Holly Lisle: Writer

NOT A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

Took tonight to write an interlude scene, one set in the world of Story, in a land spun by a once-popular, now-forgotten dying man. It’s about what happens to our creations we are gone and no one remains to remember them.

I got a little choked up writing it—odds are going I’m going to have to do something with Carpassio’s world, even though I had not intended to.

733 words, and the scene posted already to go out in e-mail. If you’re signed up, you’ll get them Monday and Thursday.

Tomorrow I get back to Kettan, who has to go home to Fred and the empty house and her well-earned fears.

How’s your story coming?

image_pdfDownload as PDFimage_printPrint Page

Posted

in

, , ,

by

Holly

Tags:

Comments

26 responses to “NOT A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood”

  1. judy King Avatar
    judy King

    Holly…I’ve written and researched a good deal about the Day of the Dead here in Mexico. A Texas newspaperman, last name Landa, wrote that in Mexico there are three deaths. The first is when the eyes no long see and there is no breath. The second is when the body is out of sight, returned to Mother Earth. Thethird and saddest is when there is no one left to remember.

    Reply
  2. Leah Avatar
    Leah

    600 words on the dot.

    Reply
  3. Ame Avatar
    Ame

    So after nearly a week of being buried by work I finally, finally had time to sit down and write… and realised I had no clue what happens next. I’m about 25,000 words from the finish line now and all my plotpoints are getting tangled, my characters are wandering off to play scrabble or get drunk with no thought for their poor writer, and although I know what’s going to happen at the end I’m not sure now how I ever meant to get there. So. I sat down, banged my head against the desk a few times, and got out the plot cards. Still not entirely there but the next few steps are illuminated and I have a slightly less tenous thread to follow to the end which is good enough for now.
    828 words after all that. So I’m happy.

    Reply
    1. Gabby Avatar
      Gabby

      Yay- congratulations on the breakthrough.

      Reply
      1. Ame Avatar
        Ame

        Thanks!

        Reply
  4. Nancy Avatar
    Nancy

    237 words. This has been the longest, most frustrating Nano I’ve ever done. I’ll win this year, but by the skin of my teeth.

    Today, the MC gets a clue she doesn’t recognize as such when she finds out the town’s most eligible bachelor was dating the local bookstore owner. But “mom” found out and didn’t approve. So the romance went south. And then the bookstore owner came down with this mystery illness… she recovered, but everyone in town thought she’d have to give up the store and move back where she came from, she was so wasted from it all.

    Shades of things to come… duh duh duhn…

    Reply
  5. Leigh Avatar
    Leigh

    2,911 words so far today. That brings me to 8,878 up from 5,967 where I was this morning. I’d like to make it to 11k before tomorrow.

    It’s so interesting how as I start to write through the scenes in my outline the characters begin to reveal their complexity and big things change…. it’s truly taking on a life of it’s own!

    At this point Max Nouvelle (NYV reporter) has inquired with Holly (I think I totally subconsciously named her after you Holly because I didn’t even realize the same-name-thing until this afternoon) about her best friend, my MC Violet, who almost died in an avalanche two years before. After two years of physical therapy and a full recovery Holly has coaxed Violet back on top of the mountain for a few runs… but things don’t exactly go smoothly. Muah ha ha! >:-)

    Reply
  6. Phil Avatar
    Phil

    I think I did about 250 words yesterday, unfortunately I had to wipe out about 350, so I netted -100. Not good. At this rate, I’ll be down to only the title in just under 3 months. The sad part is that I really don’t like my title either. It’s ok. To misquote a song: Holly said there’d be days like this….

    Reply
  7. Adam Avatar
    Adam

    finished ch23, 24, and got a good start to 25 over the weekend. right around 6000 words total over the weekend. sets it up so that if i can finish 25 tonight (should be doable), work through 26 tonight and tomorrow, that by wednesday (which i have off from work) i might be able to finish up the novel’s rough draft. if not, it will be complete by this weekend at the latest.

    started doing some background work on the sequel as well, and i think all of december will be devoted to getting background information into a new program for ease of use. (might build an access database to hold stuff, haven’t decided yet).

    Reply
  8. Michelle Avatar
    Michelle

    Wow, Larkk – 6461? Amazing!

    1038 for me. Loved the TM scene I read this morning, Holly!

    Reply
    1. Gabby Avatar
      Gabby

      Ugh, sorry Michelle, I didn’t mean to write almost exactly what you said. Oops. Sorry! I just keep getting so impressed by how everyone is doing.

      Reply
      1. Larkk Avatar
        Larkk

        Thanks guys!
        I’ve got some super fast writers in my region, and they are really helping push up my word count.
        And I’m having a blast : )

        Reply
  9. Larkk Avatar
    Larkk

    6461 words, and I’m so far from my outline its not even funny. But I press on; I have an ending to write towards, looming off in the distance. I’m pretty sure I’ll get there by next Sunday in some form.

