Holly Lisle: Writer

TalysMana: The first scene has gone live.

I got WAY carried away tonight. Wrote over 1500 words on TalysMana.

TalysMana is the novel I’m giving away in its entirety, one scene at a time, as I write it.

And the first scene (over 2000 words long), is now available. If you’d like to read the whole novel for free, and find out more about TalysMana, go here:

TalysMana.com

There’s a sign-up sheet on the weblog. Follow the instructions, be sure to click the link in the confirmation e-mail you’ll receive, and you’ll have the first scene in just a couple minutes.

I’m pretty happy with the way this came out. And excited, too.

So. How did YOUR writing go tonight?

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26 responses to “TalysMana: The first scene has gone live.”

  1. Gabby Avatar
    Gabby

    983 words for today.

    Reply
  2. Kenzie Avatar
    Kenzie

    Got 968 words done, a pretty good start to the book. I’m hoping to reach 10, 000 words by the end of the month which I think is a pretty decent goal for me. 🙂

    Reply
  3. Tori Avatar
    Tori

    Are we supposed to get the scene right away Holly? Because although I confirmed that I wanted the subscription….all I got was welcome letter. Is there something I am missing?

    Reply
  4. Nancy Avatar
    Nancy

    TalysMana is totally fab!! You continue to amaze and inspire, Holly.

    4250 for me Monday. Got through the MC finding a llama with it’s throat slit in her driveway — a warning from the killer and a nasty turn for her neighbor, whose llama it was. Hadn’t expected the killer to escalate this soon, but I feel as though I’ve reached a tipping point. The next bit has to contain a better direction for my MC to pursue, as some of the pieces start fitting together.

    Reply
  5. Lost Wanderer Avatar
    Lost Wanderer

    I lost 963 words I wrote yesterday, because I backed up old version of file over new version. *Viciously kicking myself*

    So now, got making up to do tonight

    Reply
  6. Dawn Avatar
    Dawn

    Wonderful scene, dying for more. Very cool to see the raw draft.

    Reply
  7. Hanna Avatar
    Hanna

    Still no new words. This is my third week in a new job and I am still trying to figure out how and when to do things. I am so tired at night it is hard to do much but veg and sleep.

    But, twice at work, now, on a break, I have worked on bx2- Pedestal. In fact, after I post this I am going to take my lunch break and keep working on The Sentence. I diagrammed the story differently earlier today and it gave me some ideas.

    I keep posting, even with zero words, because keeping in touch with WABWM keeps me from abandoning the project. I know that is a spiral-ly logic but it is working. Just the fact that I am not abandoning the project is HUGE for me.

    I don’t like to let logic stop me. Where logic ends, I begin.

    Reply
  8. Deb Avatar
    Deb

    And what a stonking good first scene it is too. I can’t wait for further installments. Go Holly!!

    Reply
  9. Adam Avatar
    Adam

    i got 1700 words in chapter 22. i was hoping that would finish off the chapter, but a scene just kind of grew on me, and i think it is the final twist before the climax of the story. Krabuz, the owner of the Horned Devil and the one who helped Tzal get a start in the city, let Tzal know that his uncle was a close friend. They’d worked together for years hiding the scions of the old line of kings, waiting for the warrior that would come and be the blade against the Confederacy and Axius. Tzal is pretty comfortable with that as long as they don’t expect him to rule. He also got a hint at what Brendon is going to have him doing after the necromancer is dealt with, hunting warlocks and the nobles who are bringing them into the city.

    don’t think i’m going to hit my goal of finishing in 9 days, as the last few chapters have all gone longer than i expected them to. not a huge deal as i’d accelerated my timeline in hopes of being able to consistently pump out words, but it would have been nice to have a finished draft to show my dad at thanksgiving…

    Reply
  10. Gary Townsend (a.k.a. G D Townshende) Avatar
    Gary Townsend (a.k.a. G D Townshende)

    Finished that short story. Got it done a day in advance of my goal, too! ^.^ Working title is THE LIMNADES. I spent much longer writing today than I usually do, but the ending came with a twist I didn’t expect and it’s a twist I absolutely love. At first, I thought the ending scene was becoming anti-climactic, but, thankfully, I was proven wrong.

    Wrote 1632 words. Total actual word count for the story, 8430 words. That’s a little more than 900 words over what I thought it would be. The shocker, though, came when I did a white-space word count: 9920 words. EEK! o.o (I need to try a minor reformatting of my manuscript, though, to be sure that the white-space word count is correct. It sounds a tad high. I’ve heard/read that white-space word counts — a.k.a. printer’s rule, ten words per 6.5-inch Courier 12-point / 10-pitch manuscript line — tend to be about 10% greater than actual word counts.) Still, I’m hoping I can tighten this thing up so that the second draft’s more than 10% shorter than what the story is now.

    Well, it’s a first draft, so now’s not the time to fret. Now’s the time to set it aside and let it cool, to get my mind to working on the next story.

    Reply
  11. Faith Avatar
    Faith

    2090 on my NaNoWriMo WIP. I hate everything I’m writing, but I anticipate a full re-write when it’s done, and so I press onward! I’d been so looking forward to writing this, too… I guess you could say it’s breaking my heart 🙁 But… I know I can breathe life into it again, probably with HTRYN once it goes live. For now, I keep reminding myself that you can’t revise a blank page…

    And who knows? Maybe lightning will strike when I least expect it.

    Reply
    1. Ieva Avatar
      Ieva

      Ahhh, I hated everything too just a couple of days ago.
      Then, I did what I usually do when I’m outright hating the story, I’m saying to myself/my Muse, “all right, all right, this is all wrecked. Now what would you *rather* write about?” — and surprisingly, I got a big plot twist, and then another, and there I was, practically stripped off everything except for the protagonist and her planned problems plus a truckload of other ones.
      All my carefully planned setting, the characters I’d learned to care for, the plot cards I’d developed? Gone. What remains is a story I write zealously.

