The WC on the first scene weighed in at 323 words. Which is good. I predicted the first scene would be much shorter than the targeted 1,000 words per scene.
As I started on the second scene, I found some of my notes were missing! So I did a search and found no less than SIX (!) more data files that managed to elude me. This is a major bummer because I totally thought I was completely done arranging my data into the scene files. Sigh…
It does feel good to make real progress into my book from the actual beginning, though. And I’m using a great rule I read about on a blog. The rule is a simple one. Basically, I’m not to go back and touch or edit a single word of a sentence once the period has been typed. This is a great rule for a perfectionist like myself (I forgot whose blog I read this rule on, but I do believe HE got the wonderful idea from Ken Kizer of A Writer’s Journey.).
Oh, and as I go along, I’m going to keep updating the Characters and Locations pages … FINALLY. They have said ‘coming soon…’ for far too long.
Hopefully, I feel like drawing one of these days so I can do some character and concept artwork to go along with the entries.
Back to organizing data, I guess. *weeps pathetically again*
Prev: Scene 01 | Next: On prologues
On the same note, I’m glad to see that you’re updating the characters and locations pages. I’ve been waiting to see what they might hold :)
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Comment by christopher. — October 5, 2008 @ 5:16 pm
Great strategy, btw. I am also a perfectionist and I often have to force myself to do the same. I always get stuck on a design because I’m constantly going back re-editing everything I do. It’s a vicious cycle & I wind up never finishing my projects. :| I’m slowly getting out of that habit though thanks to a similar strategy. Glad it is working for you. :)
REALLY looking forward to your concept art, too. That would be cool.
[Reply]
Comment by Latrina — October 5, 2008 @ 5:40 pm
I am a perfectionist in a way, though, but what comes out of me seems to be a flow of something that I can either leave the way it is or write a completely new scene.
I absolutely love to see your work on those pages about characters and locations. I personally have kept a small note book with my own character descriptions, and for each character I tried to make a drawing. Not very good at it, though, so they ended up looking very cartoon-like.
Why are you counting words, though? Is it some kind of a limit you set for yourself?
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Comment by packsister — October 6, 2008 @ 12:06 pm
@packsister: Very impressive; I’ve never been able to leave my prose alone (unless I’m casually writing or chatting like I do here). I’m sure very few can. You have a unique gift.
-And I’m sure your artwork is better than you think. After all, you’re your own worst critic ;)
-The word count is because I have decided on a landing pad of roughly 80k-140k words. The only real limit I’ve really set for myself is I’ve made my world too darn complicated!! It limits my writing speed because it makes every scene that much harder to approach and write. On the other hand, I believe my worldbuilding has made Lura and its plot far more lucid, which I believe has been more than a fair trade-off.
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Comment by cirellio — October 6, 2008 @ 4:33 pm
The beauty of having your stuff so complicated, or, I would prefer to say, fleshed out, is that if you can just write without editing, you will have something very complete you can then whittle. Writing poetically — that is, using only the perfect words, having no excess — is tricky from scratch. Paring down, an art in itself, is easier when you have much to work from.
[Reply]
Comment by Steph — October 6, 2008 @ 5:40 pm