Ealdorman Halasahr Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Hi!I've been working late hours (a real killer when it comes to writing) at this Swedish newspaper throughout the summer, but now, I'm finally at a point where I can say I'll be finishing my fifth draft before the end of October, at least. (But before this summer, I was convinced that I could finish the damn thing this or that month; April came and went, May too, then June and July became the past, and now it's autumn heading straight towards winter.)I'll just have to cut the final chapter of my big monster in half. And after that ... Well, I guess I'll be working on my sixth draft, and then my seventh, and ... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh! When will I ever start making a fortune thanks to my hobby? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derfel Cadarn Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 My fantasy novel (Napoleonic era type fantasy world) is going well. I'm handwriting the first draft, about 130 pages into it roughly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEvilKing Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 Sooo... how's everyone going?My novel is progressing at a non-existant rate. I've come to that point where I've now got new (and of course "better") ideas for a novel, and will probably give up on the current one.My favourite idea is a project I tentatively call "The Chronicles of History". It's a comedic/epic/completely historically inaccurate mishmash of history, mythology, religion and fantasy. It has Zeus and Julius Caesar and King Arthur and Jesus. It has Troy and Atlantis, as well as Rome and Egypt. Scotland is where the orcs live. Merlin is one of the most powerful wizards in the world, as is Moses.The problem is that it's such a huge, epic, sprawling idea that I have no idea where to start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoë Sumra Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 I officially have one page of first draft left to turn into second draft. Of course, I've also identified another bit I want to rework, and still have to go through a list of Little Things That Might Be Wrong. But... nearly finished the second draft. Yey. TEK, the first place to start would seem to be in a fairly small corner. Establish, using one part of your map, that you are creating this type of meld - maybe in Scotland with orcs, or in Greece with Zeus or Egypt with Moses. Then branch out in later books to display more of the world and bring more of it together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prince Who Was Promised Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 I took a break from my novel. Not just to rethink things, but it's pretty hard to write while doing cross country and acting in Macbeth. Some things have changed, while others remain the same. I have a lot of my world's history laid out, and its geography is slightly reminiscent of Greece (only much, much bigger). Cosmic entities (Gods and Demons) are shown...or at least their effects on the physical plane. While the High Lords of Order and Chaos play their ultimate chess game, the mortals caught in the crossfire must choose a side or fend for themselves.The magic system has evolved quite a bit. I've added a new segment called "The Gates", which includes the World Gate, the Door of Night, Death's Gate, Time's Gate (through which prophecy comes through both seeing what the High Lords of *insert name here* have in store for you, and foreseeing future events based on past and present events), and so on.The Jewel remains constant through all the changes that have happend. Only it's origins have been slightly altered. When the story is over and done, there will have been four parts. Part One would be the problems of the Kingdom of Ahldor- the bastard child warring with his brother (under the guidence of one of the Magi Nelac), the splitting of the Magi, and the rebellion of the nobles. Part Two would be the forming of the Southern Empire (by another Magi who is the enemy of Nelac) through uniting the Hundred Cities. Part Three would be the quest for the Magic Object- the Culmoril (the Jewel), which has the power to open the Door of Night and allow the Higher Lords of Chaos to manifest on the physical plane. Only the Bad Guys find it first. There's also the return of the Hyrym, the path of the Half-Human, Half-Hyrym, Saoshyant, and the misunderstood prophecy.Part Four would be the return of the Higher Lords of Chaos to the physical plane (in part; as the Culmoril is curropted, the seals on the Door of Night weaken to the point of collapsing), and Saoshyant's journey to find a way to summon the Higher Lords of Order and banish Chaos. However, the Higher Lords of Order are no where to be found, and the Final Battle is well on it's way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuenjato Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 I took a break from my novel. Not just to rethink things, but it's pretty hard to write while doing cross country and acting in Macbeth. Some things have changed, while others remain the same. I have a lot of my world's history laid out, and its geography is slightly reminiscent of Greece (only much, much bigger). Cosmic entities (Gods and Demons) are shown...or at least their effects on the physical plane. While the High Lords of Order and Chaos play their ultimate chess game, the mortals caught in the crossfire must choose a side or fend for themselves...I like your ideas, Prince. Are you planning to depict the conflict mostly from the mortals POV? I must say, based on your posting, you have a remarkably clear writing style for your age.As for me, I'm still plugging away on the second book of my series. It's going a bit slow, as I'm deep in the complications and that requires plenty of planning to weave the various plot-threads and minimize the labor of the eventual rewrites/editing. Still, I'm