Category: Writing Neep
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Tarot imagery and the payoff
A couple days ago, I wrote the scene where Phoebe has a premonition of her own doom that involved tarot cards. For the scene, I shuffled the deck and pulled out two cards at random. The first was the Seven of Swords, which seemed really appropriate. It is essentially a negative card, involving risky or…
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Forgot to mention
When I rolled over 60,000 words yesterday, I also turned over 300 pages. So I’m right on target with my 200 words/page estimates. It’s silly, I know, but I like it when my numbers add up. It makes all my project completion math feel worthwhile, and gives me a feeling of stability. The numbers add…
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I just cut 15,874 words
This leaves me with 57,166 words in Midnight Rain, out of a planned 100,000, as I get started today. More than halfway done, but no longer closing on 75% done. The pages — stuff I had written earlier and that I hoped to be able to save, turned out to be unsalvageable. They usually do…
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Anger costs too much
I lost my night of sleep Wednesday and, in consequence, my writing day Thursday, being angry with those creeps at FeaturePrice.com, for my money — which they still have — the worst host on the Internet, the most inept, and the most intentionally dishonest. If you’re looking at them as a possible host, run far…
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760 words
I always expect more words the first time I check the count. I’m always disappointed. Later on, I usually have more than I expect, and am delighted by my progress, but that first check is always frustrating. I’ve gotten so that I hold off on checking, just so I won’t get a low first number…
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Oh, my hours are SO screwed up
I went to bed again around 5:30 a.m., got up at around 8:30 a.m., and am now, thanks to fortuitous changes in everybody’s schedules, back at work. Starting in with scene 34, so I’m making progress, even if it is slower than I’d like. I need to finish the outline to day, and I need…
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Back to it.
Finished through scene 20 last night — have done 21 and am starting on 22 right now. These are rough two-to-three-sentence outlines that just hit on how each scene expresses that scene’s conflict and how it ties in to the major theme (or secondary theme). It is, from experience, not something you can show to…
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Did the math
I’m estimating 120,000 words for the replacement to Closer to Chaos. At my new page set-up, I’m averaging 192 words a page (less than previously, but I now have more room to edit on a page, which is important.) I’ll have to do 625 pages, and if I divide those into 50 scenes, I’ll average…
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Well, I found the theme
At this late, late date, with my deadlines all gone to hell and Closer to Chaos living up to its title in ways I cannot even begin to describe, I have located the theme. The main, core, heart-and-soul theme of the whole goddamned thing, the rudder, the star by which to steer the ship. Love…