Holly Lisle: Writer

Finished ‘Interlude: Nate The Lesser Evil’

Got 452 words, got the scene finished, and it’s posted to the mailing list.

This went well, but it also went dark on me. I managed to scare myself a bit, and the new character in the scene, who came about because of some serious Sweet Spot mapping, is giving me nightmares. I have discovered how he thinks.

I’ll get back to Kettan next week.

This has not been a great week for me fiction-wise. Lesson 7 of HTRYN is just plain eating me alive. It’s ground I have not covered in any form or format before, so with every single section, I’m having to dissect how and why I do things the way I do them for the first time.

I love this process of analysis and demonstration. It’s the deadline behind it that’s making me nuts.

Anyway. That was my writing day.

How was yours?

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21 responses to “Finished ‘Interlude: Nate The Lesser Evil’”

  1. Deb1789 Avatar
    Deb1789

    So 1039 Words today.
    I re-rewrote the scene my cat dumped, after taking yesterday off to purge the frustration. I am now in a happy place and ready to move on.
    For those who are wondering, Kitty still has his skin. For now. 😀

    Reply
  2. Gabby Avatar
    Gabby

    1277 today, moving the plot forward. I was reading some blogs yesterday (when I should have been writing) and one quote stuck with me. One blugger said that writing is a lot just getting your butt in the chair. And once you’re there just throwing rocks at it until something sticks… something like that. It’s how the middle has felt for me. I’ve unplugged the internet while I write and turned off the TV and now just forcing myself to sit in the chair until the 2 hours are up (and not focus on the word count). Seems to work when I put it into practice. 🙂

    Reply
  3. Heather Avatar
    Heather

    I know I’ve heard the term “sweet spot mapping” before but for the life of me, I can’t place it. Can I get a hint?

    Reply
    1. The Pencil Neck Avatar
      The Pencil Neck

      It’s a mind-mapping technique that Holly teaches in the How To Think Sideways course that helps you figure out what you should be writing about, what things move you.

      Reply
  4. Twila Avatar
    Twila

    Still working hard to set aside free time in the classes I have left before school lets out for Christmas break so that I can keep developing this character. My mom was generous enough to buy me the four-clinic bundle, so I’ve been having fun with the questioning to bring out this White Myth victim’s character.

    I think somewhere in that part on writing about your character’s past TalysMana was affecting me–corruption makes me shiver, especially the way the new scene portrayed it. I still feel my stomach turning thinking about what’s going to happen next in that face of the story. I don’t think I actually grasped the scope of when you said “empathize, don’t sympathize” with your characters until I read the scene this morning. My character’s past seems to want to take steps further into tragedy after having read it, and next time I open up the .doc for it I’m going to let the reins fly loose. X3

    Reply
  5. Erin Kendall Avatar
    Erin Kendall

    1,070 words on the rewrite, and I’m nearly to the halfway mark.

    Cheers,
    EK

    Reply
  6. Gerhi Janse van Vuuren Avatar
    Gerhi Janse van Vuuren

    723 words this morning. I hope to do some tonight. I have been building the setting so far, now I need to amp up the tension a bit more – maybe scare myself a bit (I hope).

    Reply
  7. The Pencil Neck Avatar
    The Pencil Neck

    I didn’t write last night. I was having… issues… with my digestive system.

    And I’ve figured out that, except for the head cold, all these health problems I’ve been having recently are related. AND that I’ve been having them for years, just not with this severity. I first had this when I was 14 and it sent me to the hospital for tests. I’m not sure why it picked now to resurface.

    Reply
    1. Nancy Avatar
      Nancy

      Sorry to hear you’re ailing, and hoping you feel better soon.

      Reply
      1. Jessica Avatar
        Jessica

        This seems to be the year for getting sick. Hopefully if you know what it is you can treat it. I hope you feel better soon.

        Reply
    2. Greg Avatar
      Greg

      Hope you can figure this out and are better soon.

      Reply
  8. Jessica Avatar
    Jessica

    When I was 16 I made a promise to my grandmother – a Holocaust survivor – that I would write her story. She asked me to. I’d heard the stories all my life but she was never really able to give me the details. Two years later she died, but left me a video archive of her story. Yesterday something happened to me that suddenly sparked the opening 343 words.