      I’d say it’s a good trade.

      Reply
  12. Peggy Avatar
    Peggy

    786 on DG, and the MC has just refused his dead wife’s advances. Now he has to figure out how to tell his very-much-alive girlfriend…

    And I read some background material for a potential future project. I’d call it research, only I won’t be using anything I found in its original form. I’ll be mutating the heck out of it.

    Reply
  13. Larkk Avatar
    Larkk

    1861 words and crossed over 40k. On the home stretch, except I have a lot more than 10k words to do before I get to the end. I’ll have to try and wrap this up in between 50k and 60k words. (and go back later) Interesting challenge.

    Reply
  14. Jessica Avatar
    Jessica

    350ish here and there. I couldn’t get my head into it.

    Reply
  15. Khena Avatar
    Khena

    I did pretty well last night, thought it didn’t feel like it at the time. 1300 words for my nano, putting me less than a thousand from 30k. During the week I just can’t seem to stay motivated once I know I’ve passed the daily goal.

    Rose and Lord SilkStone finally decided a plan of action to figure out why someone is trying to kill him, and Rose shared her last ‘big’ secret with him. He pulled through for her, getting her to look at it in a different light, but annoying her by mentioning their god at the end. Before they can do anything about their plan though, Palace guards escort them, and the rest of the keep, to the great hall.

    Reply
  16. Greg Avatar
    Greg

    Got no words done today – was shattered after a long weekend labouring for some money for Christmas. Was mauling carpet tiles and other heavy items from 8am-10.30pm fri, 8am-7.30pm sat and 8am-3pm sun! Actually fell asleep from 1pm-4pm today!
    Back into it tomorrow, though…

    Reply
  17. DasteRoad Avatar
    DasteRoad

    312 words on monday. I really couldn’t keep my eyes open or I would have kept on writing (not eager to try writing *while* sleeping since really creepy stuff happened the time I actually did it without realizing it O.o). Erthel meets the three members of the High Bloodline that were waiting for her in general awkwardness. I went a little overboard with description this time, but after all it’s only natural that you notice at least a little bit the physical appearance of the people you’re meeting for the first time, especially if they’re some kind of nobility (a simple person like Erthel would no doubt notice jewelry and fancy clothing) or if they sport unique features (the Matriarch and her sons have vivid purple eyes: weird eye colours in PoB’s universe are a clear sign of the presence of “the Gift”). I just have to make sure that description doesn’t slow everything down.

    Reply
  18. Teri Avatar
    Teri

    1,122 words today.

    Baron Zhaer has followed Princess Laena, and is paying her an unexpected visit at her sister’s estate. Laena’s reaction is completely out of proportion to her previous encounters with him, but it was fun to write, and her sister was very amused and eager to meet the man who could make Laena react like that. I’ll have to tweak either the previous meetings or Laena’s reaction so they match up with each other when I edit this.

    Reply
  19. The Pencil Neck Avatar
    The Pencil Neck

    1247 words.

    The Princess and her Bodyguard go to the space port. The Princess is heavily drugged because of the abuse she suffered from the angry mob: black eyes, a broken nose, bruised face, a sprained ankle. A nobleman that the Princess recognizes is being led out in manacles along with his wife and kids. The Bodyguard does not allow the Princess to say anything and forces her into the terminal. Approaching the first class line, The Bodyguard sees the Bad Man that he made the deal with to get the tickets. The Bad Man is standing with a squad of rebels. The Bodyguard tells the Princess to sit down and wait for him. She wanders over to a bank of seats and a nice man stands to let her sit down. She thanks him but he’s very concerned with her. He thinks she’s suffered domestic abuse. The Bodyguard shows up and the guy is a rebel sergeant. The Bodyguard acts the part and tells him to back off and whatever he does with his woman is none of his business. The sergeant checks his ID but finds it clean… and heading in third class to a mining colony. (Not the first class trip to the Empire: The Bodyguard swapped identities and flights to his backup plan.) The sergeant lets them go but gives the Princess his number and tells her to call him if she needs any help at all. (Muse bomb.)

    I ended up rewriting what I wrote last night from scratch. I changed the POV a bit and it flowed much better. I may end up merging some parts of it in revision.

    Reply
  20. Brian Cansler Avatar
    Brian Cansler

    You always have such brilliant ideas, Holly. You never let us down!

    Reply
  21. Ieva Avatar
    Ieva

    Yay! The website looks absolutely stunning. Who’s the author of the pictures?

    I finally got to the turning point in my novel (currently at 26 000+ words, 4 K of them yesterday). I have a suspicion all I’ve written this far qualifies as disposable backstory. But apparently I needed it, so, well… 🙂

    Reply
    1. Gabby Avatar
      Gabby

      Hi Ieva,
      I found Holly’s answer on the site.
      http://talysmana.com/1/talysmana-the-gateway/comment-page-1/#comment-14

      Holly,
      The scene caught me up in it immediately. I can’t wait to find out what happens next…

      Reply
    2. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      I did all the artwork on TalysMana.com, including the header graphic. However, it wasn’t a case of just sitting down and drawing things. Here’s the info on how I did the artwork on TalysMana.

      Reply
      1. Ieva Avatar
        Ieva

        It’s absolutely beautiful 🙂 I find my fingers itching…but nono, no procrastination for me. I barely make my wordcount for NaNo.

        Reply
  22. Leah Avatar
    Leah

    Still battling illness, but wrote 570 words today. The scenes are strong enough to keep going, although I’ll strengthen them later.

    Thank you for the opportunity, Holly. Keep up the great work.

    Reply

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