Okay, that was truly horrible, but what can I say? I don't write poetry, I write stories. Actually, it reminds me of my early days parodying Harry Potter.

But this post is actually about taking your writing fast or slow.

So basically, I have been writing fast compared to the speed I used to write at (and would still write at if not for Write or Die). When I decided not to use Write or Die for my latest writing session, I realised something that I would like to share.

I'm sure most writers know this, but circumstances in the real world affect how you write your story world.

I think Chapter One kept tense most of the way through (I really hope it was). This wasn't really intended, and sort of came out with the choppiness of my scenes (which I have fixed), and the way it kept moving. I hadn't considered this, but I believe the way Write or Die was keeping me on toes -- I think it was keeping my characters on their toes. And from some of my critiquers' reactions, it kept them on their toes. Which, for the first chapter, is a good thing.

Chapter Two brings much of that tension down until the end of the chapter. Here we get to know characters a bit better: Their motivations; their feelings and memories of the past; how they feel about their place in the world. We meet a new character as well (Faine, and I believe he is much less conspicuous this time around -- just a good guy trying to help).

For my last writing session I opted against Write or Die, in favour of a slower approach. This seemed to work for me. My character was sitting in the cart, and I want the reader to feel, not the dullness, but the true feeling of being in moving cart for the best part of a day.

This was something I don't believe I could achieve with Write or Die, with a guy standing on my heels saying MOVE, MOVE, MOVE! That worked really well for Chapter One, where I wanted to keep the tension up, but when my character's sitting in a cart? No, I don't think so.

So, my suggestion is that when you want to keep the tension up, keep the action up. Keep things moving. And write fast. The conditions in which you are writing will come across within your writing.

If you are writing a slow or meaningful scene, I wouldn't suggest writing quickly. Consider how you can write the scene that would best translate the emotions to your reader, be it excitement, anxiousness, dullness or any other emotion. If your character is stalking a deer through the forest, stalk your words for the perfect sentence. If he is sitting in a cart, sit yourself in the cart. Would you be worrying about your sister's damning light all day in the cart, or would you stop worrying by the fifth hour?

Consider, consider, consider. Am I making you tense?

I think this post feels a little different than most of my others. It was not planned. I came across it when writing and thought, oh, I'll blog about that.

Now for a random excerpt, in which Eoin experiences pins and needles for the first time. Don't judge him. He has been in a cart for a thousand words.
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He found himself daydreaming as the day wore on. He stared absently out the windows, barely noticing when the bland scenery changed from sky to trees. The sound of dirt under the cart’s wheels changed to the crunching of leaves and twigs. Little by little, the sun lowered, and Eoin was brought back to the world when the cart stopped. He blinked, and lights danced in front of his eyes. All the passengers were getting out of the cart.

“Come,” said Faine. “No one is allowed to sleep in the cart.” He laughed, and made his way out of the cart, ducking so as not to scrape the roof with his head. When Eoin stood, pain shot through his feet and he fell to the floor. It was like nothing he had ever experienced, a tingling pain that danced around the soles of his feet.

He saw Saera come to the open door. With narrowed eyes, she said, “What happened? The cart looked like it was about to collapse.”

Eoin told her.

“Are you still in pain?” she asked.

It seemed the tingling in Eoin’s feet had subsided. “No, not anymore.”

“Then hurry up and get out of there. They’re locking it up soon.

Social War: Aborigines wanted a formal apology for actions taken during the White Australia movement.

War Over Land: The Gaza Strip. Who really had it first? Where else have people fought over land? (The United Kingdom)


                                  > Protestantism
Judaism > Christianity
                                  > Catholicism > Anglicism
Hindu


____________________
Our own world has a history, and that is what makes it true. If you have some knowledge of the history of your story's world, you can place details in the story that relate to its history, and this can help make the story truer, deeper and richer. More authentic.

I wrote this song after giving up on my resolution to have 60,000 words written on my novel by the end of the year. I'd fallen out of swing and lost all motivation to keep going.

