Holly Lisle: Writer

DTD — 501 words, and the blossoming of an avenging angel

Yesterday’s twist in Aleksa is already paying dividends. Tonight was primarily dialogue, and what she’s saying answers questions that existed in the later part of the book I’d already written. I understand now both HOW and WHY she did things she did. It’s coming together like a big jigsaw puzzle.

She’s better as a character this way—and her past is in fact adding complexity to the future I have planned for her.

I would have stopped at 500, by the way… but I hate to leave a sentence unfinished. Always afraid I’ll forget what the last part of it was supposed to be.

How are your words coming?

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45 responses to “DTD — 501 words, and the blossoming of an avenging angel”

  1. Danielle Avatar
    Danielle

    Haven’t written much in the last week- school just started. As soon as I’m settled into my new schedule, the words will come back. But I’ve brainstormed a lot of the stuff I want to write, so I consider that progress.

    Eventually, I WILL get this done.

    Reply
  2. Gabby Avatar
    Gabby

    764 words today. I am very happy with that especially since I decided to watch a movie instead of being focused on my WIP (I think I was doing a little avoiding to be honest). I am out of that troublesome scene too! The characters are ‘leaving the building’…. Woot. I was finding wrapping up the scene as difficult as the rest of the scene. But I made it. So a great writing day and I count that as a win.

    Reply
  3. SCBrazil Avatar
    SCBrazil

    225 today. I almost didn’t even try so I consider it a success. I have no idea how to get from where I am to where I’m going in this scene. Hence the heavy feeling of it.
    Tomorrow is another day.

    Reply
    1. Treelight Avatar
      Treelight

      I’ve been at that point very often, too.
      Is there any way we could help?

      Reply
  4. Red_dot Avatar
    Red_dot

    613 words today, CH 7 is well on it’s way this will be an exciting chapter. A fun Chapter….total now 21K. Building a book one word at a time. Does anyone use a visual to help them get into their story? I bought myself a couple of toy Space shuttles, it helps. I now need to re-enact a scene in my book to help me write it. I am crazy, I will be getting a big box and will spend at least twelve hours in it “Closed”, yes I am insane! If I don’t post again, well… you know what happened.

    Reply
    1. Gabby Avatar
      Gabby

      LOL. I actually imagine Asimov did something like that when he wrote Nightfall too. Maybe I heard that somewhere and he actually did. 🙂 Anyway, I always close my eyes to picture things, like watching a movie or etc. It helps although I still struggle alot.

      Did you mean yesterday that the shuttle you’re writing about only has 6 missions left or something different?

      Reply
      1. Red_dot Avatar
        Red_dot

        There are 6 missions left with two shuttles that they alternate. I think all the research that I have been doingis paying off. Part of my outline in my chapters is that the president is extending the missions and I saw on the news that Obama is now considering that. Sorry I didn’t respond earlier but our main file server died at work and I had to build it. For an IT guy it doesn’t get much worse than that. Now I will have to post pone the box unless I can find one today. I need a box!!

        Reply
  5. Colleen Avatar
    Colleen

    691 this evening, and two people are very carefully dancing around each other. Most of that was description, but it was really well written, evocative description, so all is well.

    Reply
  6. Rabia Avatar
    Rabia

    Got a bit over 500 words last night (maybe 585? That’s the number jumping out at me, anyway). I like the dialog I came up with, but my MC and this guy have been talking for two whole scenes (they’re traveling to Capital City and there’s stuff MC needs to know before she gets there). I’m itching to break things up with some action but throwing in an ambush seems rather gratuitous to me. 😀

    Reply
  7. Julie Avatar
    Julie

    812 words today bringing my total to 16,304. As my middle is still fuzzy (must plan better for the next one!) I ended up writing the climax scene in the hope that it would unfog the middle. I think it worked and I have some guide points for joining the beginning and end now. 🙂

    Congrats on the progress everyone!

    Reply
  8. Emily Avatar
    Emily

    Got 20 pages revised and two scenes added!

    Reply
  9. Treelight Avatar
    Treelight

    “Only” 390 new words for me, although I had the feeling that I (re)wrote more.
    The story itself is still progressing rather slowly, since I keep inserting details etc.. I hope this gets better soon.

    Reply
  10. Julia GD Avatar
    Julia GD

    870 words for Tuesday. I am getting back on track slowly but consistently. Hopefully, come weekend I will have enough to give to my son to read-through. He is my target reader and a severe critic as well. If plot is OK by him, I know, I am doing well. 🙂

    Reply
  11. Sarah Avatar
    Sarah

    1580 on my main WIP, and the appearance of a lovely villainous character. I’m not 100% sure where he fits in the grand scheme of things, but I have some ideas.
    260 on my short story, and the potentate is starving herself while the palace staff searches for her stolen daughter.

    Reply
  12. Erin Kendall Avatar
    Erin Kendall

    776 words on a rewrite. Not bad at all.

