Holly Lisle: Writer

Fractured skull, concussion, cracked ribs, and strangulation marks

Interesting writing tonight, as I discovered more about what happened to Kettan that she doesn’t remember, and more about why it might have happened. I’ll finish this scene tomorrow and post it to the mailing list on the TalysMana website.

Nate has definitely put himself deep in the ‘bad boyfriend’ zone. I don’t like this guy.

And tomorrow, I get to show the first bit of magic. I’m excited.

575 words tonight (forgot to watch my word meter and had already run over when I glanced up).

But I’m loving this story.

How’s yours coming?

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28 responses to “Fractured skull, concussion, cracked ribs, and strangulation marks”

  1. Michelle Avatar
    Michelle

    563 for me. (Loving the TalysMana story! Reading along with a pro’s first draft is pretty effing cool.)

    Reply
  2. red_dot Avatar
    red_dot

    No words, added some outline to a chapter. Research…watched spacewalk on ISS live today for 6 hours. still at 29k and holding. If I could just get past ch8 fun writing is ahead.

    Reply
  3. Gabby Avatar
    Gabby

    1067 words today and a twist that has me shocked. I’m taking Pencil Neck/Holly’s advice and just letting my character twist in the wind. Holey,moley, I am blown away. I toyed with rewriting it so she wouldn’t make the mistake in public for people to see but then I said, what the heck, I’m going to leave it. Boy, oh boy, things are not looking good for her. And how she’s going to get out of it? I have no idea. I am shocked, worried and excited all at the same time. And my supporting characters totally surprised me today by their reactions. That was really fun (after it got going). It just came alive like… “no you can’t get away with everything, MC. Some things you’re actually going to regret. ” My reader side (that has been concerned for a little while) is breathing a sigh of relief that MC is finally facing a real, potentially very bad consequence for her thoughtless (she thought harmless, normal) decision.

    [eek… being a writer is very nerve-wracking]

    Reply
  4. HannaBelle Avatar
    HannaBelle

    I give up. I just can’t get The Sentence for bx2-falling off the pedestal.
    I was determined to continue with Bx2 so I would have something to work with when H2RYN is ready, but I don’t know where the story goes … yet.

    For grins, I tried writing sentences for other stories I have in mind, and actually got a decent sentence, a LOT of decent story sentences.

    For as much as I don’t want to stop on Bx2, to keep writing I think I will switch to one of the other stories for a while.

    I also realized I want to go back and write sentences for books I have read, so I can get better at that part of the process.

    Reply
    1. The Pencil Neck Avatar
      The Pencil Neck

      I had a problem coming up with a good sentence to encapsulated my first novel. It was more like I was either trying to put all the little things into the sentence OR the sentence didn’t really capture the story. I went ahead and was in the process of revising it when I realized that the reason I had a problem creating a good story sentence was because I had mashed 2-3 stories together that really weren’t meant to be together. I had too many coincidences tying things together.

      And the story itself was almost episodic in nature. Which was not my intention.

      When I teased the stories apart, I realized that the stories were better on their own. The stories were more plausible and had better internal consistency. Now, I’ve only written ONE of the stories but it’s much better than the original. And I think the other stories will be written eventually and they’ll be better than the original, too.

      Not saying that’s your problem, but I think that problems coming up with the story sentence can point to very basic integrity problems with the story itself.

      Reply
      1. DasteRoad Avatar
        DasteRoad

        Gosh, how I know that feeling.

        The Sentence exercise is one the things that led me to understand exactly why my old, huge and overgrown fantasy project series, Infinity, was wrecked for good: I had crammed too many ideas, too many characters, too many stories (heck, even too many *worlds* for that matter!) in the same place. I was trying to make Infinity the monument to every idea I’d ever had, to quote Holly’s article on revision (https://hollylisle.com/fm/Workshops/one-pass-revision.html). And in doing so, I killed them all: because if you cram too much stuff in the same place, soon you’re going to be out of fresh air.

        Reply
    2. DasteRoad Avatar
      DasteRoad

      Of course you know your own situation better than me, Hannabelle, but speaking from my own experience, it might be a good idea to just let your Bx2 project rest for a little while, at least until you realize what you really want to do with it. I’m doing this with an old, badly-wrecked project of mine, and even if I’m not ready yet to go back to it, working on another, unrelated project in the meanwhile is giving me a much-needed breath of fresh air, and helping me to see and understand the old project’s flaws much better. And my muse never stopped pinging me with ideas about it 🙂

      Reply
      1. HannaBelle Avatar
        HannaBelle

        Thanks for the comments, y’all.

