Boarders Writing a Novel: Take 8

[Zoë Sumra]

*bump*

Mmm, I skipped a day, then a week. But I now have an officially complete draft of Sailor To A Siren. It's still missing those bits I know I need to add, but it's a complete draft without those rewrites, so, yay.

Starting a new job next Monday...!! We'll see how that gets in the way. I hope it doesn't. It may not be able to.

[Narwhal]

Congratulations are in order then for the new job and the complete book. The title of which is rather clever. It sounds nice, almost alliterative, and, even not knowing the plot details, presents an interesting image.

[Starkess]

Congrats on the draft!! :cheers: Good feeling. (AND the job, of course!)

I've had to put my writing on hold for a week or two while I do last-minute cramming for my actuary exam this Saturday. But Sunday I fully expect to be putting words on the page again!

[Datepalm]

Congrats! I concur that it's a great sounding title.

I hit a rough patch of a couple weeks on the thing-that-went-gothic, but seem to have gotten back to it now with most of a chapter working out nicely yesterday. (The back of a statistics is the most inspiring place on earth, apparently.)

[Zoë Sumra]

Thanks, guys. :) It's named after a Meat Loaf song. At the moment I'm pretending this isn't a problem.

Good luck on the exam, Starkess.

[Jaime's Wench]

Thanks, guys. :) It's named after a Meat Loaf song. At the moment I'm pretending this isn't a problem.

I've done similar before. Don't worry too much. I know how hard titles are - my projects never have anything more than working titles that change monthly. I hope the job doesn't intervene too much - I know what that is like. I always say if I could afford not to work I would be a far better novelist!

[Derfel Cadarn]

The working titles for my quartet are:

Resurrection Men

Sooty Feathers

Bridge of Sighs

And Winter Came

[Francis Buck]

Finished rewrites on my short-story, now I'm going to really start sending it out. I'm also going to start a new novel. I had initially done preliminary work on one that was sort of a weird coming-of-age sci-fi thing taking place in the modern day, but even though I really liked the plot and characters, I just had no drive to write it. I need to write a fantasy. I've been needing to write a fantasy for like three years. I was going to write one, and I spent an enormous amount of time plotting/word-building, but it's going to be two-parts, each nearly a thousand pages long, so I refuse to do that right now. I want to write a single, standalone work, preferably less than 400 pages. So instead I've returned to an older idea with new-found vigor.

It's called "The Emperor Must Die", and it's a fantasy that takes place in a semi-Victorian, pseudo-Napoleonic Era sort of setting. No magic, no races, no creatures. The most advanced piece of technology is a newly built steam-engine train (the story sort of takes place just before a "steam revolution" -- in other words, 50 to 100 years later the setting would be steampunk). It focuses on a group of five extremely different characters embroiled in war of a conquest by a Napoleon-esque warlord who seems utterly unstoppable.

There are some sort of equivalents to some of the countries that were actually involved with the Napoleonic wars, but all of the geography and cultures/religions are completely fictionalized (that's where all the fantasy comes in). I'm really excited about it.

[Jaime's Wench]

Finished rewrites on my short-story, now I'm going to really start sending it out. I'm also going to start a new novel. I had initially done preliminary work on one that was sort of a weird coming-of-age sci-fi thing taking place in the modern day, but even though I really liked the plot and characters, I just had no drive to write it. I need to write a fantasy. I've been needing to write a fantasy for like three years. I was going to write one, and I spent an enormous amount of time plotting/word-building, but it's going to be two-parts, each nearly a thousand pages long, so I refuse to do that right now. I want to write a single, standalone work, preferably less than 400 pages. So instead I've returned to an older idea with new-found vigor.

It's called "The Emperor Must Die", and it's a fantasy that takes place in a semi-Victorian, pseudo-Napoleonic Era sort of setting. No magic, no races, no creatures. The most advanced piece of technology is a newly built steam-engine train (the story sort of takes place just before a "steam revolution" -- in other words, 50 to 100 years later the setting would be steampunk). It focuses on a group of five extremely different characters embroiled in war of a conquest by a Napoleon-esque warlord who seems utterly unstoppable.

There are some sort of equivalents to some of the countries that were actually involved with the Napoleonic wars, but all of the geography and cultures/religions are completely fictionalized (that's where all the fantasy comes in). I'm really excited about it.

Good luck starting the fantasy! I returned to an old idea a few years ago and wrote it in the space of a few months - it can certainly work sometimes. I know how it feels to have an idea and plot/characters all mapped out in my mind, but not the will to write it. Often it's the stories I don't play much that come out on page - though often it has to do with the time of year, and how much time I have to spend on it.

I wish I could write short stories. I am so bad at keeping things into the constraints of a few thousand words

[Francis Buck]

I wish I could write short stories. I am so bad at keeping things into the constraints of a few thousand words

Yeah, that was the problem with my two-part epic (on a much larger scale, of course). I was hoping to keep both installments under 500 pages, but once I wrote the outline for the first volume, it became clear that doing so would be impossible -- and that was after I had done some serious cutting. There's just no way to tell the story I wanted to tell in anything less than 1,700 pages, at least not without altering it beyond recognition. And really, I have no problem with writing something that big. It's easily my favorite story, world, and set of characters that I've ever come up with, I just don't want to commit the next three years (or more) to something of that scale without at least having a smaller, standalone novel that I can shop around in the meantime.

