On Ohio, and the novels, and the new class

By Holly Lisle

Just small news here. The new class is finished in first draft, and I’m now (and for the first time ever) doing the complete course bug-hunt and clean-up BEFORE I put the course on sale.

Yes, it will take longer. But it will also guarantee that the class will be less first-time-through splintery.

I’m still working on the Ohio novels every weekday. Read-throughs and clean-ups at the moment.

I bought a wood-burning kit to use so that I can make a real-world version of one of the magical artifacts in the novels. The kit finally arrived, so I can start putting that together.

So now, I’ll have a little fun making one of my main character’s best magical tools. (Well, in HER Ohio, it’s actually magical. In MY Ohio, it’s going to be cool, and attractive to look at, and possibly to some degree useful — but probably not to the degree my MC is finding it useful.)

And finally, I know it’s autumn (and heading hard toward winter) but I just wanted to show of Ohio’s state wildflower, the trillium. The hills are covered with them in spring, and it’s a gorgeous sight.

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Finished Lesson 8 of the new (name withheld) Fiction Writing Course

By Holly Lisle

Got over 2000 words today. I am pushing hard on this class, and looking forward to:

  • A) Finishing all the lessons… and
  • B) Putting the class on sale

I needed to get some distance from the Ohio novels, so I can read back through the books I already have, and take a look at a couple of conflicting story ideas that I realized I was pursuing simultaneously.

Writing nonfiction moves me out of that world for a while, lets me get cold on the writing, and allows me to see where I’ve made mistakes or pursued wrong (or spectacularly right) directions.

Since I’ve done at least two takes on most of the five planned novels (and possible sixth)… I very much want to have the necessary distance when I read through what I have this time.


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YESTERDAY’s work… finished Lesson 5 of the new Big Writing Course…

By Holly Lisle

Got my fiction first TODAY — had to toss a bit of the most recent scene, came in with new words, and even came out a bit ahead. Came out with a net gain of 148 words. Not what I’d hoped for, but I’m glad to be getting fiction. And the RETHINK part of the scene was essential.

I’m going to also include what I got yesterday, which was nonfiction for the new Big Class.

I’m happy with the way the processes I’m demonstrating are coming together.

And while today’s is a subject that I’ve had to cover in every single writing class I’ve done, I’ve had to do that because it’s useful to every writer (fiction and nonfiction), and it isn’t a one-time process. You do it in some for with every single piece of fiction you write.

Every writing project benefits from this, and how you do it is different for every kind of fiction you write.

So… The lesson is done. Five out of twenty-three planned. Still no idea on what the Bonus will be. Just that there will be one.

If you have a question about fiction writing (or writing in general) that I haven’t covered, just reply to this post, and ask. And I’ll read through any replies, and see if anyone asks something I haven’t covered before.

If I can figure out a one-to-three-lesson bonus class from YOUR question, you’ll receive a nice reward as thanks for the question.


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Tueday: 1080, and a nice bit of twisting things

By Holly Lisle

I’m pleased with today’s words. I got to go deeper on one important series character, and I managed to frustrate my MC with this guy at the same time that I got to know him better.

Always fun.

Going to work for a while now on the OTHER PROJECT, which is nonfiction, and which shall not be named.

But I’m getting close to the halfway point on OHIO 4… and still getting good things about the creepy goings on in my little town, and the fact that so many people are so happily and obliviously embracing all the creepy as a “gee, isn’t this wonderful, and how do we get more of it?”

Left myself at a fun point for diving back in tomorrow, too.


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To quote Meatloaf, “Some days it don’t come easy…”

By Holly Lisle

It is a Monday.

I’m trying to be objective by keeping that in mind.

Mondays can be a bit tricky sometimes, and this was one of those.

So… I got words…

They fit, they moved the story forward, they let me build out the obstacle my characters are facing, and I genuinely like what I got.

I just didn’t get as MUCH of it as I wanted…

Turns out, this simply was not one of those “Red Bull Gives You Wings” flying-fingers, galloping plot kinds of days. I’m wrapping up, and hoping that tomorrow, the story will take off for me a bit more smoothly.

Because frankly, the “wings” days are a whole lot more fun.


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A truly solid writing day today…

By Holly Lisle

I am grateful for days like this one, when there’s a cool breeze blowing in the back window while I write, where I can heard birds singing and the leaves of maples and oaks rustling.

Days like this feed the fiction, because the fictionalized town is a magical version of this town, and the sounds and smells and bits of things going on around me get worked into the story.

Just in tiny pieces. But I think those pieces matter.

I love this place where I live, and I’m so happy to be able to use it as a backdrop for the magic and the danger and the mystery of the stories I’m writing.

I won’t be using it by NAME, because the name of my town is WAY long to type ten thousand times.

But I’ll make sure to give credit in the novels to the real town that made me love it back when I was nine, and made me love it again when I returned here fifty years later.


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Another slow, struggle-y day today working through Chapter 6

By Holly Lisle

The story has taken a (planned) dark turn. MEANWHILE… I’m struggling a bit to show the conflict without going darker than I want.

And I have to be very, very careful right now NOT to let the magic run amok.

It’ll do that, you know — magic will. Run AMOK… AMOK… all over the damn place.

It will start turning pumpkins into carriages and rabbits into Deadly Vorpal Bunnies, and I don’t want to have anything to do with nightmares like that.

So… when I come in tomorrow, I’m going to spend my first writing hour just building out a dialogue for myself on what I want the rest of this book to do.

I have the outline already. I’m following it.

But my tone feels like it’s shifted, and I’m not sure I like the direction in which it’s slipped. So tomorrow might be another ‘small wordcount’ day, but if I can guarantee myself that I’m writing in the right direction, I’ll be just fine with that.

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The Mystery Deepens… Ohio 4 and Important People Lying

By Holly Lisle

Some days, writing is like flying — it’s effortless, and exciting, and maybe a bit scary and windy, especially when the ground seems a long, long way down.

But these are the days when you have to pull yourself away from the words when all you want to do is keep going.

I managed to make myself stop, because… Real Life.

I now have 9420 words total on Ohio 4 (VERSION 2) — every one brand new, and fresh, and right at the moment, running right between funny and scary.

But I cannot WAIT to get back into this tomorrow.

God, I love this job!


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So… TODAY was epic…

By Holly Lisle

Still working from my line-for-scene outline, today the scene i started yesterday just took off.

I now have 9245 words done on the first draft. I got 1432 words today, AND discovered the thing I needed to see, and it was completely different than I’d been imagining… but I love it so much.

Some days writing fiction can take a lot out of you.

Some days, though — like today — it gives you energy, and excitement, and surprises — and on days like this, you just fly.

I love this job.


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Good writing day. Not epic, but…

By Holly Lisle

Not every day CAN be epic.

I had to do something hard thinking, and some outlining, and some worldbuilding, and none of that stuff counts as words.

But it’s all essential.

However, the part I got, I love.

So now I have to go out into the world and DO STUFF.


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