Novel Progress and Updates

[Bluemouth]

Hi.

I thought I'd post this thread for everyone currently writing a novel. The aim of it is for everyone to post their progress and update it over time. We can encourage each other and attain certain goals. Also, by knowing there are other people in the same situation we can always feel compelled to continue on with our writing.

I'm into the second chapter of my new book so I've still got a way to go. I hope to continue writing at my current pace for a little bit longer before I settle down and finish the rest of it over a few months.

Where's everyone else at? :)

[Onoria Westhrop]

What a v.good idea!
I started on this before Christmas, and I hope to have my first complete draft by the end of January - but it's unlikely...I've just passed the 60k mark - it'll need some spit and polish, too. For now, I'm ploughing on...

Feels good just to say - 60k down, 60k to go!

[Bluemouth]

60k! You're well ahead of me. I just had a very productive session a moment ago. I'm now up to just under 10k. You've done a lot of writing since December to get up to 60k.

Congratulations and good luck on the next 60.

[Max Vantage]

I agree, good idea for a thread.

I'm currently five chapters in (written out of sequence) but I'm not worried by any word count or getting anything down perfect. It's only a first exploratory draft based on about a years worth of ideas and notes, but I have a very firm definition of what the story is about.
It's just this fecking current chapter that's kicking my arse big and major! :mad: :D
Quite complex stuff.

Will update when major breakthroughs occur...

[Onoria Westhrop]

Yeah - call in for high fives every few chapters, and when you get published invite us to the launch! If you want anything checking, you know what to do.

[Mr Baatard]

I have yet to write the thirtieth and final chapter. The climax is done, so all I have to do is tie up loose ends and write a resolution. I'm currently at 137,235 words. Here's what I have so far for the last chapter:




Chapter Thirty

The

It's actually a little depressing. It feels like the end of an era. It's only been a part time effort, but I've been writing this book for three years. A little here, a little there, a lot here, then nothing for several months before picking it up again. So I'm experiencing some melancholy, not unlike when my child graduated high school. :(

[Onoria Westhrop]

Wow - If you get published first, you have to buy the round. Site rules. I just clocked another 5k today, but I'm still a long way off that!

[Bluemouth]

I just clocked 2k in a frenzied hour. I honestly only know the very basics of where this story is headed yet I'm somehow continuing it in a way that makes perfect sense.

[Bluemouth]

And you made 150 posts Onoria! Congrats. :)

[Mr Baatard]

Don't worry. Drinks on me when I get a deal.

[Bluemouth]

If each of us get a deal then this could be the greatest year that ever was (excluding the truly great years).

[Torpeh]

Congratulations on the very impressive word count, Mr Baatard. :)

Generally I'm lucky if I get 1k words done in a day - I tend to get into my writing quite late, and that's when my parents make me come off.

Good luck to all.

[Mr Baatard]

Thanks! I wasn't really following the word count until I started researching how to get published. I set goals in terms of paragraphs, scenes, or whole chapters. Some days the words just gush out of me, and other days it's like squeezing blood from a turnip.

I've actually written more than is in the current draft. I omitted several scenes that I liked but didn't contribute to the story. My actual word count including all of those is probably between 160k and 175k

[Mike R]

I'm 44,000 words in, probably 80,000 to go.

[Onoria Westhrop]

Keep at it and come in a for our hearty congratulations with every chapter you carve out. Looks like Baatard is near the end of his road, but I'm catching!

[Bluemouth]

How much progress have you made today, Onoria? I'm about to head into what I hope will be a productive session.

I like Mr Baatard's description of "squeezing blood from a turnip". I'm constantly finding that. But when a day full of flow comes my way I'm extremely grateful.

[Wader Go]

Okay, well for all intents and purposes, I've finished my novel. 143,500 words.

A few months ago I had it professionally appraised, and the response was extremely positive. They said that it was almost publishable, but they noted some flaws in plot and logic that would dissuade a publisher.

I have spent a lot of time fixing these flaws, and am now two fifths through my final edit.

I have actually just started approaching agents. And I must say, the whole process has my stomach in knots.

[Onoria Westhrop]

Wow - one step ahead of the game..Way to go!
I just slapped down chapter 8 and passed the 70k mark with what I think is the best piece of writing I've ever produced. (Modest, I know).
I'll be pestering Wader and Baatard for hints on getting an agent in a couple of months!

[Mr Baatard]

See, now I want to read it!

