Holly Lisle: Writer

A Question about the TalysMana Theme

Got an e-mail today from a TalysMana reader disturbed by the turn the plot was taking, and afraid that I’m heading toward “people who create bright, happy stories and worlds are good, and people who create dark, scary worlds are bad.”

She’d never read any of my work, so as a creator of some really dark novels, (including, by all indications, some sections of this one) I’ll give her a pass on thinking that.

But no—this is not a story in which only the creators of fluffy-bunny-and-unicorn worlds are the good guys, and writers like me, who explore both the dark and the bright sides of humanity are villains.

I’m not going to bluntly state the theme—I’ll let you read on and figure it out on your own—but rest assured I have not suddenly recanted my entire body of work or my own personal philosophy.

With that said, I have worked all day on How to Revise Your Novel, (and completed the Lesson 4 Demo in time for students to get it when Lesson 4 goes live next week, so YAY there).

And did some facilitating for Becky as she gets the first batch of Talysmana Viewers ready to go out.

But no words of fiction today.

So. How’s your writing going?

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11 responses to “A Question about the TalysMana Theme”

  1. Dean H Avatar
    Dean H

    Friday 528 but 2564 for the week.

    Its been one of those weeks where you focus on family things decorating my daughters bedroom and Christmas shopping (now i’m broke Boooo) anyway i’ll soon catch up.

    Dean H (UK)

    Reply
  2. Greg Avatar
    Greg

    Friday’s words (18th):
    KavI: 432 – this escape scene is dragging, but revision should tighten it to something decent – I also realised last night I could do with weaving a bit more into these early scenes to tie them more to the later plot
    OFL: 724, and a slight change of plan with the scene, that will hopefully work!
    OFL: 1039 – desperate to get to the end of this now, and start tidying up loose conflicts and fleeting characters and the like in the revision
    RFW: 1057 – trying to get to the climactic scenes as soon as possible as I still have faith in them! Very soggy middle to RFW
    Also revised scene 5 of D&DI, and will spend the weekend adjusting my revision schedule for this in light of the fact that it takes longer than I anticipated. Also hope to tick off some more PPSs for D&DII so that I can concentrate on getting words down in the run up to xmas…

    Reply
  3. Deb1789 Avatar
    Deb1789

    1081 Words.
    And I finally feel like I’m back on track!

    Reply
  4. Cayleigh Avatar
    Cayleigh

    Did some work fleshing out the beginning and spent the day in the gutter getting to better know an eighteen year old boy with the maturity of a five year old. What wonderful fun. No sarcasm intended. All in all, I got about 1200 words done.

    Winter break is officially underway, so I’m looking forward to two weeks of having all the time I want to write. Yipee. 😀

    Reply
  5. Larkk Avatar
    Larkk

    1028 words for a new scene in the MS I’m currently revising. Not that any of the worksheets so far require the writing of new scenes, but when the words call, I answer 🙂

    Reply
  6. Twila Avatar
    Twila

    Favorite place in the world is definitely the back seats of a bus ride while listening to music, helped me to imagine a new concept for a character in White Myth. Still slow as a snail, but I’m working a little more each day in my own way. ^^

    Hope your stomach is okay as well, Pencil Neck.

    Reply
  7. HannaBelle Avatar
    HannaBelle

    A few more code fixes and the website will be fixed — well, almost, but I plan to schedule one day a week, 2 hours max to making changes. When I get it uploaded, I will post it, in case you want to see it.

    No words> After the website is up, as noted, I will plan certain days of the week for certain activities, writing will take up the majority of those time slots. I have to get tough on myself and my loved ones, I don’t just want the time and space to write, I need it.

    Reply
  8. The Pencil Neck Avatar
    The Pencil Neck

    636 words.

    The Executive Officer orders The Princess down to the cargo bay to work the machine loading and stacking crates. There’s a hurry because they need to go and the guys working on loading the cargo try to show her how to run it, but the XO is adamant that the Princess can figure it out. So, they get to work. And then when she thinks she’s through, the XO tells her all the mistakes she made. Over the intercom. So everyone can hear.

    I also got some planning done. I only had the first section of the book fully plotted. So I plotted SOME of the second section (the one I’m in now.)

    I’m hoping my stomach is under control now.

    Reply
  9. Gerhi Janse van Vuuren Avatar
    Gerhi Janse van Vuuren

    1009 words and a clue to the mystery I set up. And a power for the hero I did not anticipate before. Things are looking good.

    Reply
  10. Jessica Avatar
    Jessica

    On the bus home I got another scene fleshed out in my head and some awesome lines of dialogue – but I left my notebook at home yesterday. Ack! So grabbed the only piece of paper in my purse – backside of a grocery list – and jotted it down.

    Doing a major project for EDJ so no time there. And when I got home had to make supper and quiz the hubby for his interview today (fingers crossed) – and thanks for all the well-wishers!

    Reply
  11. Greg Avatar
    Greg

    KavI: 455
    D&DII: 700
    OFL: 1007
    RFW: 1047
    And I’m now half-way through my D&DII page-per-scenes, and also got Chapter 4 of D&DI revised.
    I’m jotting down notes for improving RFW as I go along, too, as it continues to concern me!

    Reply

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