Still Working

Running out of time, but I'm still convinced I can finish this before the new year (unedited that is). There are still a few problem spots for me as I'm not sure how I want to handle it/integrate it with what's already written. I already have initial readers picked out, but they won't see it until...I'd say February as the first 3 (ish) chapters are horse drivel and need to be re-written. They will not see the light of day. They will not change much, but I have some vital information to add in including characters and plot points. Also, it also needs to sound better than my third grade summer project. I wrote stories about wolves. They were better than some of the crap I have at the beginning of this monster.

Next time I post will likely be when I'm done unless something crazy happens in the meantime.

Waiting for Work

Browsing through a couple chapters and I come across this little bit on a placeholder page for a chapter.

I hardly remember this.

This document is riddled with frustrated spaz fests.


Happy Wednesday.

I Made a Spreadsheet

I calculated approximately how close I am to REALLY being done the rough draft. It's sitting around 71%. That said...that is the average of the arbitrary percentages I have assigned to each chapter in terms of completion, but it seems accurate. I have a lot of patch work done. There are 6 chapters out of 45 that I have not started (unless you count 1 or 2 lines plus notes), three stupid long chapters that I need to revisit, three completely terrible chapters I need to rewrite, Jason's chapter which is about 90% done and makes me want to stab myself with a fork, and the realization that 45 chapters will most likely become 46 because...some things are not explained. As much as I would like Jason to just show up somewhere for no reason, I can't really do that. Laziness is not on my side here. 

Damn it Jason you ruin everything. 

So 71%.

The document itself is a poor representation of the final page numbers and word count, but it's currently sitting at 423 pages and 228,000 words. How am I not done this yet?

BEFORE 2015. It needs to happen.

I am super antsy about sharing any of this. I enjoy writing it, and I make myself laugh, but the reason it's taken so long is just it doesn't quite meet my level of expectations. And if it doesn't even meet mine, how can I expect it to be good enough for other people to lay eyes on. I've debated sharing snippets of it for a long time. Maybe... 

shdfaiasdnasoidnanosdas 

That almost looks like a word

All right

k 

fine

HERE.

He stepped lightly on the catwalk, especially in one section where the supports holding it to the wall and roof seemed a little loose. He could see a figure lying prone on a section of the catwalk near the middle. He noticed a ladder down to the second floor on the far side. Ash had not moved and barely acknowledged Dedrad when he arrived. Dedrad sat next to him, back resting against the rail behind him as Ash grabbed a couple bands from the little pile next to him.

“Why are you tormenting the research team?” Dedrad asked after a moment.

“Bored.”

“Training and facility duties not enough to keep you occupied?”

“Woke up late. No one told me to do anything, so I'm conducting an experiment.”

“An experiment?”

“Yes, I am determining the average number of elastic band shots required to piss off members of the research team. Joey is the control.”

Ash fired an elastic and it found its mark in the back of Joey's neck. Joey placed a hand on his neck where it hit and looked around behind him for the culprit. Ash chuckled and loaded another.

“I see you're a real man of science.”

“Poten wants me to apply what I'm learning. Just consider this applied physics.”

Ash adjusted his aim and angle, and fired an elastic into the back of a woman working at a computer. It hit her coat and dropped to the floor unnoticed. Ash made a disappointed noise.

“As much as I don't want to encourage you, experiments need to be repeated for accurate results.”

“Tried it with a gang once.”

“Really?”

“It was hilarious until someone got stabbed.”

“That person wouldn't have been you would it?”

Ash chuckled.

“I honestly can't tell if you are being serious or not.”

Ash fired another couple of bands. The two of them had to duck when the second projectile hit a man in the face and he gazed wildly about to determine where it had come from.

Melodrama

Staring blankly, knowing the words exist, that they yearn to be uttered. Important people in important places,
talking and scheming and countering perceived evil. They live, breath, act their parts, playing games
with fear and power, one man growing ever paranoid and powerless himself. This room, a nexus of paths.
Staring blankly, glued to the chair, free in theory, bound in practice. You cannot leave. You cannot
escape. This must be done. It is time.

And the only sound in the room, a constant release of a single consonant.

ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

And the curse repeats itself again and again.