I get that. I've walked away from the computer convinced I was a literary phenom, just becasue I was so impressed with whatever I'd just written.

[Bluemouth]

I find myself constantly feeling that way. Then after a couple of days it suddenly dawns on me that it wasn't as great as I thought. Then I just get disappointed. :(

[Mr Baatard]

Yeah, I sort of left out the tsunamis of self doubt that strike about a day later...

[Bluemouth]

That was a good way of putting it. :p

[Onoria Westhrop]

SHUT UP THE PAIR OF YOU!!!!!!! It's perfect! PERFECT I TELL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's two a.m. I'm going to pass out. I've written over 70k in 3 weeks...I can't expect miracles from it...

[Bluemouth]

:p HAHAHA! I know it's brilliant don't you worry. If it's better than Chapter One then :eek: WOW:eek:

I'm probably going to offer for anyone to read through Chapter One of my novel in the coming days. I've just read over most of it myself, and it really didn't take me long and I didn't feel bored (obviously bias), but I would appreciate at least one person to critique it. My main concern is whether it retains interest levels.

Oh, and it's now 4a.m. here, which shows how much work I'm putting into this. I'm pretty tired.

[Mr Baatard]

I'd be happy to review it for you!

[Onoria Westhrop]

ditto

[Bluemouth]

Thought I'd bump this thread back up.

I'm halfway through Chapter Two and I'm finding it rough going. My creative juices have vanished, I'm feeling writer's block but I've gradually pushed through it. When I go back to read over this I dread all the cracks that will begin to show. Still, I must push on and get this thing back on track. I think the problem may be I know what's going to happen in the future and so I want to write that at the moment, instead of the tedious, necessary stage I'm in at present.

I hope to get about 3/4s of the way through by the end of tonight. Wish me luck!

[Onoria Westhrop]

Good luck bluemouth! I just nailed chapter 9 taking my running up to around 76 thousand (my last note having rounded up from 68).
Don't let WB mess with you - make a cup of tea, turn on something loud on your headphones and GET IT DONE! I got faith in you boy!

Oh - and a ps. Chapter 8 wasn't so hot...BUT CHAPTER 9 - man it's the FU, it's Bruce Lee and Mohamed Ali's love child, it's every flavor in the Baskin Robins rack, it's the Christmas Turkey, the Derby Winner, the Mona Lisa - Chapter 8 let me down, but Chapter 9 will endure for all time.
Or a week.

[Bluemouth]

Thanks for the enthusiasm!

Haha, I loved your description of Chapter 9, you're a comic visionary when you want to be.:p

[Onoria Westhrop]

Aghhhhh - chapter 10 just won't get written. It's a huge wall of rubbishy attempts piling up in scrap paper around me. I may be trapped in this room until I die.

[Bluemouth]

Keep at it! I'm over my dry spell. And what you posted before was great.

I'm just paranoid I've gone and screwed up Chapter Two by changing the pace considerably. After going back and correcting all the problems from the first chapter this one seems to be dribble and repetitive at times. But I'm finding myself enjoying writing it, what others will think worries me.

I don't think you have too much to worry about, I haven't found any noticeable faults in your work. :)

[Bluemouth]

Also, already Ch. 2 is going long. It may reach about 12,000 words + and I'm trying to keep the chapters at a regular length.

[Onoria Westhrop]

Just stick the words "Chapter 3" at some point mid-sentence. If in doubt the sentence = he gasped. Character A, was dead. Or - the missile was heading straight for them. Are good one's to chuck in just before the magic words. Chapters are such arbitary things, unlike scenes.

[Bluemouth]

You know, what you just posted has given me the idea to put my chapter break before the change of scene.

That means I'll have two short chapters of about 5,000 words. All good. :)

[Onoria Westhrop]

Thanks for the encouragement bluemouth - I just wrote to the end of the scene (badly - telling myself I would edit later) and nailed about 2000 words of the next scene, which is much more fun to write! I should clear the 80k mark soon, meaning if I have a good weekend my novel will get near the magic 100k where novels begin!

[Mr Baatard]

I was stuck on chapter 24 for about six months. I knew what was supposed to happen in that chapter, I just couldn't figure out how to write it. After a while I began to wonder if I'd used up my writing talent. I got a little depressed. Then one day, it hit me like a ton of bricks, and in a month I'd finished it and written four more chapters, including the climax.