        Now that I am learning more about productive writing. Though I like the baxic story for Bx2, and Bx1, I will let them rest and let my muse work them for a while. My Muse is still trying to find her voice, though she loves her props, the color yellow, like a yellow blue jay, a pink boa and various hats.

        “Garrett’s Confession” has been with me for YEARS and I got a good clear sentence for it, as well as another one for a sister project about the main character. It might be just a chapter and it might be a separate story.

        This weekend, or at lunch today, I plan to see how many scenes I can conjure up for it, then starting writing, making my cake on Sunday.

        Reply
  5. Lisa R Avatar
    Lisa R

    526 words. I love how I am writing along when all of a sudden the scene goes somewhere I didn’t expect. I was trying to get my MC to the coast as soon as possible. When I sat down to write, I intended to just get her there. Well, instead, she is in a village chatting with the village elder. Hum, I am not sure why she is there though hints of the past were said by the elder. I don’t know if it fits, but I will keep writing and think about it later.

    Reply
  6. S. Megan Payne Avatar
    S. Megan Payne

    1375 short story review that I promised. Quite satisfied.

    Reply
  7. DasteRoad Avatar
    DasteRoad

    WordPress seems to be eating my comments for some obscure reason O_o’

    No new words, took Wednesday off, but jotted down some notes about the current scene’s evolution.

    I really need to address my recent issues with writing time. My “writing after dinner” strategy doesn’t seem to work anymore, I open Liquid Story Binder XE and I fall asleep in front of the laptop in a few minutes. I have to find a way out. If writing during breaks in the office or after lunch is what it takes to get this book written, then that’s what I’ll do. Onward!

    Reply
  8. Nancy Avatar
    Nancy

    2500 for Wednesday. Good words mostly, although my MC fell into a bit of an emotional wallow and I’ll have to revise that later. Just as she gets back into her shop (now that the crime scene boys are through), she finds someone has vandalized the kitchen by smearing every available surface with cow manure. Ick. Now, less then five days till the grand opening and she has to get it cleaned up and inspected. The MC is convinced her favorite murder suspect is the culprit, especially since the girl threatened the MC earlier in the day to get out of town. But things are never what they seem, are they, heheheheh…

    Reply
  9. Peggy Avatar
    Peggy

    573 on Wednesday. It would’ve been more, but I was coming down with a cold that has now exploded into full misery. The most writing I expect to do today is an email to reschedule a job interview.

    Good writing to everyone else, though!

    Reply
  10. Larkk Avatar
    Larkk

    1354 words in google docs at work, not the greatest words, but I could not have done even this much 6 months ago.
    Then spent the rest of my writing time ogling steampunk art on the internet…oooh, shiny. (Thanks a lot, Pencilneck!)

    Reply
  11. Jessica Avatar
    Jessica

    No words again. I’ve been trying to connect with the secondary characters who have hijacked my momentum. I fell asleep on the couch for a bit and I remember one character talking to me, telling me how to fix things, but then he leaned over and blew in my ear which sent a real shudder through my body that woke me up – and I can’t remember a word of what he said!
    I’m hoping it will come back to me today – that would be a nice early b-day present.

    Reply
  12. Khena Avatar
    Khena

    1082 words on my nano. Still a bit short, and I used up the last of my buffer. But, they were great words, and more importantly, I know with a much greater certainty where I am going in the next few scenes.

    I did something I don’t normally do, which is talk over my novel with my husband. But, once I got past the sticky insecurity phase, he had some great suggestions. It was well worth the 600-odd words I should have been working on.

    Rose is called in to be questioned by the High Priest. The protections her god gave her failed when she crossed the threshold of the room, and her terror returned almost worse than it was before, but she does well in the first few questions. As she slowly relaxes, the questions become stranger, until she cannot fathom why he would ask her, what the answers could possibly have to do with the Taint. Then she makes a mistake, and is dragged from the room to the courtyard to be to put to the final test. A huge black wolf is snarling and fighting the men holding it bound with ropes and (and then my husband interuppted me. Since he had been so helpful earlier I did not growl and snap at him…)

    Reply
  13. Phil Avatar
    Phil

    I worked on my all-important first scene again. Yesterday I wrote 251 and 1/2 words on my computer and it was torture. Today I trashed that and wrote over 1000 words that I actually liked — but I wrote it longhand in my notebook, then typed it into my computer. Strange isn’t it?

    By the way Holly, thanks for doing the “Write a book with me”. It really helps!

    p

    Reply
  14. DasteRoad Avatar
    DasteRoad

    Took a day off on Wednesday, but I jotted down some notes about the current scene’s development.

