WIP Wednesday

Just a short update to say: the first draft of Dyllan and Abigail is almost done! At this point I think we're 10,000 words or fewer from the end. Yay home stretch! I'm hoping to finish in the next two weeks. The book needs a lot of work, but on the plus side I have a pretty good idea of what needs to change and how to tighten up the plot. I can't wait to get out my plotting notebook and highlighters.

Current total word count: 111,325

Random quote:

For a moment Davy’s head spun. The other side. That’s what people called the afterlife, wasn’t it? He had the horrible thought that he was about to die, and his brain was coping by coming up with this elaborate fantasy. Tears welled in his eyes. Maybe the next world wouldn’t be as strange and frightening as this one.

How is your writing/reading week going? Let me know in the comments!

WIP Wednesday

Small aside: after reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone, the fact that the magical world in my novels has two moons which are referred to as "the two sisters" doesn't seem as cool and original as I first thought it was. Possible back-to-the-drawing board on that one.

Okay. Okay! So, tonight I will cross the 100,000 word threshold in Dyllan and Abigail. I'm getting near the end now, and everything is starting start to come together—it's exciting! I went into this novel with a very clear image of the last few scenes—the climax and denouement—but I was unsure how I was going to get there. I'm still not entirely sure, but I'm a lot closer to figuring it out.

I can already tell this novel will need a lot of revision, but I feel like my second draft will be a lot easier than my second draft of Water Magic was. I'm looking forward to tightening the plot, fleshing out the characters, and fixing the pacing.

Total word count: 99,837

Random quote:

With nothing else left to do, Hammish turned to the door and knocked. For a long time nothing happened. He was just about to turn and rejoin Margot and Radgaw at the bus stop when the door lurched open with a creak.

A pair of eyes met his—young eyes with dark, sickly shadows lying beneath them. Dark blond hair, even-toned skin that must have been olive-hued when it was healthy. But it was the eyes that drew Hammish’s gaze. Beneath a certain hollowness, they were unmistakably Folk eyes. Just now they flicked over him with impatience. “Yeah?”

The traditional weapon of the Folk is the yari, a sharpened stick with a fire-hardened tip. Worn in a sling across the back, it can be used as a spear or a javelin, and can also be used to throw and direct spells. Image by Ragnar Singsaas, 2008. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Javelin_throw.jpg

WIP Wednesday

As is becoming usual these days, I didn't actually get much done in my WIP over the past week, word count wise. What I did manage to add felt pretty solid though, and I'm still pretty happy with the story and where it's going, considering it's the first draft. And though I haven't been writing much quantity-wise, I have managed to write every day, even if it was just a paragraph or two. I'm still struggling a bit with feeling tired and drained after a full day at my library job, when I come home and don't want to look at a screen anymore for any length of time. I suppose I'll have to keep working to find a way around that lack of energy.

Total word count: 91,185

Abernwyth has two moons. Unlike in this photograph, one is significantly larger than the other, and appears to lead it across the night sky. They are commonly called "the big sister and the little sister." The superstitious sometimes foretell the future based on changes in the colors of the moons. Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dark_side_of_the_moon.jpg

 Random quote:

Abby’s eyes flicked toward the window, where a white-feathered face watched her with giant yellow eyes. She almost laughed with surprise, but her head hurt too much. “A cloudwing!”

Collin nodded. “Faster than almost any other dragon.”

The cloudwing blinked first its left eye, and then its right.

“He does that so he never takes an eye off you,” Collin said. “He’s taken quite a shine to you, Abby.”

 Hope everyone else is having happy writing and reading this week!

WIP Wednesday

I tried a new strategy today: writing to trance music. It really seemed to work! My concentration was very good, and the story was flowing well all day. Of course some of that might have been due to the run that I went on this morning. Exercise always has a calming effect on me, and I can concentrate noticeably better after I've gone for a run or had a gym workout.