I guess you could say this song is motivational. It's definitely uplifting. The jazzy style is very much a deviation from anything else I have written. It's also far, far better (in both the recording quality and quality in general) than any of my other songs.

See if you can catch the reference to the blog I put in there.



You can also find the video by clicking here.

I hope you like it, and enjoy the chance to see another side of me. Is it weird to know what I look like all of a sudden?

A. Deviation.

I have successfully* written more than 1,000 words for Easter Sunday. My finished total for the day is 1,109 words, and I am the same number of words into Chapter Two. Eoin and Saera are at the Tarne gates, and the travelling carts are about to leave.

This month I have written in total 1,760 words. Nearly 2,000 already.

The novel's word count now sits on 4,450 words, but that count will change a bit soon as I have some revising to do.


*I probably would not have made the 1,000 before 12am if I hadn't had my friend to keep me on track, so some thanks go to him.

Happy Easter to everyone! I hope you enjoyed a day of indulgence.

I set myself a special Easter challenge to write 1,000 words on Aundes Aura today. I'll update you when my challenge is complete.

I have decided to write a full outline of Aundes Aura. Below is what I have down so far. Chapter One is considerably more detailed than Chapter Two because it is already written.
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Chapter One:

• Seven years have passed and Eoin and Saera are in the market district, shopping for fruit. Saera stops Eoin; the Aura is coming back. It hasn’t shown up for perhaps two weeks. They flee the market, trying not to draw attention, and hide in an alleyway. They wait there for it to subside.

• They go to the castle and to Saera’s room. They argue how she will be able to go to the Passing ceremony tonight when there will be so many people and the Aura is coming back. Eoin says he knows a way.

• He takes her to the Church and they pray to Elcalades the Giving Father. Eoin finishes his prayer and stands. The reverend enters before Saera finishes her prayers and meets them by the statues. He gives Saera a letter and then leaves, saying he has “other duties to attend to”. Saera reads the letter and tells Eoin that they have to leave tomorrow. Someone saw the Aura at the market earlier and the reverend is allowing them tonight for the Passing ceremony, but then they must leave the village. If the reverend does not alert higher authorities quickly, he will be penalised by death.

• They leave the church and head for the Field of the Passing, leaving through the village gate. Eoin asks how well Saera remembers their mother, who died when they were young. Saera doesn’t remember her at all, but Eoin remembers loving her despite not remembering her face.

• They reach the field early. Eoin goes into the forest to a clearing with a log in the centre where he and his father used to sit and talk for hours once a week after his mother died. He talks to the trees, telling his father that although he had always said to face his fears, Eoin hoped that he wouldn’t think less of him for running away. After all, his father had also told him to look after Saera. Eoin says he forgot his mother, so how will he remember his father? A heart-shaped leaf drops and Eoin takes it and keeps it to remind him of his father.

• Eoin emerges from the forest. Passing ceremony. It ends with the words: “May you take to the gods in eternal peace. Forneth Moris.”

• The casket is then lit and while the smoke rises, Eoin notices someone saying to Saera: “My dear, you look awfully pale.” Saera pretends to cry to give a reason for why they then run away. They walk very briskly until they are out of sight, and then run through the streets of Tarne until they are back in Saera’s room.


Chapter Two:

• It is early morning and Eoin sits in Saera’s room and watches over her as she sleeps. He looks out the window and can still see smoke rising from the Field of the Passing. He thinks about protecting Saera and the danger she is in.

• It comes to nearly sunrise (which usually happens at around the sixth hour in Válkia) and he wakes Saera up. They prepare to leave. The carts depart at the seventh hour.

• The carts stop for the night, an hour past Heath. Eoin and Saera don’t know how to set up their cover and a man named Faine helps them. He shows them the appropriate knots, tying two strings around two trees and then together, and putting the cover over it. He then places rocks at the base of the material, resulting in the now triangular cover.

• They get to know Faine. “So what do you do?” He is cocky in front of Saera (suggesting his feelings towards her), and she is snarky towards him.