    I still plan on continuing with WIP, still clinging to that December 31st goal even if it kills me and I fail! But now I know what my next project for the new year is… 10 years and I’m finally making good on that promise Bubby!

    Reply
    1. Greg Avatar
      Greg

      Hope you enjoy telling her story – sounds potentially very rewarding…

      Reply
  9. Cayleigh Avatar
    Cayleigh

    I just wrote the hardest scene I’ve ever had to write. My MC–Ivy–walks into her adoptive father’s study and finds him murdered, a girl she thought was simply human and inconsequential holding the bloody knife. Ivy moves without thinking and knocks the girl out. Then she has her internal breakdown.

    And I poured my LIFE into that breakdown. I typed every thought I had when my dad died onto that page, and as Ivy lived it, I relived it. It was a thousand words written through tears in my eyes. When it was done, I saved my work, collapsed on my bed and cried. It was awful.

    It was also magic. And I know that anyone else who reads this will have tears in their eyes too, because they came right back when I read it over this morning. So it was worth the crying.

    Reply
    1. Greg Avatar
      Greg

      I’m glad you felt it was worth it in the end 🙂

      Reply
  10. Khena Avatar
    Khena

    I haven’t written anything in a few days. Lesson 2 of HTRYN took me forever, and I have a sinking suspicion I still haven’t done a good enough job on it. And I’m not really sure I get all the parts of Lesson 3, but I’m pushing forward. I can always change things later if I get an epifany. But I will be leaving soon for Wisconsin so I hope to take a short break from revision and get some solid work done on Dragonfly.

    Reply
  11. unxplaindfires Avatar
    unxplaindfires

    Morning Holly
    I just read the latest installment alone and in the dark and I felt a chill run up my spine at the thought of anybody being similar to the two characters you introduced in that scene. It was almost like I could hear them snickering over my shoulder, delighted in the disgust they stirred in me and it made me feel nauseated.
    I can’t imagine what a fully revised and fleshed out scene would be like inhabited by those… monsters, maybe I don’t want to.

    Reply
  12. Greg Avatar
    Greg

    KavI: 427
    D&DII: 691
    OFL: 1010
    RFW: 1058
    And the revision of scene 3 of D&DI. RFW was a real pain today – I realised I was writing a scene I didn’t believe in and it wasn’t the first time I’d felt that way about one of the RFW scenes. I ignored the urge to give up, but gave myself time for a rethink. There’s a couple more scenes before the climactic stuff that I also realise are ropey, so I’m not going to write them, and the remaining scenes I’m going to write as concisely as possible, to give me more time afterwards for revision. I’ve jotted down a couple of ideas for improving the story that I’ll get into more deeply once I’ve got some kind of first draft down. Big day for managing emotions, glad to get through it with some kind of plan of action.

    Reply
    1. Nancy Avatar
      Nancy

      Greg — how on earth you keep so many projects in the air at one time is a complete mystery to me. But I applaud your enthusiasm and energy level!

      Reply
      1. Greg Avatar
        Greg

        Thanks for that. It’s easier when you’ve got a full day to commit to it, though I seriously doubted myself at times yesterday when I ploughed through a flat RFW scene then a flat OFL scene. I’m easing off a little over Xmas, and January should quickly bring the end of OFL first draft and the D&DI revision, so I’ll start to see light at the end of the tunnel. 🙂

        Reply
  13. Patricia Avatar
    Patricia

    No real work on the actual book today, but I’ve been having quite a bit of fun writing an alternative beginning (or more like an extension to the beginning actually) and I’m really liking it. It brings the action tighter, closer, while at the same time explaining where Ryan comes from and where he is headed. There was something incomplete about what I had before…abrupt and a little confusing, like trying to memorize the entire multiplication table in one sitting. There was simply too much going on and too much of a jerk into something strange and abnormal. I definitely like what I wrote today much better. It has familiarity, substance, an everyday problem that is about to become extraordinary. Happy writing everyone! 🙂

    Reply

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