Magic

It has been some time since I wrote anything, here or otherwise.  But my niece recently read the first 6+ chapters of my book and loved it.  Nothing like praise to motivate you to write.  But I remember leaving the Oak Wand because my inspiration had packed it's bags and headed to Bermuda.  So, to get back into it, I started at the beginning and reread the entire thing.  This ended at a sentence where I didn't know quite where to go.

I must thank JK Rowling because Harry Potter has afforded me much inspiration.  The Oak Wand is NOT like Harry Potter but a few of the situations are similar enough that how JK writes them, has helped me.  And so it was again.  I started with only a sentence at a time coming to me.  But they kept coming and coming and coming for 5 more pages.  I knew what the event was that would happen (sorry, no spoilers) and how it would be resolved-ish but I just didn't know how.  Now I do.

Sometimes when I write, I don't feel like this is really my story.  I'm merely transcribing the story someone else has is telling me.  I am surprised at how scenes unfold, at the reactions of the characters.  Is it because I'm a fabulous writer?  Or maybe I'm just suffering from fortunate inspiration.

This is the Novel Mage saying, *POOF*

Days go by

Wow, it seems like forever since I posted last.  Oh, look it has been!  No posts in July at all.  Much too busy lately with school and work and family and laziness to write.  I've also lost some of the fire I had before.  This saddens me but I have NOT needed one more thing to stress about.

The good news though is that I have started writing again.  I'm taking a story I wrote in high school, then rewrote 5 or so years ago and now rewriting it again.  It never ceases to amaze me how much my writing has improved.  As soon as I sat down, with this project in mind, and started reading the story, I couldn't believe how much 'telling' I did.  I didn't 'show' very much at all.  My dialogue was little and ....well, blah.  Then I remembered that this copy was still quite improved over the original.  EEK!  Luckily, I believe my sister is the only one with an original and it isn't a soft copy she can circulate easily.

Still, in my quest to be published is still moving forward.  Since I originally wrote this story in 3 parts, and now that I'm rewriting (page 1 is now pages 1-3), my plan is to release it in 3 parts.  So if all goes well, you can look for "Mysterious Prince Part I" by Christmas as an ebook. 

This is the Novel Mage saying, *POOF*

Curbed Enthusiasm

I spent the two weeks off from school doing very little writing.  Why?  I had a great opportunity to write in the evenings that were homework free.  But I didn't.  Well, first I had several home improvement/basement finishing jobs that needed to be done.  Alas, they took priority.  Second, I actually finished compiling my poetry book.  I just need to actually do the hard thing of putting up for publishing somewhere.  And third, I really kind of enjoyed NOT being on a computer every night. 

Thus, my writing has not progressed.  But don't worry.  It hasn't been forgotten.

This is the Novel Mage saying *POOF*

Back on the typewriter again

Did you hear the "Back in the saddle again" music playing through your head? Yeah, me too. A quiet Sunday morning seems like a good time to write. Until all of your kids crowd around you sitting on the couch and all read over your shoulder. Then you get too distracted and have to stop.

But still, I got over a page written and some more plot worked out in my head and stuff. That's always good. And I haven't written in several weeks so I liked getting something down. Now off to bathe kids and get ready for church.

This is the Novel Mage saying *POOF*

Write or wrong

My writing this week has been all school related. A tad depressing indeed but I've been thinking about my writing even if I haven't been doing it. Specifically, I've been pondering pace. At LTUE, more than one panelist mentioned that you can't have a story that is constantly on the run. People need some time to breathe, digest, think, care. If you push too much, then what should be a roller coaster ride becomes and exhausting climb. That's bad. To that extent I've been pondering my stories and wondering if I have those peaks and valleys that keep a reader interested but not out of breath. Because the other extreme is equally bad. It's called BORING!!

I believe I see a need to go back and identify those moments when I'm done with my stories to make sure I have a good flow and some inconsistency to mix things up a bit. I'd love to do it now but I need to write. The temptation to go back and fix before you are finished is something I struggle with all the time. But that, is for another post.

This is the Novel Mage saying *POOF*

In The Beginning...

And so it was that I attended LTUE (Life, the Universe and Everything) conference at BYU for the first time. Of course it's the first year they require payment as well. Awesome. Anyway, I'm glad I went because I learned so much and had a great time. I got to meet published authors, get great advice and suggestions and come home and realize I've written a lot of crap.

Ok, so it's not all crap. But I do have one short story that I wrote in high school for a girl I liked. Then I revised it around 8-9 years after that. I've poked at it now and again since but not really looked at it in at least a year. So for the first time I'm looking at it with the eyes of someone who has become a much better prose writer and wow. It totally sucked. So I sighed at my suckiness and opened a new Word doc and started writing. I like the story. It's a short story but it is my very original idea and it's been through several re-writes making the plot better. Now it's finally getting written better.

One other thing that was suggested to me was to self-publish my poetry book. I have tons of poetry just hanging around and I did, at one time, compile a bunch into a book format. So I think that sometime soon, I will revisit that as well and hopefully by next LTUE, I'll have a poetry book that is self-published and available to the public. I hope someone NOT related to me will want a copy.

Until then, this is the Novel Mage saying *POOF*