My problem, I discovered, what that I had a preconceived notion about how to depict the events in this chapter. It's an urban battle, the protagonists and their army reclaim the capitol city for the last time. I thought I had to describe an urban battle, and it just wasn't coming to me. Then one day I thought about how each of the characters had progressed, changed, and grown throughout the story. I saw parallels between their development and their personal progress and their attempts to liberate the city.

Epiphany time! I described the onset of the battle from the various persepctives of the people involved on both sides.


Finn Tigellan and Jeresant Ketlaen rode at the front of a huge number of Soldiers. It was a deafening wave of thunder, and they were riding it towards their revenge. Each of them thought of the oppression they suffered at the hands of the Karakithaanis.

Finn thought of the poverty he’d been reduced to because of Karakithaani oppression. He imagined the faces of his family as he smuggled them out of Eivom to escape the wrath of the enemy. Finn spurred his horse to run faster. Their forces made the last turn on the road before Eivom became visible.

Jeresant thought of the shame he felt at watching Regulars swarm his home like locusts, pillaging as they went. He remembered the horror he felt watching his brother die in the jail cell they shared. He called back to his men, urging them on. The Barricade set up by the Regulars was now visible.

The Regulars barricading the Euclid Lake road saw an avalanche of Colonial Soldiers plummeting toward them. Many of them felt their hearts sank in despair. They had truly squandered their time in Eivom, and would all now pay for it with their lives.

The sergeant that had been talking to the Knight Captain swallowed hard before ordering his men into a countercharge. He knew he was sending his men out like shooting stars, to burn brightly one last time before being extinguished forever.

The Knight Captain rode hard away from the battle that was ensuing on the lake road, screaming for the Regulars to regroup and converge on that barricade. He rode hard through the streets, suddenly mesmerized by the tide of reality sweeping past him. In real time he could see the faces of the colonists. The realization that they were about to be freed dawned on their faces in succession, faster than he could gallop. The defeat of the Regulars, the defeat of Karakithaan, was overtaking him.

The people looked out their windows and called out to each other that the National Army was attacking the Regulars near Lake Euclid. In spite of their own captivity, they had all heard of Amon Kitimer’s success at Wayward, Nesac Booliu’s victory at Rampart, and Anadon ElRayess’ conquest of the northern cities. As if in a mighty swoop, the Phoenix colonies of Karakithaan were becoming the cities of New Phoenix. The dream of Spanner Tenganden had become the dream of the people of Eivom, and today it was coming true.

Then after some dialogue I wrote this:


Spanner could easily read Anadon’s expression of relief and satisfaction. Anadon fully believed in their cause, and fully believed in his ability to lead an army. But he wasn’t always convinced of their combined ability to free the colonies. Only after securing most of the peninsula did he really feel certain that there would be a New Phoenix. Anadon thought back to the beginning of the war. He led a raid on the barracks in Eivom only to lose the city the next day. He rallied in Hidjo and reclaimed Eivom only to lose it again months later, when three fifths of his still fledgling army had been wiped out. He spent a winter running for his life in the forests around this city. Hundreds of his Soldiers and two of his best friends died in his pursuit of Eivom. Del left the group, and with Eivom about to be reclaimed he believed that Spanner would stay and form a central government. Ojama would stay with Spanner, and now Sara would too. In its own way, the war had taken his entire family from him. When they could at last see the skirmish at the blockade, Anadon looked back and ordered a charge.

Ojama rode just behind Anadon, silently questioning the significance of this city. They’d been disappointed, betrayed, decimated, and scattered all because of Eivom. Their greatest frustrations and disillusionments had been married to their efforts to hold this city. The core group all saw in Eivom more than a tactical and symbolic advantage. They insisted that Eivom was the living, beating heart of the colonies, and that it would be the same for New Phoenix. They had such faith in the colonists. They believed that Eivom, the Limestone Jewel, represented the best and brightest of the people of New Phoenix. Ojama saw none of it. He only really had faith in his father. He flanked to Anadon’s left and drew his sword.

Sara felt like Spanner had given her new eyes with which to look at the world. Her newfound understanding made her feel closer to the man she loved – the man she’d always loved – than even his own son. Looking at Eivom emerge after the last bend in the road, she imagined it to be the gigantic unsheathing of a weapon. Together they would make Eivom a weapon of economy, industry, and growth. She saw the Regulars merely as rust that would have to be taken off before she and Spanner could hone it and wield it against the real enemy. Sword already drawn, she flanked to Anadon’s right.