happy with it so far and can see the light at the end of the tunnel, by this point.A couple of months ago my wife and I discovered that we're going to have a baby, so I'm now planning a YA fantasy novel. I wouldn't want my child to read my current work until the age of 16 in the very least, due to adult themes, but I would like to have a novel to give to it (not sure as to the sex yet) at the age of 9 or 10. The world/plot is coming together; now I just have to factor in the writing time amidst real world work, study time for my post-bac, and the demands of my central project. There's never enough time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prince Who Was Promised Posted October 25, 2009 Share Posted October 25, 2009 I like your ideas, Prince. Are you planning to depict the conflict mostly from the mortals POV? I must say, based on your posting, you have a remarkably clear writing style for your age.As for me, I'm still plugging away on the second book of my series. It's going a bit slow, as I'm deep in the complications and that requires plenty of planning to weave the various plot-threads and minimize the labor of the eventual rewrites/editing. Still, I'm happy with it so far and can see the light at the end of the tunnel, by this point.A couple of months ago my wife and I discovered that we're going to have a baby, so I'm now planning a YA fantasy novel. I wouldn't want my child to read my current work until the age of 16 in the very least, due to adult themes, but I would like to have a novel to give to it (not sure as to the sex yet) at the age of 9 or 10. The world/plot is coming together; now I just have to factor in the writing time amidst real world work, study time for my post-bac, and the demands of my central project. There's never enough time.Thanks. And yes, it will all be from mortal POV, which is mostly human and Hyrym (and maybe Hylkarym). I might let Shaoshyant meet the Higher Lords of Order, after which they will have a debate (well, Shaoshyant will attempt to debate them) over why they haven't taken a direct hand in mortal affairs to prevent the rise of Chaos in the first place. It's largely inspired by things I've heard about God and evil, as well as Free Will.And even the Lords of Chaos don't seek to completely destroy Order, but regocnize Order's importance. Or, rather, the destruction of something to fight ruins their fun. Same (in part) with the Lords of Order. They realize that to teach humanity (as well as the other races) the lessons that need to learn, some chaos must be permitted. As for the Final Battle...well...let's just say that the sky will burn with the fury of the battle, and the sky will rain ashes :D ------As for your story, what's it about? And congrats with the baby! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrueMetis Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 I'm writing an assassin story and I've already got some of the broad details but there are a couple of things I'm still trying to decide on my story is set in a medevial period but I can't decide if I should go with real world or make up my own but I'm leaning toward making up my own for the freedom it allows. One big problem I'm having is actually writing I've got most of the ideas figured out but I'm having trouble writing I've written less than a page in a month. I think it's because of the essays I've been writing in english I hate them and whenever I sit down to write I think about them and it gets me annoyed.I'm probably going to avoid magic for the most part except for the kind that you can't really be sure if it was magic or just slight of hand. Of course all of this is subject to change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centrist Simon Steele Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 I'm writing a synopsis and a query letter. And at the rate this is going it's going to be another eight years to finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuenjato Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 ------As for your story, what's it about? And congrats with the baby!It's epic fantasy, in essence a "Fall of an Empire" type story, with tons and tons of POVs and two wars going on: the main one between competing nations, and the underlying one between the "Gods". Originally it was going to be a stand alone; now it will be five books total (though no more than that). In truth there are no "Gods" in my world, though there are plenty of religions and interpretations on how things came to be, all of them more or less wrong/misinterpretation though slivers of the truth emerge from time to time. There is a pretty strong emphasis on sorcery and on certain entities that assume the role of Gods, though...Overall I'm using it as part worldbuilding exercise/part play on the epic-fantasy format with twists and turns and all that. Well, at first it was an exercise, but I've grown attached to it, so it's become more than that -- and given that it will be well over a million words and 6-7 years of planning and writing in the end, yeah, attachment is good. If nothing else, I've certainly improved as a writer over the course of the first 400k. