Holly Lisle: Writing, Fiction, & Discovery
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To quote Meatloaf, “Some days it don’t come easy…”
It is a Monday. I’m trying to be objective by keeping that in mind. Mondays can be a bit tricky sometimes, and this was one of those. So… I got words… They fit, they moved the story forward, they let me build out the obstacle my characters are facing, and I genuinely like what I…
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A truly solid writing day today…
I am grateful for days like this one, when there’s a cool breeze blowing in the back window while I write, where I can heard birds singing and the leaves of maples and oaks rustling. Days like this feed the fiction, because the fictionalized town is a magical version of this town, and the sounds…
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Today’s words, and the theme song for this section of the novel…
Dark bit of writing today. Evil is stalking my MC, help has stepped in but is unnerving and feels dangerous, and the world she has come to love has been gripped by something terrible that lies behind a lovely face… And this encapsulates the dilemma in which she finds herself helped by someone who is…
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Bumpy start to the week — 17,012 total words on Ohio 4
Managed to get 488 words today, which isn’t the 1200 I was shooting for. However, I have a howling migraine, and while I like what I got, I can’t say that it went smoothly, or came easily. So now, having been at this for about three hours with small progress to show for it, I…
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And more “Joy of Words” — 1387 for the day, and a meet-up
Being cruel to main characters is usually good for the story, and today two main characters figuratively stepped into the middle of the road at the same time… and got run over. I’ve been waiting a long time to write this set of scenes. I like the first part of it. I’m looking forward to…
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Today it was the Joy of Words
I love writing in my fantasy small-town Ohio world. Because while part of it is absolutely deep fantasy with really good magic, part of it is my house, and my street, and my little town right here… And I love my house, and my street, and my little town, and the folks who live here.…
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Another slow, struggle-y day today working through Chapter 6
The story has taken a (planned) dark turn. MEANWHILE… I’m struggling a bit to show the conflict without going darker than I want. And I have to be very, very careful right now NOT to let the magic run amok. It’ll do that, you know — magic will. Run AMOK… AMOK… all over the damn…
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Ohio 4: Not the best word-count… 268, and 13,224 total on the first draft
Not every writing day is great. Some days, you find places in your read-through (the thing before the new words) that won’t stand as is… and you pull out the bits that went in a direction you’ve discovered you do not wish to pursue, and you put in new words. And you get a NET…
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WOOOT!!! Really good words, pretty dark subject
So today I’m writing Chapter Five… and while I can’t say the words flew, I got all of them, and I’m very happy with the way they turned out. (At least in first draft. I’m always subject to a rethink when I do the revision.) The story moved through a dark part of my hero’s…
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Got Good Ohio Words Yesterday and Today
Just got sidetracked on writing them down. I’m in a tense spot in the book, my main character is in trouble, and she’s just beginning to understand the extent of the trouble she’s in… And that’s all I’m going to say for now. Tomorrow I’m going to have to see if I can help her…
Got any book recommendations?