• It gets darker and everyone goes to sleep. Eoin has a dream (of which Saera will have an identical one).

• The dream is interrupted by a few people dragging Eoin up from the ground. He and Saera are both being dragged away from the burning carts. Faine steps up and threatens them with a sword. They send their strongest man in to fight Faine, and Faine wounds him gravely. Eoin elbows one of the two people behind him in the stomach and breaks free. He then punches another man who is holding Saera, and they and Faine run and take horses.

• They ride to Parthon. End with Parthon in view.
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Do you think this moves too quickly, or at a good, steady pace?

Thanks to some constructive utilisation of time, I have finally finished Chapter One. It finished at 2,815 words, and brings the novel so far to 3,342 words. It was very refreshing to write "Chapter Two" in nice bold letters the next page down. I hope the cliffhanger will be effective enough.

When it goes up in queue a few weeks from now (I expect it will be a few weeks, due to the constantly full state of the Fantasy queue and my lack of credits), it will be titled: "Aundes Aura: Chapter One (revised and complete)".

For those of you who critiqued my last post of Chapter One, I thank you. If you decide to critique this version also, then I don't expect you to re-crit anything, only the new stuff.

Revisions:
1. I cut the scene with Old Hanne. Instead, Eoin comes up with the idea to take Saera to the church and pray.
2. Added a scene in the church. We discover how churches in Válkia differ from those in our world.
3. Added the scene of the Passing Ceremony, and a scene in the forest which was carried over from my first attempt at the novel.

This is just a quick post to ask you all what you think of this renaming for Aundes Aura. Recently a critiquer suggested The Gifted. It seemed appropriate to me, as later in the novel we meet more people who are gifted with Auras and they become involved with the story.

How do you feel about this change of title?

I figured if I cut the scene with the acquaintance, it would flow better, as they could go straight from the castle to the church. I wholly believe it's worked. But through this process, I have learned something about flow.

Sometimes scenes move between areas so quickly that it seems your characters are teleporting. That's how I felt when I read the first draft anyway. But as I worked through it, I took notice of the parts that did seem to flow. What was different?

Well, when it didn't flow, it was because the paragraphs between the two areas were too short. Here is an excerpt from the first version:

"That's it," said Eoin. "You will go to the Passing tonight. I will make sure of it." He left the room and headed back towards the castle's front door. There was only one other person in town who knew Saera had the Aura, and if anyone had the answer to Eoin's questions, it would be him. Old Hanne lived in the common district, across from the house where Eoin and Saera used to live.

Eoin slammed the brass knocker against the door and waited. He smiled and nodded as someone passed him in the street. The door opened.

Soon after, the scene with Old Hanne was removed and they went straight from the castle to the church:

"That's it," said Eoin. "You will go to the Passing tonight. Just come with me." He held out his hand, and Saera hesitated before taking it. They left the room and headed back towards the castle's front door.

Eoin hated the way this society based so much on the appearance of people, and rarely gave a second thought to discover what they might actually be like on the inside. It was society's inability to look deeper than the flesh that put Saera in so much danger. If the light were to come to the surface, people would see only the light. If only they would look deeper they would see an innocent, harmless girl. Still, it was the reason Saera was still safe. No one could see what she had inside her. This curse. This light.

As he stepped out into the street, he felt confined all of a sudden. The creamy-white houses seemed to close in on him from every direction. His heart beat faster. He had to get away from here. He had to get Saera to the Church as soon as possible.

Eoin led Saera through the streets, all the way to the church. Its high, triangular roof cast a shadow upon the streets. There were no windows visible from where Eoin stood. He and Saera ascended the steps, and once they were inside, Eoin closed the door as quickly as he could. It was necessary to ensure that the holy spirits remained within.
 
The last paragraph continues and describes the inside of the church. As dictated by "To Keep or Not To Keep", I decided to describe the inside of the church because it is quite different to the first image that would come to a reader's mind.
 
So what can you do to help transitions between areas to flow into one another more easily? Well, there are a few things.
 