    Cheers,
    Erin K.

    Reply
  13. Michelle Avatar
    Michelle

    Nothing for me fiction-wise, but just under 2000 with my other writings! I just sat down to get at least 250 out, but I feel the beginnings of a sinus infection coming on so I’m opting for bed instead.

    Reply
  14. Lisa R Avatar
    Lisa R

    577 words. The writing went well. This chapter seems to be flowing very well. I am exploring areas that I hadn’t thought I would touch on this much. The fun part is that I am learning about dog sledding. I wish my husband liked dogs. It would be very tempting to get a couple for skijoring:-)

    Reply
  15. Debora Avatar
    Debora

    My muse pitched me two shinies, so I spent my writing time doing some research. Plugged the information into my draft but am not sure if I really need to write these scenes right now. Nor do I have enough clarity of mind to make any decisions right now. Not enough time. By the time I get my mind calmed down enough to write, I have to leave again!

    I will finally have a day off on Saturday.

    It has been my privilege recently to make the acquaintance of a veteran of WWII, who was with the First Marines during some of the worst fighting in the Pacific. He’s lent me several books to read on the subject. Terrible, but fascinating. I read the descriptions of combat, suffering, and slaughter with a stunned sense of deja vu. Weapons change, but war is war.

    Out of time.

    Reply
  16. Jessica Avatar
    Jessica

    Nothing for me. Couldn’t find the peace of mind to concentrate during work and when I got home I only typed up what I had. Plus I’m starting not to feel so great so we’ll see how things go.

    Reply
  17. Larkk Avatar
    Larkk

    I learned some more about why my MC did something that surprised me. I got the answers writing out my ideas about some chapters I skipped in “Book 2.” (knowing how much I like a trilogy the whole story split itself neatly into three smallish parts after 40k words) I skipped them because, I don’t know, I didn’t think I could write them properly. Hah! I can’t let a little thing like clumsy writing stop me if I’m to finish. And I can’t honestly say I’ve finished until I write all of the story. Not that I’m that close to finishing or anything.
    But I love it when the dialog can answer the questions for me. It’s like thinking out loud, with two points of view arguing against each other, one winning out over the protests of the other. It flows best when I leave out most of the descriptions, (and put them in the second time through). Actually, I picked that up from doing the dialog workshop, so thanks again Holly.
    So 2,772 satisfying words on that part for now.

    Reply
  18. Khena Avatar
    Khena

    Not sure how many words I got, most of them were in my notebook. I started my day with writing about 100 words of dialogue that I’ll need to fill in today wth all that stuff that goes outside the quotes… =-) Then, after a nice walk in the park I whipped out my notebook while the kids played for a while and wrote a bit. 1-200 maybe.

    When all else fails, write in notebook.

    Reply
  19. Roisin Avatar
    Roisin

    While reading over some old work, I decided to try and pick up a novella-length story that I loved, but had got stuck on. I followed the ‘How to Beat Writer’s Block’ course – I find the audio really helps keep me focused – even though I wasn’t blocked as much as stuck on this particular story.

    Well, I had a long chat with my muse, who knew exactly what the problem was (a character called Gina). While writing down lots of questions that weren’t really going anywhere, my muse made me write ‘Gina’ all down the page. Message received and understood, I think.

    I discovered that, instead of being an important minor character who gets in the way a lot of the main storyline, she is in fact part of the main storyline. She also stopped annoying me once I figured out why she was acting so strangely.

    514 words done in a timed 10 minutes. Whew. I don’t know if they’re the right words, but at least I think I’m on the right track.

    Reply
  20. Cat (from HtTS) Avatar
    Cat (from HtTS)

    I had the landscape gardener around this morning, and so I didn’t manage to write much. A mere 866 words on my translation and 423 on my WIP. But I had a surprising revelation about my MC’s brother’s bodyguard (and her lover to be): he wants to kill MC’s brother when his contract runs out. Now I need to find out why. I’m looking forward to that.

    Reply
  21. Patricia Avatar
    Patricia

    3,742 collective words in the past three days, because I’ve been so busy I forgot to keep track of what scattered bits I was doing each day. Also the internet has been down for the past few days so I haven’t been posting. I’m back now, and I’m still going strong! 🙂 42, 308 words total so far, and Ryan and Smára are planning another escape. 😀 Good luck with your writing everyone!

    Reply
  22. Dena C. Avatar
    Dena C.

    I didn’t think I’d get any words yesterday. I came home from work with a killer headache, but Advil and a power nap sorted it out and I wrote last night and got 781 words.

    Reply
  23. Minze Avatar
    Minze

    1,105 words today, and this scene is now 5,000+ words long. OUCH. Just as well Holly’s going to create a course on revision. I’m so going to need this. On the plus side, today’s writing was interesting and fun: hero and heroine were in a weird situation, one that could have been tense and frightening, but they’re both used to danger and privations and took everything in their stride, so ironically enough they were more relaxed and at ease than they would have been if they’d met in an orderly drawing room.