Mostly due to traveling and the general fatigue that lingered even after the traveling was over, I'm not as far along in the novel as I would have initially hoped (my goal in January was to finish this draft by the beginning of April *laugh*), but I'm still feeling pretty good about the story.

Total word count: 89,843

Random quote:

"Go on, we’re almost there. What are you doing? Go!”

But Abby was there next to them, grabbing one of Collin’s arms. His face was turning magenta as he struggled to breathe.

“Dad—” There was a blinding crack, and Abby felt the witch standing over them before she saw her. Lady Charmain, in a towering rage, seemed to grow out of the hillside like a deformed, spindly tree.

 Yup. She's a pretty scary witch and she's not happy.

Hope everyone else's writing is going well!

WIP Wednesday

This week, what was going to be a minor subplot blossomed somewhat out of control into a major multi-chapter event. Meanwhile, I've still got a whole other mini-adventure that character group B has to undertake before the climax of the novel. All of this together means that Dyllan and Abigail is going to be considerably longer than my originally projected 100,000 words. Also, this draft is not going to be finished by my spring break (which started yesterday). I can only hope that I can cut out a lot of stuff in my first round of revisions—which, given the shifting focus of the book, I'm optimistic about. Yup.

This week: a continuation of last week's Daring Rescue, which turned out to be much more complex than I originally thought. 

Still to come: a complicated situation involving a group of changelings, a sojourn from Abernwyth to Earth, and (this being a child-friendly book) heroin addiction.

Random quote:  

“I—I was just going for a walk.” She licked her dry lips. “I was going for a walk and I saw the fire, so I came to see if you needed help putting it out,” she invented.

Ellena chuckled. “No, child. We must burn back the poisonweed before it reaches the circle. Enchanted fire is the only way to kill it.” As if to demonstrate, Ellena waved her tiny hand, directing the fire toward another clump of pale green tendrils dotted with white flowers.

Total word count:  84,003

 *Photo source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bandera_china.png

WIP Wednesday

I'm still on a first draft writing high with Dyllan and Abigail. Things keep surprising me, but in a good way. This week it's been all about a (somewhat) wicked enchantress, who has been impeding my MCs' progress. It's been a good chance for me to have my young protagonist, Abby, test her skills and bravery ahead of the book's final showdown. These scenes have been relatively easy to write, and they've been helping me discover way more about the magic in my magical world.

This week's word count: 4,101

Total word count: 82,839

Random quote:

...there was a stupendous crack, a gust of acrid smoke, and Lady Charmain strode through the twisted trees, dusting her palms. Away from the hamlet, the elfin smile plastered across her face was more like a leer, and the bones in her arms protruded even farther, casting shadows on her sour-milk skin. She walked like a marionette.

Abby leapt backward. Or at least, she tried to. While her mind commanded her body to move, it merely swayed a little, like a curtain in a breeze. Fathian swayed beside her, a high-pitched whine escaping his lips.

Hope everyone else's WIP is going swimmingly this week.

Happy writing!

WIP Wednesday

I've written a little over 3,000 words this week, and most of that was today. Wednesdays in general are good writing days for me, because I usually don't have to work at my day job (i.e. telling British teenagers to be quiet, kicking broken printers, and making displays for obscure holidays).

This week two of my main characters (and one supporting character) have gone on a mission to save a hero who can—maybe—help them defeat the villain. A witch colony, a weevilby*, an enchantress, and a brownie** are involved. Much danger abounds.

Total word count: 78,838.

Random quote: 

 '“There’s some sort of spell at Covendale, isn’t there? A well-being spell,” she said, pausing for a moment on the far bank of the stream with her hands on her knees. Fear billowed up within her like black smoke. Demons swirling through the darkness. Dyllan, bloodied and dead in the main road of New Alband. A mass of bodies—Floridyn, Frederick, Zenthorn, Fresia. She swayed for a moment, eyes shut.