[Jaime's Wench]

Yeah, that was the problem with my two-part epic (on a much larger scale, of course). I was hoping to keep both installments under 500 pages, but once I wrote the outline for the first volume, it became clear that doing so would be impossible -- and that was after I had done some serious cutting. There's just no way to tell the story I wanted to tell in anything less than 1,700 pages, at least not without altering it beyond recognition. And really, I have no problem with writing something that big. It's easily my favorite story, world, and set of characters that I've ever come up with, I just don't want to commit the next three years (or more) to something of that scale without at least having a smaller, standalone novel that I can shop around in the meantime.

A very sensible idea. I wish I had such discipline. My novel is at least the start of a trilogy - though it looks more likely to be four, since the big event I wanted to end Book 1 will now end Book 2. On the other hand, there's advantages to having a series, since readers could potentially buy into all the books rather than just one. My other big issue though is not ever having the confidence to send things to agents.

[Zoë Sumra]

Yeah, that was the problem with my two-part epic (on a much larger scale, of course). I was hoping to keep both installments under 500 pages, but once I wrote the outline for the first volume, it became clear that doing so would be impossible -- and that was after I had done some serious cutting. There's just no way to tell the story I wanted to tell in anything less than 1,700 pages, at least not without altering it beyond recognition. And really, I have no problem with writing something that big. It's easily my favorite story, world, and set of characters that I've ever come up with, I just don't want to commit the next three years (or more) to something of that scale without at least having a smaller, standalone novel that I can shop around in the meantime.

I feel your pain. Sailor To A Siren is the short-and-sweet prequel to my finished novel Rough Diamond, which itself is literally half the book it once was - 200K cut in half and revised to 134K. I'm hoping that if I sell STAS I'll be able to foist RD off on the publisher too, and at that point will revisit RD's second half. Have you thought about writing a standalone in the same world to use as a taster?

[Starkess]

Titles are the worst. I am not kidding that the current working title I am using is "Anna in Space." :lol: Well, it helps me know which one it is and it's really the least of my concerns about the novel!

[Ebenstone]

Titles are the worst. I am not kidding that the current working title I am using is "Anna in Space." :lol: Well, it helps me know which one it is and it's really the least of my concerns about the novel!

A project doesn't feel real until it has a title for me. Once it gets a title, I can really hunker down and write it.

Sometimes the title comes first and the book comes next.

[Starkess]

I went through a phase where I would just come up with lists of titles, hoping that great ideas would then follow, but alas it was not meant to be with me and titles. My completed novels, in chronological order, are How I Saved the Universe, Hinna and Nyna, Eyes, and now, my poor Anna title. Whenever I try to come up with "real" titles they end up sounding so overblown and melodramatic. Someday!

[Jaime's Wench]

I went through a phase where I would just come up with lists of titles, hoping that great ideas would then follow, but alas it was not meant to be with me and titles. My completed novels, in chronological order, are How I Saved the Universe, Hinna and Nyna, Eyes, and now, my poor Anna title. Whenever I try to come up with "real" titles they end up sounding so overblown and melodramatic. Someday!

Wow, yours are as bad as mine. My titles are [something I can't even remember], Emancipation, The Grey Horse, Miss Rodes, and now Journey of Pride. I think Emancipation is my ultimate favourite lol!

[Arthmail]

If i don't find a title, and proper pov names, the book does not get written.

[The Marquis de Leech]

The title of my current manuscript is Wise Phuul; I'm working on a sequel entitled Old Phuul. I now have this image of a series called 'The Complete Phuul.' :D

[Zoë Sumra]

The title of my current manuscript is Wise Phuul; I'm working on a sequel entitled Old Phuul. I now have this image of a series called 'The Complete Phuul.' :D

I've always liked your "Wise Phuul". :P And most of your naming conventions.

The song Sailor To A Siren has been my mental theme tune for this book's lead romantic couple for at least ten years, since long before I started writing the book, and nothing better's come to mind since. I'm having trouble with a potential name for what used to be Rough Diamond's second half, but that's a problem for the future. Character names... well, I'm writing in the real world's future, so most of them are RL names, but by no means all. The ones for important characters tend to announce themselves, usually a long time before the characters turn up. Quite a lot of my walk-ons are from a culture that has matronymic, patronymic or descriptive surnames, so those are relatively easy to make up as I go along.

[Jaime's Wench]

The title of my current manuscript is Wise Phuul; I'm working on a sequel entitled Old Phuul. I now have this image of a series called 'The Complete Phuul.' :D

Hehe. It's a good theme, witty but fantasy at the same time. When I decided on this working title, it was from deciding that all my main characters go on certain types of journeys. I planned to have 'Journey of Pride' and 'Journey of Deceit' for my first two stories, and then the whole series to be 'The [insert Name of World, yet to be decided] Odyssey'. I don't let titles and names get in my way, though. Most of the main characters of my current novel had Christian names before I realised that 'doh! if we're doing a Roman theme, they need Latin or Greek names' so it all had to change.