Holly Lisle: Writer

DTD — 584 Words, and The Rock God Unplugged

Got a nice little scene tonight, a cut-out scene in which we watch three strangers in a coffeehouse: A brilliant young guitarist, an aging rock god, and a red-headed woman in the audience. Omniscient point of view through most of the scene, settling into the POV of the young woman as she suddenly realizes she knows one of the two men playing guitar, and decides in that instant to abandon her life in NYC to leave town. Maybe the country.

Also got over 1200 words on How To Revise Your Novel, Lesson 1, today.

In spite of which, I’m still sick. Sore throat, constant headaches, sneezing, dizziness, a general feeling of “Can’t I just sleep until this goes away?” Ugh.

I’m productively sick, though. Makes it bearable.

How’s it going for you?

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22 responses to “DTD — 584 Words, and The Rock God Unplugged”

  1. Don Avatar
    Don

    Did 629 words today big doings down under. It’s fun to research other parts of the world. Researched the Australian Army, Federal Police and the North West Territories not much there. Perfect place for an Alien base.

    Reply
  2. Sarah Avatar
    Sarah

    I’m not sure how many words I got yesterday, but I think between 3 & 4K. I took a break from the novel, from the ongoing short story, and wrote most of a brand new short story based on an FM prompt. I’m pretty happy with it so far….make that VERY happy with it.. And I’m eager for Friday at work and all the stress I’ve been dealing with today to be over so I can go escape for a couple hours.

    Reply
  3. Clare K. R. Miller Avatar
    Clare K. R. Miller

    That sounds like a really interesting scene. I have to wonder as to her reasons!

    I didn’t get any writing done yesterday, unfortunately. I should have, but I made chocolate chip cookies instead.

    Reply
  4. Rabia Avatar
    Rabia

    I took two evenings off to coddle my wrist. My husband’s picking me up a wrist brace so I’m getting back to writing again tonight. Yay!

    Reply
  5. Treelight Avatar
    Treelight

    No new words for me (in fact I have now a little less on the total than I had before), but I did work on my project.
    I rewrote about 300 words, at which end Cathrine finally is freed from the gag of magically shaped stone. So she will be able to communicate with her kidnapper in the next few scenes … that is, if she doesn’t annoy Gesem enough to silence her again.

    Reply
  6. Scarlett Avatar
    Scarlett

    I tried to give myself a few days off now that I’ve finished my first draft but to be honest I didnt know what to do with myself so ahead of my course in a week I’m going through Holly’s How to write page turning scenes which I have just downloaded. How I wish I had had this before I started all those weeks ago! Holly, it’s marvellous and a real help so thank you very much! To everyone else if you haven’t already got it I would recommend you download it asap before you write another scene you end up having to redraft A LOT.

    Reply
  7. Jessica Avatar
    Jessica

    I didn’t count. That way I don’t have to be disappointed by how dismally small it is. lol. I also realized this morning that my muse and inner critic have been locked in a death struggle over this sick scene for the past week… time to move on to something else.

    One thing before I move on though, my story is told through several 3rd omniscient POVs: FMC, villain, sidekick, and the occasional outsider. I wrote the sick scene through FMC but I’m wondering if I should change it to MMC. So far the POVs have been rotating with enough consistency per chapter that my crit reader is fine with it, but if I change this scene, Chapter 7 will have 4-5 different POVs. It just feels like a bit much.
    Normally I stick with 1 POV but my story is split between 2 worlds and it’s very complicated and dangerous to travel between them so multi-views are necessary.

    Reply
  8. Dee Avatar
    Dee

    Between school and sudden new onset of fibromyalgia (which I wouldn’t wish on ANYBODY), I only managed 230 words.

    On the other hand, I DID manage to figure out continuously compound interest rates, so it hasn’t been a complete loss.

    Reply
  9. Lisa R Avatar
    Lisa R

    525 words. I almost didn’t write due to a handful of excuses, but I decided none of them where strong enough. I am glad I wrote. One patient is taken care of and now my MC has one more to start healing. She is going to have a long night.

    Reply
  10. HannaBelle (aka Belle) Avatar
    HannaBelle (aka Belle)

    Around 900 words yesterday. They were not easily constructed and I know these chapters will be re-written later. But I plan to keep looking forward and write to the end. Not stopping. This has become an exercise not just in writing the idea but in finishing. I am at 16% of my goal, +/-.

    I know we have discussed writers software in several areas of WABWM, but I am seeing that I need to get it sooner rather than later. Since I write/live in two places, and I travel a lot, I keep my index cards, lists and drawings in a folder that can easily go with me, but I misplaced it one day … that was NOT a fun day.

    I found an outline to follow for proposing the non-ficiton book I have. I plan to get a first draft of the outline done today, too.

    Reply
  11. Khena Avatar
    Khena

    Didn’t accomplish much yesterday, just typed up the little I wrote the night before in my notebook before going to sleep. I embellished it a little, and changed the POV to Nathalan who I need to try to become more interested in.