    Crossed the 50k line, and kept right on going…I guess there should be no more doubt in my mind, regardless if anything ever comes of it, I do love doing this : )

    By the way, 5k on TalysMana already,wow! You just thought of the whole concept last WEEK! Awesome.

    Reply
    1. Gabby Avatar
      Gabby

      Wow, that’s amazing

      Reply
  10. Peggy Avatar
    Peggy

    267 Sunday, but I’ll probably rip most of those out today, because I realized the scene is starting to go off-track. I got a better bit to start the replacement words with, though:

    “That assumes two things. First that our goals are the same. Second that I trust you.”

    Reply
    1. Gabby Avatar
      Gabby

      LOL. I like that line- very ominous

      Reply
  11. Gabby Avatar
    Gabby

    1880 words on Sunday but that was after getting rid of about 1600. Still at least some forward progress again, even with the original scene gone.

    Reply
  12. Jessica Avatar
    Jessica

    Managed to get myself back on track with 250. The nephew – sent to arrest a group of vandals – ends up adding to the disfigurement of the city. And he’s now about to help fuel the fire between merchants and rebels.

    I had a lovely bday – lots of Indigo/Chapters gift cards! Woo hoo!

    Reply
  13. DasteRoad Avatar
    DasteRoad

    Took a day off on sunday 22. Spent most of the day cleaning all the house top-down: after we had new windows mounted the house was really, *really* in a bad shape.

    Reply
  14. Khena Avatar
    Khena

    3600 words for me. I’m at 47k words for my nano, and I’ve been going full steam ahead with it. I have one more Big scene to write until the final reactions that will spill down to the climaz, and I’m avoiding it. I caught myself writing a completely poinltess scene yesterday. Luckily I was early enough in the scene to make it important, but it was a littled sad.

    Poor Rose is getting attacked, again, by one of the guards that held her when she was under arrest. He still thinks she’s guilty, and hates her because of her indirect involvement in the death of one of his friends. He managed to get her alone, and unless someone comes along or a miracle occurs, it’s looking bad for her…

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

    I wrote a lot in the last few days. Today, I managed more than 2500 words and I’ve still got 4 free hours since the kids are going to see a x-mas play in school. I might even manage to finish the 50K before the month runs out. If I keep going like this, I need 2500 words a day and I just proved to myself that I can do it.

    For me, NaNo is fun – even though I missed so many days.

    Reply
  16. Teri Avatar
    Teri

    Another great day. 4,295 words.

    An otherwise pleasant family dinner is ruined for Laena when she is quietly told of vile rumours that say Baron Zhaer’s mother was her father’s mistress for a while, twenty years ago. Her grandfather on hearing the lady’s name is adamant that her son is not suitable company for his granddaughters, but Laena refuses to consider that his reaction might be proof of the rumours.

    It’s too late to recind the invitation Baron Zhaer had been given, to join them for breakfast the following day, and Laena can’t help looking for signs that he might be her father’s bastard. She convinces herself that there aren’t any.

    Reply
  17. The Pencil Neck Avatar
    The Pencil Neck

    967 words.

    The Bodyguard is in a cell with five other men in a cell block full of people who fought against the Rebels or who have noble blood or known noble loyalties. Rebel guards pull him out of the cell and sit him down in an interrogation room. The Major that freed The Princess comes in to question The Bodyguard. The Bodyguard remains silent throughout. The Major knows that The Bodyguard’s ID is fake and that he was special forces until recently but The Major doesn’t know that The Bodyguard was assigned to the King’s Guard because those records are kept in a special place and were wiped to keep the rebels from getting them… so the Major just thinks that The Bodyguard got discharged for some reason and is hiding out in this dead end colony. And since the Bodyguard comes from a very low class neighborhood, the Major looks at him as a potential ally and offers him a position in the Rebellion. While he’s being taken away, The Bodyguard is wondering how long he has to wait to accept and have it look kosher.

    This part is just writing itself. I really didn’t have any conflict or anything planned for this, I just knew I needed a scene with The Bodyguard in jail. Had no idea any of this was going to happen but it fits in perfectly with the overall theme of the work.

    Reply
    1. Khena Avatar
      Khena

      I just wanted to say again how much I love to hear how your story is coming along. (Although, I kind of miss the hearing about your last book…) And to thank you. I’ve started doing little snippets of my own, just on the off chance anyone is interested, and today, the answer of how to get my MC out of her current trouble came to me. Which is great!

      Just though it might make you happy to know =)

      Reply
      1. The Pencil Neck Avatar
        The Pencil Neck

        Thank you! I really appreciate that. I’m always afraid I’m writing too much stuff, too much detail, and no one really cares.

        Personally, I love reading the snippets of everyone’s books’ directions and happenings.

        Reply
        1. Nancy Avatar
          Nancy

          Ditto Khena’s response. It’s kind of like getting to read your novel in serial form. Can’t wait to hear what happens next!

          Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

26
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x