Write Every Day - April Day #4

[auroracloud]

Today's Writing

Today once I got home from work, I've just been super-tired and have hardly had the energy for anything. But I managed some notes on the novel-thing again, so at least that's something.



Tally

Day 1: auroracloud, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, navaan, st_aurafina, sylvanwitch, trobadora, ysilme

Day 2: auroracloud, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, navaan, shopfront, st_aurafina, sylvanwitch, talkingtothesky, trobadora, ysilme

Day 3: auroracloud, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, navaan, st_aurafina, sylvanwitch, talkingtothesky, trobadora, ysilme

Let me know if I missed you or if you wrote but didn't check in yet! You can join us or drop out any time.

Comments

[talkingtothesky]

1278 today, just shy of goal. But I worked really hard to catch up and I'm happy with the quality of the words. \o/

[auroracloud]

Ooh, that's a nice amount of writing, congrats! And being happy with the quality of the words is even more wonderful!

[alexseanchai]

I yesterday talked out a plot issue with someone and came away with a much clearer understanding of my novel's themes.

...aaaaaaa this iS TOO COMPLEX

[auroracloud]

That's a great understanding to get! Good luck at tackling it all.

So, shall I put you on the writing tally?

[alexseanchai]

yesplz :)

[auroracloud]

Yay!

[trobadora]

More drawerfic for me!

[auroracloud]

The drawer that keeps on giving! :-)

[trobadora]

More like the other way round. *g*

It's a good thing virtual drawers are infinite, or this one would be overflowing with all the fic I keep stuffing into it!

[auroracloud]

And then your home would end up looking like my bedroom, and trust me, you don't want that. *eyes piles of paper that really need to be sorted through... uh, some day*

But luckily virtual drawers are bigger on the inside!

[sylvanwitch]

I admire the fact that you persevere in note-taking even when you're exhausted. I know what a struggle that can be. I hope you get some good rest and feel less tired tomorrow.

I wrote 1051 on "The Donner Party," specifically revisiting the episode I left unfinished. It's moving me in an interesting direction in relation to the tentative through-line I'm considering, and that's neat to see happening.

[auroracloud]

Thank you. Although for me, a lot of times, writing down notes for a story is the easiest form of writing to do; I don't even have to form real sentences, I can just jot down things that my MC has in her flat or something like it. But I'm glad I've got that for days when sentences feel like a lot of work, because yeah, writing when exhausted is quite a struggle.

Yay for lots of writing! And sounds like you're making nice progress with the story. :-)

[cornerofmadness]

I was too busy grading the exams to do much today but I squeaked out 150 words on my Camp nano

[auroracloud]

Glad you got some writing done despite being busy with work!

[cornerofmadness]

Thanks. And I lost it today because the flash drive broke...

[carenejeans]

I...took a long, hard look at a section of the novel and ended up cutting about 1200 words. It was clunky, it didn't really fit into the plot, and it was too weird. Not good weird, just -- odd. Sigh.

After that I did some remedial world-building, or I guess I should say set-building, since all the action takes place in a BOOKSHOP. 8-/ How hard can 'worldbuilding' a bookshop BE? Hah. Large or small? (Middle-sized.) Swanky or down at the heels? (Not swanky.) In a detached building or part of a complex? (Detached.) How many floors does it have? (Two.) Does it have oddball sections along with the usual? (Yes.) A rare book room or just a few cases? (A room.) How many people work there? (Four.) How long has it existed? (65 years or so.) Did the current owner start it up or did he buy it from a Grade-A Eccentric? (The latter.) Does it have a basement in which, somewhere among the boxes of books, old typewriters, catalogs, furniture, shop mannequins and fallout shelter supplies, lies something... magical? (Well, yeah.)

Shotgun or square? Old-fashioned deep display windows or not? Register in front or to the side? Display cabinets or cases? Seating? I'm feeling punchy. Maybe I should take a break from it...

[ysilme]

As a reader, I'd totally want as many details about that bookshop as possible, so go you! How a bookshop looks is IMPORTANT IMHO.

[auroracloud]

Editing is important, too, even if you end up cutting a lot of text. And sometimes you need to have written something anyway, to know the characters/world/something better, or just to find out it doesn't work.

I agree with Ysilme, bookshops are important! I love reading about bookshops! So worldbuild it all you like! That's a good example, anyway, of how worldbuilding isn't just about creating continents and mountain chains and countries for fantasy worlds or species and geography for a foreign planet, but it can be some small intimate setting like a bookshop or someone's flat. If you don't spend some time thinking about its details, either it's going to feel vague and the reader doesn't feel they're there, or you end up defaulting to some particular place you know well. I always have to spend some time making sure all my characters in modern stories don't live in my flat, or all the country houses in my historical stuff aren't my grandparents' house.

But yeah, if you feel like the bookshop is starting to swirl in your head (or appear in your dreams or whatever...) then taking a break from it may always be a good idea. :-D

[carenejeans]

Heh, funny you should mention the danger of defaulting to a place you know well... My husband and I own a used bookshop. I have to work to keep from defaulting to it, but I'm getting there. The fictional one is sort of an amalgam of several shops that I've liked over the years.

(Our bookshop is small, not swanky, part of a small shopping strip, one floor, shotgun, rare book cases behind the counter, two employees (husband, myself), we started it from scratch 15 years ago, and there is no basement. 8-))

[ysilme]

Sorry to hear you've been so tired! *hugs*
It's been Siljan's birthday yesterday, so we were either out or having his mother over for tea and cake, with a bit of power vacuuming thrown in in the morning (cat Viggo had managed to get his head through the handle of our large felt wood basket, and dragged it all through the ground floor, scattering small bits of wood, twigs, dirt etc. everywhere. He knows well how to untangle himself, but it seems he remembered that only after a while.) I managed to fit in some quick 300 words of drawer fic, though.

[auroracloud]

*hugs back* Thank you. I do wish it would take a break. Well, at least I've got a quiet weekend coming up... Maybe I'll sleep all weekend....

Sounds like a busy day, especially with extra bits of feline action thrown in! Glad you got some writing done anyway. :-) Hope you both had a good day!

[st_aurafina]

I had a crappy day at work, but my GF gently poked me to do a quick sprint before bed so I got 405 words.

Tomorrow must be better at work! Please be better...

[auroracloud]

I'm sorry you had a crappy day at work! *hugs* Hope it's better tomorrow! Glad your GF poked you to write - it often helps after bad days to get in at least some writing (or other creative activity).