    Going to try some brainstorming today to become more interested in him, and solidify what’s going to happen to him in the last little part of the story…

    Reply
  12. Debora Avatar
    Debora

    347 words. Not a lot, but at least I wrote. It was a struggle.

    I’ll get my rhythm back. I know why I’m struggling (family stuff), so it’s okay with me if I just show up and do my best for the moment. However stilted.

    Still reading George Templeton Strong’s diary. I did not know the stock market fluctuated wildly in the weeks leading up the election of 1860. Makes sense, now that I think about it. What if the South really does secede? What impact will that have on the economy?

    It’s stormy here today. Love stormy weather.

    Holly, I hope you feel better soon!

    Reply
  13. Adam Avatar
    Adam

    continued the chapter and got into the crowd turning on the guards. wanted to get more progress than i actually got, but not much i could do with a sick child at home.

    1000 words added

    Reply
  14. Larkk Avatar
    Larkk

    Worked over the 500 some words from yesterday and I admit they needed help. But it was a fun experiment to write at work, and now in case I get hit with an inspiration during my workday, I’ll be ready!
    Added 545 more words, but they just didn’t flow. Too many missing pieces I guess, and I thought things were starting to come together.
    I’ll be away from the computer, visiting family in the tranquil Pacific Northwest, so no posting for awhile. No typing either, but I’ve got a fat spiral sketchbook and am shooting for 2500 total words longhand for the week. I’m looking at a lot of airport time, which should make that a reasonable goal.
    Happy writing everyone!

    Reply
  15. Charmaine Avatar
    Charmaine

    Yay, 1251 words done for the Dog Show Detective.
    About a third of the way through Chapter 2’s first draft.
    Kitty just returned the dog she found, which is so sick it looks like it will probably die, only now the owner declares this is the wrong dog, even though her dog of the same breed is missing.
    The dog is heading off to the vet now and once it has its microchip scanned the number will match the missing dog. Is the owner wrong? Lying? Crazy? Everyone else seems to think it’s her dog.
    Did someone kidnap her dog? Why?
    11 yr old Kitty will find out!

    Reply
  16. Greg Avatar
    Greg

    D&D: 515, and the nagging feeling that this battle scene is dragging on and will need a good editing down on revision! Still, should be pretty much done tomorrow.
    OFL: 1200 and an ultimatum that works out for most people, but sets up later conflicts between my main characters.

    Reply
  17. Minze Avatar
    Minze

    Still plotting out new scenes. I miss writing. I’ll plot some more during the weekend so I can get back to my writing on Monday or Tuesday. Today, I learned still more about my main character though, and she’s beginning to grow on me.

    Reply
  18. Joyce Avatar
    Joyce

    533 words. I had a terrible day personally. Basically, if you looked at my Sweet Spot map under my needs and my fears and my hates, I had my face rubbed in the subject that comprises the major points of all of those. By 2:30, I felt utterly wrung out. I was crying and angry and exhausted. And I had to go shopping and out to dinner with the people who were hitting me with all that hurt.

    I got home and thought of moping or whining on my blog. Instead, I wrote. And my story and my muse handed me pure pleasure. I wrote for an hour, lost in the words. My muse took a scene that had been decent and necessary and made it shine. I put my character in the ocean with a goal to reach. The law of unintended consequences kicked in. She got attacked by a baby kraken and had to fight for that goal. It was a complete surprise and yet exactly what had to happen. I even got material that I liked enough to post, just when I had wanted to put up a snippet.

    Sometimes, I forget why I’m doing this. Tonight is why.

    Reply
    1. Jessica Avatar
      Jessica

      Sorry you had such a bad day. I can relate. I always find it a huge release to write – taking all that emotion and putting it into something productive. Hope it goes better today.

      Reply
  19. The Pencil Neck Avatar
    The Pencil Neck

    670 words.

    I had to sneak these in before the football game because I had a conference call starting just after the game. I usually write later at night. So that was odd.

    The Mage, still feeling delicate and bad about killing a friend, goes to the fights to mark his next victim. But he starts feeling remorse and he starts to question whether he’s doing the right thing. Then he sees them dragging a gladiator out of the arena and the man’s dead eyes seem to be looking right at him. So he takes that as confirmation from the gods and besides, he knows his cause is just. So, he marks a winning gladiator for the next sacrifice.

    Reply
  20. Ieva Avatar
    Ieva

    500+ words. This means I will have to breathe deep and get some more words down today. And in the following days.
    The words were good though. Something has gone really really wrong in that small mountain town, and normal people get some weird kind of magic, and they’re coming after her, like, NOW.
    I just wonder what will happen when I sit down at the keyboard again in an hour or so. ‘Cause I have very little idea.

    Reply
  21. Patricia Avatar
    Patricia

    1,878 words today, and it feels good to be writing again. I now have a clearer picture on what the other characters are like, and though they’re not as clear as I would like, I figure that will clear up as I write and find out more about them. Right now things are slowing down for Ryan and everyone else, and the only thing he’s doing is planning for his next escape, which takes time. I hope you feel better soon Holly.

    Reply

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