1. Desription: A description of the setting as the character sees it. Perhaps it doesn't have to be literal, as the mind can play tricks on us. You can go into how the character feels about the place. Again, as dictated by "To Keep or Not To Keep", this could be world-building mateial. If it has been said before, don't repeat it.
 
2. Dialogue: In Real Life, people talk as they walk. Conversations elapse time, so when the characters arrive at their destination after the dialogue has finished, it feels right.
 
3. Interior Monologue: Technically, the character thinking to himself, written as narration. An example from the above excerpt would be:
Eoin hated the way this society based so much on the appearance of people, and rarely gave a second thought to discover what they might actually be like on the inside.
And so on. Again, this elapses time in the Real World, so it feels right that time would elapse within the text, and thus bridge the gap between one area and another.
 
So if you ever find a choppy transition between areas and need a fix, just remember the "Three Bridges"*.
 
*Sounds like a good title for a new fantasy novel.

On the brink of despair,
Taemus is there
When you're corrupted by fear,
Taemus is here

Il est présent pour tu,
Terreur Nocturne

Don't forget it

The first part of Aundes Aura, chapter one is up this period if any of you are interested. However, I submitted this three weeks ago, and since then have found two inconsistencies in the text which have been addressed in my current draft, but which I am unable to address in the version on Critique Circle.

Also, the scenes are very choppy and it seems as though the characters teleport from one area to the next, to the next, back and to the next again. If you want to be more impressed by what I have up, you may want to wait a few more weeks until the full and revised Chapter One is up, which I must say is reading marginally better already.

Still, if you want something easy to crit, I am leaving my chapter one, part one up since I have waited three weeks for it to come into queue. By reading it you might get the general feel for my style.

But don't worry about this one. I'd much prefer you read the version later down the track, and perhaps think slightly higher of me.

- Plot
None of that was essential to know, but it makes Faine a deeper character. Knowing that, I can give a certain tone in Faine's dialogue that reflects how he feels about his past.

You can also create backstory to a town. In Aundes Aura there is a village called Tierra, and it sits at the base of the mountains. This village is situated next to the border of Meira, and used to trade with towns from the other country. However, the Church of Duthonne does not agree with the beliefs of the people in Meira, and thus contend that it is a sin to make trades with the country. The Church ordered the village to stop, but it did not as the trades were the most efficient way of keeping the village in stock. As a result the Church ordered a demolition on the village, and it was destroyed.

In knowing that, when the characters travel to Tierra they will discover what happened, and they notice how the village looks half-built as its people try to restore it.

So while backstory may not be essential to the plot, it helps immensely with creating a deeper world and deeper characters.

Character Development: This is the way your characters progress as people throughout the story. Character development is usually given between main plot points. It contributes heavily to pacing, as it breaks up the action of the story and lets us see how the character is adapting to his situation. Character development can be shown through either dialogue or, if it is the POV character, interior monologue.

World Building: How much world building you do will obviously depend on your genre. It is most prominent in fantasy and science-fiction. Deciding on whether you should show a particular feature of the world will depend on how unique it is from what we would find in our own world. For example, we all know what a dog looks like, however, it might be worth mentioning that in this world dogs have three heads and fiery tails.

Recently I had to make a decision on whether or not to show a scene in the church. I decided it was worth showing, as it is different to what you would find here. In particular, at the far end of the church there are gigantic statues of the four Great Gods. Elcalades the Giving stands in the centre of the other three statues, who face him. When someone needs to pray to a particular god, they kneel in front of the statue of the god they wish to communicate to and pray.
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If the scene you have written does not contribute to any of these elements, it may not add anything to the story and just be filler.

Make every scene count.

To keep, or not to keep: That is the question
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to endure that which is pointless,
Or to seek out that which is not; and in so seeking,
Give enjoyment unto another.

Ryan Sullivan: So, uh... ee-oyn?

Eoin: It's pronounced like Owen.

R.S: Oh, okay. Eoin, what are your ambitions in life?