That is the writing process. Forcing yourself to put words on the page, while fighting the urge to print the damn thing off so you can crumple it up and devour it, or throw it in the air, preferably down the stairs and estimate how many will end up in unreachable places. Then you stop yourself from continuing the story with your forehead against the keyboard. And the entire time, that constant ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff followed by every curse you can think of.

And then you go get tea and play video games instead.




Chapter 12 still isn't done.

Pew Pew Pew

Pew

Pew pew pew

Pew

Oh yeah update.

I hit 200,000 words yesterday. Nearly 400 MS word pages. By summer's end people. It's happening. I'm actually getting excited. I feel like a giddy pre-teen entering Jr. High. I feel all accomplished and I'm going to be graduating my first school, but then I'm being thrown into the big scary school with children that will DESTROY MY SOUL if I'm not one of the popular kids. Don't pick on me guys. I can't handle the hormones and angst. Anyway, I am starting to think of book two. This is crazy. I can't even. Even if it goes no where and it sucks. I can't even.

Also, the food trucks are coming. I thought I was going to be skipping lunch today cause I had no food to bring that didn't require cooking on a stove and I forgot to make food last night, and THE FOOD TRUCKS ARE COMING. This day is fantastic.

Dedrad's Interlude

Knock another interlude off the list. Dedrad's bit has been re-written in full. It's a lot better than it used to be. He actually has some fricking character in it now. Before was just so...bland. Some of the parts in this section might actually be the best of my writing in this project so far. At least I think so. It's good because this section is more than a little important for developing some character relationships later on...and attitudes in this world. Helped to really expand what's going on in the world of WMRR. Anyway, I'm happy.

Word count is still around the 180,000 mark as I deleted an entire section, which was basically  just shlock I wrote so I could wrap my head around an event.

I really want to take a week off and go to Lake Winnipeg and just...write. That and eat cookies and lie on a beach. Those things are good too.

I Write Weird Things

Ash gets assaulted by a suit of advanced armour.

...and thus began the angry adventures of Hash O'Tool.

Lists and Categories

I used to get so stressed out whenever I loaned people my pencil crayons back in elementary and Jr. High school. I had every pencil lined up in a perfect spectrum of colour, taking one to three out of the case at a time whenever I needed them so I could easily place them back where they belonged. This was not the case when other students borrowed them. They'd use multiple pencils at a time and when I received them back I had to take several minutes to place them all back in the same spots before I could relax. 

This is a problem for me. I am still very much like this where I develop patterns and lists and categories for items or information and I feel the need to organize it in a specific way over and over again. This is a huge problem I encounter in writing as I fall into these habits and means of organizing thoughts, which can make my writing stale and repetitive. I'm discovering very quickly that I need to make myself uncomfortable with my own writing and smash those walls of the boxes I create in my head (god damned catwalks man...they turn up like five times in the narrative).

I have broken out of a linear strategy of writing. I am writing segments all over the place now and it's stressing me out some because while I can write the pieces in my mind wherever I want at any time, I am terrified that there will be too many inconsistencies or aspects I forgot about. I suppose this is what editing is for? 

Production is accelerating. I am 100% sure I will be finished my first draft this year. Maybe even by the end of summer. I am excited, but I have so much to do.

Very close to 170,000 words. I stressed myself out yesterday writing one part. I may be getting a bit too invested in what's going on. 

Fill in the Gaps

Ever take one of those fill in the gap tests in school? Yeah, now think of that, but only the gaps are multiple paragraphs long and there are about 15 sections that need to be filled in. That said, I'm writing this a lot faster with this method. I can't decide if that's good or not.

If I ever send this to anyone in this state I'll have to tell them to mind the gap.

Face ---> Desk

Over and over again. I often wonder what people would think if they looked up all my search terms including, but not limited to:

Knives, blades, swords
Staff fighting
Surviving falls from various heights
Blood loss
Puncture wounds with and without objects embedded in the wound
Rail guns
EMPs
Nanotechnology
Corrosive materials
Symptoms of shock
How to avoid going into shock
Various medical conditions

Crossed my mind when I found a post on blood loss in Tumblr. Was really quite useful, though I may need to verify the stats. Yeah...Tumblr makes me want to repeatedly smash my face into the desk, while making me laugh every two smashes. It is both a hilarious and terrible place, where I either learn something new, giggle a little or hate my existence.