“This side of the stream marks the western edge of the witches’ territory,” Fathian said. “All of their usual protections end here. It is a shock, leaving. I should have warned you.”'

WIP Wednesday: Slow and steady wins the race

So my work on my novel this week has been slow, but steady, not unlike some sort of determined tortoise. (Incidentally, tortoises feature heavily in the chapter I'm working on. They're yellow tortoises, which can be used to predict the future, if you can decipher the signals right—which is proving difficult for my not-really-trained-in-divination characters.) Anyway, I've been writing pretty much every day, but in very small increments. This is mainly due to the continual unpacking of boxes, coupled with my inability to do laundry by magic.

Total word count: 75,049

Random quote (this is new!): 'In one room, a disgruntled looking cat floated in circles, circumnavigating the rows of students. “Notice that the spell does not harm Princess Fluffrump,” a short, white-haired man lectured, “though some motion sickness may occur."' 

What's in your future?

 Hope all of your works-in-progress are going well this week. Happy writing!

*Photo credit: Richard Mayer, 2005. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Testudooos_008.jpg-.jpg

WIP Wednesday

So, word count wise, I haven't gotten a whole lot done on my work-in-progress in the past week. This was mainly because I had a lot of other things going on (my sister had a baby, the puppy got sick, I had to do a presentation for work, etc. Life stuff, basically). But I did come to a couple of important realizations about my story:

1. It's not actually about faeries. I've been calling my variety of humans with magical blood "faeries" for want of a better term—and while they share some features with traditional faeries (invisibility, metal allergy, existence of changelings, etc), I think they are different enough to be considered a separate breed entirely. My characters are human; a split in our evolution several thousand years ago—fueled by genetic mutations—created two distinct human populations: those with magic and those without. I've mostly been using the term "Folk" to describe those with magic, but I've decided to remove references to "faeries." I generally don't like it when modern fiction redefines mythological creatures (for example, vampires who can go out in the daytime), so I certainly don't want to try to redefine faeries.
2. Despite its title, Dyllan and Abigail, the book might not actually be about Dyllan and Abigail. Of course, their plot line is important, but recently other plot lines have gained strength and might even outshine the two characters who were originally the center of the novel.
3. Both 1 and 2 are okay! After all, first drafts are for finding out who and what the story is about.

This week's word count: 2,000-ish.

Ferrets make good familiars for sorcerers, sorceresses, and other advanced magicians. However because they are unpredictable, they are not advised as familiars for young or inexperienced magicians. Image: Psychonaut, 2007. Wikimedia Commons. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Frettchen_in_blanket.jpg

Story soundtrack: Enaid and Einalem's Celtic Nights, and Birdy's self-titled album.

WIP Wednesday (er, on Thursday)

I was going to do another WIP Wednesday yesterday, but then I got distracted by things like spoken word poetry on YouTube and walking my in-laws' puppy in the snow and sipping hot chocolate by the fire.

So, my work-in-progress! It's good; still a lot of fun, and I love seeing how everything falls together as I get closer to the end (I'm at just over 70,000 words out of about 100,000). Characters I didn't know were important at first become key to the plot, witches and magic cats abound, not to mention there's a plot involving the hybridization of magical trees and the disastrous repercussions thereof.

I thought it would be fun this week to post a few photo representations of the novel (see below).

How is everyone else's WIP going this week?

Magic groves of Miros, Northernmost Abernwyth. Photo source: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/friday-field-photo-138-foggy-spanish-orchard/

The Dragonspine Mountain range that bisects Abernwyth. Photosource: http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite/lectures/clocksmobile.html

Prague castle by night is close to how I picture the golden city of Averell in Abernwyth. Photo source: http://www.prague-czech-republic.com/photos/s/5/hradcany-prague-castle-at-night-prague/

And lastly, the wildlands, wherein lies the Wildlands Witch Colony at Covendale. Photo source: http://www.citypictures.org/r-north-america-151-united-states-156-california-6-death-valley-california-80.htm