Ramblings from the 'goblinn

"There will be no having of any kind....."

Yes, well. It's been a year since I joined this great whirligig of fun known as Live Journal (and other, less complimentary names, depending on its behavior and my flist's moods). If I haven't thanked you folks recently for your entertaining posts, comments, friendship and support lately, shame on me. Thanks, everyone.

And a special Happy Birthday to the great and wonderful gileswench, whose natal day this also happens to be!

I should try to post something slightly profound today, given the significance of the date. Well, okay, how about this: what I'm really thinking about today is how we go about launching ourselves into the telling of tales. To get an idea and post a start to a story takes a tremendous amount of faith as a writer. (Or maybe that would be temporary insanity. I'm not clear on that point.)

To start reading a WIP takes a tremendous amount of faith too, as a reader. I can't count (not being a math major) the number of times I've started reading a brilliantly written and conceived story-- that stalls. The Transformations Quartet springs to mind. So does liz_marcs's "Water Hold Me Down" (possibly the best title I've ever seen. Not to mention a damn good story.) I've had some stalled tales, myself, most notably my first novel, started in grad school and then abandoned for over 20 years. Still have no idea how it ends.

I've got a couple of WIPs I'm working on now, including the Nano06 novel. But here's the weird part-- every single time I pick up my pen or my laptop, after a tale has stalled, and somehow new stuff comes to me, I'm surprised.

It's like, I struggle so hard to write a scene, and nothing comes, and then one day, for no reason at all, something clicks, and I write it. It's not Hemingway, but it's also usually not bad. At least, I can work with it. It's devilishly hard to edit what's not written, after all.

I invite you to share your moments of grace, if you care to. Or those of you with seriously stalled fics-- how did those start for you? What were you working out with them at the time, and what's changed since? I'd love to see liz answer that-- almost asked on her journal today, but didn't want to seem to be pressuring her. I know real life plays a role-- you can't receive the inspiration if you're too exhausted at the end of the day to write it all down.

And I will share one more bit of thanks. Doubtless she's regretting her generosity now that she's slogged through the start of the Nano Novel, but gillo has graciously agreed to beta it for me. I am learning a great deal about my bad habits, how to avoid them, and how in general to be a better beta reader myself. Watch this space. Once I have a completed draft, I'm going to take her early comments to heart, fix what can be fixed, and start posting.

Thanks again to all, and good night.

Hob

That would be me, looking in the mirror today.

Writing is frustrating. I have rewritten the same scene 4 times now-- all different ways, but absolutely of a piece when you average in the suckage factor.

What really gets me is-- the story to this point isn't that bad. I'll post up to where the suckage gets to truly hooverlike proportions-- maybe some feedback will jar something loose. If you can't bring yourself to read a WIP, especially since my last took 3 years to get finished-- don't worry. I won't be offended in the least. Maybe you can indulge in some drive by writing therapy, instead-- what helps you in these situations?

I will say that I'm proud of one thing-- I'm still writing every day. Even if it sucks, I'm making the effort.

This will start a little ways back from where the last part ended, just to give a running start, and because I edited it a bit for the better. Hope everybody else's St. Nick's Day is going better than mine.

( more nano novel - read at your peril )
The part I can't get is the next bit, after this where they talk to Ellen. I can't find a convincing way to handle it. And the characters are doing very credible impressions of sock puppets. Wooden sock puppets even....

Sigh. All right, back to it.

UPDATE: Okay, I see something. When I stay close to Giles' and Willow's point of view, it flows a lot better. Buffy's not bad, but the further I get from how things are going for Giles and Willow, the worse it becomes. There's a moral there, somewhere. Must ponder....

Oh, and here's the count as of yesterday:

26,591 + 5,408 (20.3% more)

Here's the past couple of days of this. As always, comments welcome.

( Mother and Child, Continued )

No, that's not a typo. That's a day off work, a couple of scenes in mind, and a couple of large uninterrupted chunks of time during the day to get them down. I even watched parts of season 7 and 6 in between, to get my mind back in the Buffy space. Because I'm about to attempt to do justice to the scattered multitudes, and I want to get all their voices back in my ear again.

I'm very proud of what I've got today, but that's not what I'm going to post. It's way too long for anyone to digest, especially given the mass quantities of feastlike foods many of my f-list have doubtless been enjoying. Here, instead, is the shorter next section of the story I wrote last night. Enjoy. Or not, as the mood strikes you.

I never thought I'd make it to 20K words. I still probably won't make it to 50K. But just starting this and writing every day has done wonders for me. Thanks to you, friends, both for your encouragement and your examples. You're what I'm most thankful for, this holiday. You, and of course, my small son, who thinks he will soon need to shave. And who's probably right, as fast as the time is passing by.

Peace unto you all.

Hob

( Part II - Mother and Child )

Ever add a small detail to a scene, just for color, and find out later that it's The thing you need to introduce your next section?

Like, here I was, trying to figure out ( plot stuff )

And I got a lot of this first section finished up today-- may not keep all of it, but it was useful to write. Today's word count as of now is: 1472. And for the month:

I'm going to be doing some research for a while, but I have another section to carry this story forward, so I'll post it now. Enjoy, or not, at your discretion.




( Read more )

This is actually shaping up into something kind of interesting. I'll probably scrap the later bits-- I think the parts I'm working on now won't fit with them. But it's all still much in flux. I'm starting to daydream and get scenes like I did for Summer, something I never thought would happen again.

Here are some scenes following on those I've already inflicted. I'd still rather have Summer feedback, particularly on the ending, but I know some people enjoy having a part in the creative process, and I am blessed with some extraordinarily wise and creative friends.

What follows is more than today's bit, but they all kind of hang together. Read at your peril! I'm pretty pleased with tonight's part....

( Untitled Nano Novel scenes )



********
And now, Antenna's cool progress meter. I don't think I'll get 50k, but I'll be happy with half that even. And I think it's do-able. Kind of cool...

I don't know if or how I would use it, but I just wanted to check my not so vast knowledge of climate/ conditions in other parts of the world.

In California, what are the season changes like? Are there any to speak of? I would imagine the leaves don't turn the firey bright colors they do here in the midwest.

What about London? Bath? What does it look like where You are right now?

There have been breathtaking firery red/orange/gold leaves this year in Northern Kentucky, and there's a particularly stunning one outside the window nearest my cube today. Made me wonder what Giles would make of the sight, and what it might cause him to think about.

Hey, I've got to get more than 10 words today, which means I need an Idea....

Hob

Since LJ was out all day, and I was for most of it, too, I wrote out a character sketch of Giles, similar to the ones I've seen Antenna do. I was surprised at how helpful I found it-- more so, I think, than if I had just gone with the first couple of sentences and tried to work it into a narrative. I need to go deeper, but this is a start.

And hey, does anyone know if the Buffy comic is out yet? And if so, if it's suitable for children? My little imp was recently turned on to graphic novels by one of his school buddies, and hey-- he's reading. I just need to know if this is something I need to read in the store, or actually buy and bring home.

Oh hey-- I'm going to get Jossed, aren't I? I was always sorry I missed out on that delight of contemporary fandom... Cool.



And now-- feel free to ignore this....
( My Giles (2 Years Post Chosen) )

I just clicked on that great word count widget I borrowed from Antenna, and-- the site's gone. I'm now back to trying to use something off the nano site itself, though I don't like that as much. Here's my progress to date: 1030 words today, 398 yesterday.



Going to be in the depressing minus column all month. Bugger.

I'll be posting my first part of my nano novel here later. Remember, it doesn't have to be good. Just long.

Hob