Spanner knew in his heart this moment would come. He saw the fruition of his dreams as clearly as he could see the earth and sky. Even after learning about the betrayal of the wizards, his faith in his ability to engineer the creation of New Phoenix was unshakeable. Advancing on the Regulars, he raised his sword to attack.

After that it all just flowed out. It'll come to you. Don't pressure yourself. The answer will present itself to you. You'll figure it out.

[Mr Baatard]

Keep at it! I'm over my dry spell. And what you posted before was great.

I'm just paranoid I've gone and screwed up Chapter Two by changing the pace considerably. After going back and correcting all the problems from the first chapter this one seems to be dribble and repetitive at times. But I'm finding myself enjoying writing it, what others will think worries me.

I don't think you have too much to worry about, I haven't found any noticeable faults in your work. :)

I rewrote my chapter one four times. I mean major revisions. No pressure. Take your time, write to the best of your ability.

[Bluemouth]

At the moment I'm expanding the confusing areas from Chapter One and putting some more meat on the skeleton. But I don't want to make it too fat that it has to try out for the Biggest Loser. Oh, and I'm getting through Chapter 3.

[Wader Go]

I'm officially sending off my first application and sample chapters to an agent tomorrow. Wish me luck... or at least avoid wishing me harm.

I'm also going to start working on some of my postponed novels again. I have one at 15,000 words that I should really get back into.

[Mr Baatard]

Good luck! Keep us posted.


I'm officially sending off my first application and sample chapters to an agent tomorrow. Wish me luck... or at least avoid wishing me harm.

[Bluemouth]

Way to go, Wader Go!

I wish you the best of luck and if you get published make sure to give me detailed hints on how you got in contact with the agent etc. (even though you've touched on it in the other thread)

[Wader Go]

Thanks, and will do.

[powertodream]

Well, I sent out a query letter a week and 3 days ago, and am expecting a response within the next week and a half. While I'm trying not to be too optimistic about it, I can at least hope.

However, it is giving me exceedingly strange dreams (Last night, I dreamed about dreaming about dreaming about getting a positive response to it, and then telling my mother about it :D)

[Sapphire]

In my fantasy novel, I am currently still writing on the second chapter. I have completed a prologue and the first chapter, so technically it's chapter three. ^^;

I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out what to put in the story in between major plot points, which is basically where I am stuck at right now, kind of.

Currently, I am at 3,662 words total. I am probably going to do a little bit more in a little while.

[Bluemouth]

Chapters 2 & 3 are completement, as the French say.

In the end I decided it was best to split up the 10,000 words into two separate chapters. It flows better and the change of scene is understandable. The story is slowly evolving and I've eased up after a rushed introductory chapter.

Now I just have the rest of the novel to go. :D :D :D

[Onoria Westhrop]

WOO! 80k down! 80,000 words I tell you! There simply has to be one or two good sentences in 80,000 words...
Not sure how many words I need to finish telling this story, maybe another 20-30k...

[Bluemouth]

We both posted progress reports at about the same time. :)

Do your characters go to an island for this "creature"?

[Onoria Westhrop]

Not really...I mean, Japan is a series of islands, but it's not quite a King Kong story. It's not a 'monster hunt' book. The location is more to enable me to explore issues of race and tainted and untainted blood (original sin, and cursed bloodlines); the rest is just fetishistic orientalism and a lavish backdrop on which to paint the action. Japan in the 1880's, cowboy meets Samurai, stunning oriental Geisha girls, red suns mixed with foggy English flashbacks and to draw out themes of European colonial enlightenment and it's shadowy conceptual twin - the primitives and their mythological darkness. Ironically - it's the Europeans that bring the monster with them...

[Onoria Westhrop]

Just gone back and put the scalpel into chapter 1. Appalled at how weak it is compared to chapter 2...which is far from being the best bit. I think the tsunamis of self-doubt are here now.
On the plus side - I think one of the things I've learned from this site is listen to other people's advice and re-edit your work. You get a lot back-chat from people you crit, defending their work like a tigress defends her cub. I see it, and I don't want to be it. If brutal changes are what's needed, then they are what it will get.

[Wader Go]

Changes will always happen.

I've written my story 3 times from scratach, and even in the final draft, I was still changing major plot elements.

