Several months ago I sat down and came up with "The Plan" regarding the general direction I'd like my life to take in the near future. A large part of that plan dealt with getting around to finally being serious about writing novels, as I've already mentioned. The original Plan called for all of my fanfictions to be finished by August, with novel work commencing daily after that, and a very minimum daily writing quota of one typed page a day. (That is of course just to get me writing. I've heard of other people saying they will write for just five minutes a day. But what happens is you sit down to do the one page or five minutes, and then twenty pages or 45 minutes later you look up and go, "Wow, that was fast!" Which is the idea, of course.)
As of today I still have at least one fanfiction to finish. *cringe* So I didn't quite make my deadline. And it's the fic I've been working on for five years, so… it appearantly is the most troublesome. Not that I don't want to write it, I actually am really looking forward to finishing it, as the most fun chapters are still to come, but it does kinda crimp my novel-writing time, even if it is just one fic. Plus, I am bound and determined to write a sequel to another of my fanfictions that I've kept in the back of my head for something like a year or two now (I refused to start it until I had finished up my other fanfic WIPs). So those are still two things that will get in my way these next few months.
However, despite these distractions, I have been doing rather well with meeting or exceeding my daily writing quota. Granted, I don't always write one page a day, but when I do write I tend to write several pages at a time. Also, I am not typing this one (the Lady in Black is what I'm working on the most currently), but handwriting it in an Omni brand notebook. A notebook is still easier to carry everywhere than a laptop computer, and for some really strange reason original stuff comes easier to me when I handwrite it. I've gotten 20 or so pages written up so far. I'm fairly happy with it. So far I've been annoying myself because with all the reading I've been doing about trying to make your sentences as active as possible, it's like I try to look at every sentence individually and make it as active as possible.
NOT a good thing to do on your first draft. And, since I really only know bits and pieces of this story right now, I stumbled around a lot after the first scene. (That was one of the pieces I knew.) So I dont' really like how it reads very well at the moment, but I'm trying to stay away from it until I finish the whole first draft. I'm starting to know the characters much better already, so fixing up that first part shouldn't be too hard once I really have a firm idea of the whole big picture! 😉
And Lane… oi, he's addictive. He was NOT supposed to be the main character, and yet he's turning into the main character. He wasn't supposed to get as much story time as the two leading ladies, and yet he's been dominating my thoughts when I'm trying to write the girls. Maybe because I feel more comfortable being mean to him, and he's the one in the perfect place to have his life totally messed up, but still… he's really stealing the show. That kind of worries me because that's not the idea I had for this story. On the other hand, if he's going to develop this way so easily, why fight it? I think I'll just go with it and see what happens. Again, I can always edit later if he needs to be tamed.
So that novel is cruising along at a good pace. I wish I could just write all day every day, but alas… Not yet, anyway.
As for Cheetah on the Roof, I wrote the first chapter and half for that one already, but I'm having trouble going back to it. A lot of exposition is needed in the beginning and I think that's why I keep shying away from it and resorting back to LIB (Lady in Black). I am very excited to get to the later pieces of that story, though. I might do what I've done alot in my fanfic and write some future scenes for it so that my anxiety for those scenes is dimished and I can concentrate on the world set-up. 😀 That actually does really seem to help. I'm also handwriting that one, but the notebook isn't a spiral one, which makes it a little harder to carry around everywhere because you need more room for the notebook to lay flat. Still, my sisters have been clamoring for more of it (they are my test audience, since it is mostly aimed at their age group), and that's a good sign (they haven't hesitated to tell me what they didn't like, heh). I probably really should pay more attention to that one. I feel like it's the one that will do the best with the publishers at this point in time, if I can just get it done and out there.
And the poor Cat Story hasn't even been started yet. Physically, anyway. It's still in my head, slowly gathering momentum and plot elements. Several times I've almost sat down to start it, but then didn't. I think I will type this one, because it feels like it wouldn't be hard to do on a computer, unlike the other ones. I have the opening scene planned, and the end… I think. 😛 Most likely I won't start on this one seriously until those fanfictions are done. It's nice to have more than one story to work on at any given time, so if the mood isn't there for one you can switch to another for a bit. But at the same time, I don't want too many projects at once, or nothing will every be finished.
I'm going to work real hard at getting my LOTR fanfic finished, because that is the one looming over me the most. Then 90% of my focus will be solely on the novels, with the other 10% going to the sequel to my KOTOR fic. But still, that will have to remain the thing I write for my short mental breaks in the process of working on the novels.
Because the end goal of "The Plan" remains the same:
Have one novel ready to send off by the end of 2009!!!!
(For the time being I'm ignoring the fact I'll probably be going to grad school in there somewhere. Meep.)
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