    Reply
    1. Minze Avatar
      Minze

      Oh, AND: today’s writing got me over the 30.000 word mark. This means little, since some scenes are overwritten and will need to be shortened, but still! Confetti and champagne!

      Reply
      1. Cat (from HtTS) Avatar
        Cat (from HtTS)

        Congrats. Keep going!

        Reply
        1. Red_dot Avatar
          Red_dot

          Great!

          Reply
  24. Laura Avatar
    Laura

    861 words and my MMC is on his way to finding a job. Sadly, he’s not gonna like it. I just hope he doesn’t lock himself in his room again.

    Good luck everyone!

    Reply
  25. Ieva Avatar
    Ieva

    0 words, but considering I had a 1st grader on his first school day and a peak of sinusitis, it’s sorta acceptable.

    Still, argh.

    Reply
    1. laurel Avatar
      laurel

      Feel better Ieva,

      Hope your first grader likes the teacher and comes home happy.

      Laurel

      Reply
  26. Charmaine Avatar
    Charmaine

    couldn’t focus on The Pirate Girl today, so will attempt more for her tonight. Did get 1,088 words in for the Dog Show Detective, a bit of internal brooding for our 11yr old heroine and a short flashback. About to get to the exciting mystery part of ‘the missing dog’… or is it?

    Reply
  27. Greg Avatar
    Greg

    Back to it today – yesterday well used planning my work for the next few weeks. So today’s counts are:
    D&D: 677, and some community-wide conflict regarding how to proceed regarding a perceived threat.
    OFL: 1187 and some good building of character and conflict between my MCs.

    Reply
  28. Leah Avatar
    Leah

    Short on time, so 700 exactly today. Great ending to a scene, where my hero says something quite unexpected. I had to think on it, of course. He seems to have quite a few astounding things to say these days. I didn’t realize he was so profound or deep in his thoughts. I like 🙂

    Reply
  29. The Pencil Neck Avatar
    The Pencil Neck

    1041 words. Some revision, mostly new.

    44780 words total so far. I had 91,000 in the first draft. Looks like I’ll end up a bit shorter than that in the second draft. I think I’ve got about 30,000 or so more to go but I was also writing very tight the first 3/4’s of the revision process. When i go back and do the next pass, I’m sure I’ll be expanding a lot of that stuff out. Needs more description in a LOT of places.

    Tonight, the Thief saw the beginnings of the spell on his Mentor before they could escape across the sea and so, at her request, he shut her up in a sarcophagus in the basement of her manor and covered it with large stones to keep her from escaping. Then he left her there to go try to find the Magician on his own using his old thiefly contacts. (That was NOT part of his Mentor’s plan.)

    Reply
  30. Jim Mitchel Avatar
    Jim Mitchel

    No words yesterday. I was too busy to even sit down for more than a few minutes.

    Today, I finished the first scene in chapter nine, and started the second scene, but I was really struggling for words. My mind felt like mud today.

    Word count: 259

    Reply
  31. Valerie Avatar
    Valerie

    With a mixture of work and trying to pack up my things to move into my dorm for my first term of college, I haven’t written anything for a few days, so it was nice to get back into it today with 547 words.

    Reply
  32. Clare K. R. Miller Avatar
    Clare K. R. Miller

    559 words today. Ernest is being very gallant and everyone is explaining what happened while they hadn’t seen each other. Not much actually happened in today’s words, but I did figure out a scene that I need to add in earlier. Didn’t start writing it, but made a card for it so I won’t forget it goes there.

    Reply
  33. Crystal Shards Avatar
    Crystal Shards

    I have been watching the blog posts for a while but haven’t actually been writing anything so therefore haven’t been posting anything. But now I am starting a new novel so I decided I would start posting.

    1,054 words on my new novel Lusus Naturae. Got the prologue finished and got a couple of paragraphs into my first chapter. I am not really sure what is going on in the beginning of the story yet, but I figure my characters will be able to lead the way and get me to where I know I am going.

    It is backwards from the way it usually is, I usually know the beginning and don’t know the ending, but that’s just the way this one is going so I am rolling with it.

    Reply
    1. Valerie Avatar
      Valerie

      Welcome. 🙂

      Reply
    2. Rabia Avatar
      Rabia

      That’s a neat name for your novel. I confess I had to look up the definition, and now I’m even more intrigued. 😀

      Reply
    3. Red_dot Avatar
      Red_dot

      From watcher to writer! GO GO!

      Reply
  34. Sarah Collins Avatar
    Sarah Collins

    LOL on finishing sentences!

    As for me, not a fictitious word. *Gasp!* But stellar progress on the non-fiction today. Hubby gets some serious points for surprising me with that laptop last week!

    Reply
    1. Larkk Avatar
      Larkk

      Treat that laptop kindly! And that goes double for that sweet husband of yours:)

      Reply

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