch LP’ers again…. haha He’s great though. I’ll check his out.
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I think once you get through that hour long first episode you’ll be fine! I was definitely tired after that and was very happy the remaining were capped around 30 minutes.
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Can’t wait to read your reviews on vol. 7 of Saga and vol. 1 of L&K!! 😀 😀 😀
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I’m getting there! I have a DNF review up next and then one for Talon. Ugh, I finished those all the way back in June o.O
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