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Baelish Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 After spending time writing lots of beginnings to stories, and (hopefully) improving my writing style, I have now settled on an idea for a proper story. At the moment I'm uncertain whether it's going to be three boks or four. I have written just over 40k words for the first book.The basic premise is that there is a pantheon of gods, each representing a certain element. Thousands of years before the story starts, the God of Fire tricks all the others and imprisons them. In the ensuing time, he has grown tired of controlling the world on his own and has pretty much withdrawn entirely. In the first scene of the first book, the other gods finally succeed in breaking free. They all plot to bring the fire god down so they can rule the heavens.The story will be told from multiple mortal POVs, spaced across three countries that get embroiled in the godly war. I will have POVs of people that end up serving one or another of the gods and people that want to eradicate all the gods. I've also made sure that they are from all different walks of life - I've got a princess, a watchman and a concubine, for example.So far, as well as the 40k words I have written, I have also developed a full history for the three nations and gone in depth on their cultures. I plan on having a revolution in one of the countries during the course of the series to show that human plots aren't just going to stop because of the arrival of the gods. I am also going to be pretty brutal towards my POVs. For example, one of them is going to have their eyes burned out in the first book but will remain a POV character. (I do like to challenge myself.)There are various hints throughout the books about other gods and the children of gods that are around somewhere but remain in hiding. Eventually, the God of Fire will return and that's when the proverbial hits the fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myrddin Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 I've been job hunting more than revising, but I'll be finally sending out hte first 15 chapters to my beta readers by tonight. (Check your email later, Stoney. :) )Other than revising, I've also been reading history books on the 15th century as research for my next book. I haven't been at the planning stage for a book in a while. I forgot how fun and scary a completely blank slate is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prince Who Was Promised Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 These stories sound cool. Very interesting.I'm still working on worldbuilding. 13 pages of histories done (although I planned it to be much shorter). It seems I need these 13 pages (and counting) to set my world in motion for the events of the present, because every time I try to work without it, I can't. It's going well though, for as I understand the past, the present is coming together rather nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthmail Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Just about to start the query letter, having finished the synposis, and working to tweak the last of the first fifty pages for submission. Do i remember someone mentioning that they would be willing to review both my query letter and my synopsis? If so, or if i can submit them openly here for review, i would greatly appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEvilKing Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 Just about to start the query letter, having finished the synposis, and working to tweak the last of the first fifty pages for submission. Do i remember someone mentioning that they would be willing to review both my query letter and my synopsis? If so, or if i can submit them openly here for review, i would greatly appreciate it.Go for it dude. :cheers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centrist Simon Steele Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 Just about to start the query letter, having finished the synposis, and working to tweak the last of the first fifty pages for submission. Do i remember someone mentioning that they would be willing to review both my query letter and my synopsis? If so, or if i can submit them openly here for review, i would greatly appreciate it.Submit it here--I'm no expert though, this has been the hardest part of my novel--the query and the synopsis. I have a query that may work now, but it took a lot of help from a select few over at Absolute Write. You might try their "query letter hell" though be warned, your blood pressure will rise. It is like any other message board with some old timer know-it-alls who think they're god's gift to querying. They'll waltz in and not only trash your query but with their amazing querying skills they are able to determine your book is poorly written too.But if you can get past the douchebags there are some really helpful people there. The key seems to be NOT to engage the douches, just ignore them and wait for the good advice.Of course I haven't tested my query yet, but hell, my old queries didn't yield much either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jurble Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 I wish I could write a novel, but I'm terrible at detail, too much happens in too few pages with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ebenstone Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 Just about to start the query letter, having finished the synposis, and working to tweak the last of the first fifty pages for submission. Do i remember someone mentioning that they would be willing to review both my query letter and my synopsis? If so, or if i can submit them openly here for review, i would greatly appreciate it.I think that that's generally frowned upon here. Now if someone wants to look at your stuff, I think you can PM them and arrange that with them. There's always Absolute Write for sharing your work as well. I just think that the mods aren't too keen on that sort of stuff on the boards! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthmail Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 Seems like a strange policy for them to have, but just because i can't see the harm in it doesn't mean there isn't some underlying problem. Perhaps a mod can elaborate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krelian91 Posted October 31, 2009 Share Posted October 31, 2009 How many words, usually, are your chapters long?The longest chapter I wrote has 2.400 words, and yet seems a bit short to me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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