    I really, *really* need to address my recent problem with “choosing the right time” for writing. I know that you don’t “find” time, as it were hidden under a rock: you “make” time, as it were bread or a cake (I rather like this analogy :)). Last month I managed to write after dinner without any problem, but lately just seeing a few lines of text on the screen makes me sleepy. But if I have to write in the office or during the day to get some writing done, then that’s what I’ll do. I won’t let the damn Evil Day Job bring me down!

    Reply
    1. Phil Avatar
      Phil

      I know what you mean. Writing when I get home from work is about the worst time for me. I’m tired and cranky & it seems every sentence is an effort. When I’m done, I generally hate it. I have my best luck writing in the morning, but I’m already up at six. Sooooo…. I have been getting in my truck and parking behind McDonalds and writing there at lunch. I’m not tired yet and it’s usually a good 45 minutes. Now…. when to work out and eat? Haven’t worked that part out yet.

      Good luck!

      p

      Reply
      1. DasteRoad Avatar
        DasteRoad

        Heheh well, I hope working out and eating come back very soon into your daily schedule! Especially eating… it has a tendency to be vitally important 😉

        Thanks for the understanding… I’ve always been a night writer, but I’ve found this changes a lot during the year for me. In the summer, for instance, I can easily get up as early as 6:30 AM, thus allowing for myself around one hour of writing time before going to work. In the middle-cold season, it’s much harder for me to get up early, so I go back to nightly habits – until the Evil Day Job super-weariness and crankiness kicks in, that is, exactly like now.

        Today I wrote bits and pieces during breaks and lunch at work, and just a little bit after dinner, and it seems to be working: I was already over 500 when I got back home from work without even realizing it! 🙂

        I think I’ll stick to this strategy for now and see how it goes. Good luck to you too!

        Reply
    2. HannaBelle Avatar
      HannaBelle

      I have a similiar problem. When I was not working, morning writing worked best for me, I get so tired through the day. Now that I am working, I have not made the time yet but the job is new and I am still finding the rhythm of it — and me.

      I love the analogy, like making cake. I figure I am still gathering my ingredients.

      I have made time at work a couple of times, over lunch, and decided this morning to write early morning on the mornings I don’t walk/run. Weekends might have to figure prominently in cake making/writing.

      Reply
  15. Ieva Avatar
    Ieva

    2K +, right into where I wanted to be. It’s a sort of part II of the novel so I’m having all the “beginning” things again, injecting problems conflicts players and whatnot.

    Reply
  16. Greg Avatar
    Greg

    D&D:541 – three short scenes to go…
    OFL: 1101, and another couple of scenes added
    RFW: 1013, with a couple split up and one of them taken into slavery

    Reply
    1. HannaBelle Avatar
      HannaBelle

      Excellent, three short scenes to go!

      Reply
  17. The Pencil Neck Avatar
    The Pencil Neck

    1089 words.

    The processor takes the Princess to a waiting room. A police officer picks her up there and she protests and proclaims her innocence. The officer takes her to an interrogation room where the Mayor of the colony comes to talk to her. Seeing how he was assigned to this post, The Princess starts to see this as a good thing and tries to talk him up. But it turns out that the Mayor was assigned here as punishment by The King because of things The Mayor had said to the press. So. There’s bad blood here. She tries to convince the Mayor that the Usurper is both of their enemy because he’s anti-noble not just anti-ruling family. But the Mayor doesn’t listen. His plan is to give the Princess to the Usurper and get a better posting out of it, maybe even become a leader of the Rebellion or something. So. Ticked off, she mentions that she went to school with his daughter and that his daughter was a slut who slept more in the boy’s dorm that the girl’s dorm. So he slaps her. She says something else. He slaps her again. Then, a Rebel leader comes in and shoots the Mayor and kills him dead.

    Reply
    1. Gabby Avatar
      Gabby

      It’s cool the way you handled this. Your character is still on the path but you didn’t make it easy on her. It’s nice to see the before and after–I learned something for my own WIP. thanks! 🙂

      Reply
  18. Teri Avatar
    Teri

    1,0199 words.

    Zhaer meets Princess Mathilde’s nurse, and sees but doesn’t notice the first hint that the princess is being slowly poisoned. It was just meeting “in passing” in the outline, but in the story it could so easily have gone just a little differently and Zhaer wouldn’t have been able to miss that there was poison in the expensive little bottle he caught just before it hit the tiles.

    Reply
    1. Teri Avatar
      Teri

      Oops. An extra 0 crept in my wordcount. It’s 1,199 words, not over 10k 🙂

      Reply

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