If I were you, I wouldn't focus on fixing earlier chapters until the story is finished, because it's just going to keep evolving. Every time you make a change or add an idea, you'll be tempted to go back and alter or rewrite earlier scenes to make it all fit.

My advice is to wait until it's done, and then fix it all in one go. It saves a lot of time and effort.

Think about it: if you rewrite a chapter three times, you could have written three entirely new chapters in that space of time.

That's my theory anyway, but I suppose what works for me won't necessarily work for everyone.

PS. Congratulations on making the 80k mark.

[Onoria Westhrop]

Chapter 10 is dead. Long live chapter 11. Chapter 10 is dead. Long live chapter 11!!!!!!!

[Bluemouth]

Well I'm starting Chapter 4. I've finished my first edit of chapters 2 & 3. Up to 25k now.

[Onoria Westhrop]

Well done! You've made short work of that.

[Wader Go]

I've done a little work on my next book. I'm at 16k.

[Torpeh]

Sounds like everyone's making great progress. :)

I wrote 5k words over the weekend (part of my novel and an essay), which is quite a lot for me, and I have a day off school today, so hopefully I'll get 1 or 2k more done.

Best of luck to all!

[Max Vantage]

All I will say from now on is that I have just reconstructed chapter 1 and made some MAJOR necessary changes and I'm still continuing to do so.
Last year I said it will probably take me until the end of this year to see the manuscript complete. But I reckon that this will only be reasonable if I dedicate everyday to it - IT'S MAJOR!!!

All I can contribute further (as I find writing updates to be quite distracting) is that my story is based on a deeply controversial essay I wrote years ago entitled The Divine Conspiracy (which I regretfully lost somewhere so I've constructed this story from the basis of a very crude memory of it).

The essay haunted me quite a bit and spurred my ambition to want to write a story from it.

That's all the updating I want to do from now on.

[Sapphire]

I completed chapter 2 of my novel today and I am beginning to work on chapter 3.

[Onoria Westhrop]

Good work Saphire! I'm still ploughing through chapter 11 - somewhere just short of 90k now; personal upheavals have made writing v. diff. this week!

[Onoria Westhrop]

At long last I sat down and wrote the last few words of chapter 11; why did it take so long??? The novel now weighs in at a healthy 90k, with one chapter to go. Obviously, January has slipped by without my hitting the 100k goal, but I think I managed a pretty good stab at a novel in a month. I just have to knock out chapter 12 next week, then do the redrafting. I wrote the synopsis this week - the novel in 5 pages, no easy feat and it doesn't read great at the moment. Too much to say in such a small space!

[Onoria Westhrop]

It's done, and in the post! I appear to be the only one left posting here, but for posterity - this is when I finished my novel The Expedition - you'll all be clicking on this link when I'm Times Bestseller for the month...I wish...Still, 105k in 6 weeks. Now to the editing and rewriting of bits I don't like...I was thinking of including more smells - Jasmine, aldehydes, camphor - really evocative words...

[Wader Go]

Congratulations. It's a great feeling to finally get one finished, isn't it... now comes the hard part.

Good luck.

[Wader Go]

Well a little update of my own.

I finally got over more than a week's worth of writer's block, and have written 3000 extra words for my next book. It's currently at the 20k mark.

It turns out that all I needed to keep writing was to introduce a new character. An extra character creates a new dynamic to work from.

Just to explain how much that helps to anyone who doesn't realize: (NOTE: By 'bounce off' I mean interact) If you have two characters, they can only bounce off one another. Add a third character, and character A can bounce off of character B. Character B can bounce off of character C. Character C can bounce off of character A. And all three can bounce off of each other.

You quadruple your character interaction, which makes a far more interesting story. Add a fourth character, and you multiply it by about eleven.

So simple, I wish I had realized it earlier.

[Onoria Westhrop]

good stuff

[Sapphire]

I have completed my third chapter and almost halfway done with completing my fourth (which is VERY long mind you!). I was originally at about 5,500 words, and now, to be exact, I am at 8,254 words. I am extremely proud of myself, because I am getting my mojo back!

[Wader Go]

Good job. I seem to have 'gotten my mojo back' too.

Been working hard over the last few days, so now my wordcount is 32,000.

[Onoria Westhrop]

How few are left! Reality interrupted a pleasant interlude in my life when I dared to dream, and scribble my fantasies - always played out in vivid colors in my head, only for the pigments to dull as the ink dried...The old companions are gone and a new crowd have hoved into sight...