Which is why I post most updates here. 160,000 words by the way.

Fragmented

Current number of chapters being worked on: 5
Number of chapters finished since the new year: 0

Shit.

Chapter 12 is still unfinished.

Balls.

Dem Tunes

Music that kicks my brain into functionality. 

Come with Me Now

Round and Round

Undefeated

X-ray Dog tracks (though not the ones I was looking for due to the YouTube Purge - Generals, Metal Mayhem, Cyberworld, Dead Inside, Imperial Force)

Fire

Metalforge

Brain Stew (Godzilla Remix)

Garands

Iron Soul

Enigmatic Soul 

...

SOULS

Where Mighty Rivers Run

Crap

Forgot Dedrad's last name. I wrote it down somewhere and I swear it was an awesome name. I think it got purged when I lost Gary. I really need to see if I can access that hard drive...

I was going to say I was nearing 300 pages...but like, 50 of them are notes, trash, placeholders or items that need to be rewritten. So scratch that.

November 6, 2005

I didn't know it had been that long, but I have had this idea in my head for approximately 8 years, 4 months and 8 days. Or, if you want to be more specific...3048 days. Considering that I have been alive for over 9000 days as of January (knowledge courtesy of Creepy Zoo Guy), I have been thinking about, or working on this project through three different versions, for a just over a third of my life.

I really need to finish this damn thing. I'm glad I have a plan for more work because it'll be WEIRD when I'm done this project. It's this year. I know that for certain now. I WILL finish this, even if it goes nowhere from there. I am determined.

Finally!

I haven't been this pleased about writing in quite some time. I finally figured out how to handle Dedrad's Interlude, and it makes me super excited about the project again. I wrote an original version a couple years ago, and it really sucks. I'm going to keep it on file because it has some useful elements in it, but ultimately it's being scrapped in favour of this new look into his character. And again, I've added a couple new characters that theoretically I won't mention again until book 2. We'll have to see. I have a potential place for them in an upcoming chapter, but I don't know if it will work or not. I'm just happy to actually be going somewhere with it as it's been a major block since I wrote the damn section.

Now, chapter 12 just needs to magically come to me and all will be well. My writing is so segmented right now, even more than usual. Working on 3 or 4 chapters at once in bits will either be good for me (as that's normally how my thought process works) or extremely bad as events and ideas will get jumbled up along the way. We will see. Thankfully, this is what editing, and re-editing, then more editing is for. Then I send it to other people who also edit it, and then I edit again. And so on. I'm just happy about this one victory.

Neil Gaiman at the University of Calgary

Neil Gaiman stream Monday night for people that did not get tickets to the event at the U of C. They will be streaming here:http://ucalgary.ca/cdwp/gaiman at 7pm MST. 

Looking Back

Found the writer's guide I wrote about three years ago while I was still in university. It still has some good points, but it's one of those instances where you look back and say "was I really that much of a pretentious little shit?" Okay, it's not THAT bad, but I'm not sure if I'd agree with some of the points I made back then. I should go through it in much more detail, just out of curiosity.

I haven't lost the tendency to make massive documents containing guidelines and tips, however. I spend a good hour and a half this morning editing and adding to a document I've been using off and on to help with writing and editing projects at my work...among other content. That's how I even remembered the old guide in the first place. I wonder if anyone actually reads or uses it...

WMRR is a giant mess of good and bad writing. The guide has brought up some good points to look at when I'm editing this (hopefully) at the end of the year. I am determined to get this done. No jokes this time. For real. I'm sitting at over 150,000 words at the moment, and I shudder to think at the kind of work I'll need to do to try and reduce that as I'll probably try to get it published one day. That's what I hope for, but whether it happens or not is another story. At the very least, a couple people have expressed their desire to read it.

http://theliteraryproject.blogspot.ca/
http://womagwriter.blogspot.ca/
http://aescifi.ca/index.php/non-fiction/39-contests/2183-announcing-ae-micro-5

First is the blog of a person I know who also writes and has some interesting insights into Librarian work.
Second was recommended to me as a good guide to help with getting work into the market.
Last is a contest I intend on entering. I'm trying to encourage others to enter, mostly because I know I have no chance of winning and would love to see someone I know published instead.