Eoin: Ambitions? When I was ten I wanted to be a renowned warrior. I don't care for that anymore. Now... now I don't know what I want. I guess I want to keep my sister safe.

R.S: Safe from what?

Eoin: Oh, you know, she's my little sister and everything. I have to keep her safe from the world.

R.S: Why do you think the world is so dangerous?

Eoin: I wouldn't exactly say the world istself is dangerous, so much as its people.

R.S: Why would anyone want to harm your sister?

Eoin: I can't say... I mean, you know how it is. You never know what's around the corner, so you have to be on your guard.

R.S: What about your parents? Shouldn't they be looking after her?

Eoin: [Looks away.] I don't have any parents.

R.S: I am sorry.

Eoin: Please, don't apologise. I am sick to death of people apologising. It doesn't change the past.

R.S: [Nods.] So if you, uh, have no parents, then who looks after you and your sister?

Eoin: I'm seventeen and she's sixteen. We can look after ourselves. But we live in a castle at our village. It isn't too big, so we don't ever get lost, but it's much nicer than the place where we used to live.

R.S: Where did you used to live?

Eoin: In the lower district, where most of the people in the village live. Some years after Mother passed away, the reverend recognised Father's conribution to the country and we were allowed to live in the castle. He was a blacksmith, and he supplied the Duthonian army with weapons and tools.

R.S: You speak of your mother's passing away as if it were nothing.

Eoin: It happened a very long time ago.

R.S: One last question. Your father blacksmithed for the army. Would you consider fighting for the army in memory of him?

Eoin: While Father supported the army, I think he would prefer that my sister be kept safe. I would never leave her here alone.

R.S: That's it, then. Thank you for your time.

The floor is good. The floor is ground. The ground keeps us up, where we would otherwise fall. Therefore, the floor keeps us up where we would otherwise fall. The floor comes in many flavours: soft, hard, patterned, coloured, shaded. People have many different tastes in floor.

In the Tower of Success, there are countless floors. I am on the first floor. Always aim for the next floor. If Real Life is bullying you, endeavour to hold your ground. Don't fall down the stairs. But if Real Life pushes you down the stairs, there's nothing you can do. All you can do is wait for him to calm down, and then have a talk with him. Hopefully this time he'll help you up the stairs.

To the next floor.

A. Deviation.

On Critique Circle for the past couple of days there has been a thread about the Write or Die tool. I tried it out today and thought I'd share it with you all.

I am a slow writer, but even more so, I get distracted easily. Often when I turn on the computer the first thing I do is open up my Word Document, then bring up the net to check my emails. Then I go to the sites I visit regularly to see what's been happening. Then it's midnight, and I haven't even done my homework.

That's me.

Well, today I was entreated with a way to keep me on my toes, to keep my writing focused. Often I would sit down and say, "Here's an hour. I know you can write 200 words in an hour." Then I would take my merry time writing my 200 words.

Not this time. Having learnt about this mysterious Write or Die tool, I thought I'd give it a shot. You can set the time you would like to write for and the number of words you would like to write in that time.

You also choose consequences (if you stop writing for a time) and grace period (how long before the screen slowly fades to red and you are assailed by awful music). If you choose "strict" grace period you will be given five to ten seconds before the screen starts to go red. If you choose evil, you only get a couple of seconds.

If you choose "normal" consequences, you get previously said awful music. If you choose "kamikaze", after 10 to 20 seconds, your words will start to be deleted. For now, I think normal strict is a good setting for me.

And the result? I said before that I used to aim for 200 words in an hour. Using Write or Die, I set up to write 100 words in twenty minutes. I wrote 208 in 22 minutes. Pretty good in my opinion.

This is great, not only because I actively procrastinate from doing anything constructive, but because I am one of the people who usually edit as they go, looking for that perfect sentence before moving on. I do feel now, that it's more important that I get the words out onto the page, and once they're there, I can edit them all I want, for hours if I wish.

http://writeordie.drwicked.com/