The Fendle Warrior’s Heart

I did 1731 words on TalysMana today, starting and finishing the next scene/chapter, and uploading it into the mailer.

For those of you who are history buffs, you’ll find my spontaneous, very brief rundown of the Peloponnesian War as part of a discussion between my MC and a guy I _think_ might be the hero. Maybe.

In any case, when I’m doing this dialogue, I’m recapping the Spartans and the Athenians and their nasty war from memory, writing at the speed of light without fact-checking, so I’m going to remind you—this is raw first draft. I do the majority of my fact-checking in revision.

If I got it wrong, PLEASE don’t send edit comments. I’ll look everything up before it goes to my agent.

Beyond that… well. The writing was a blast.

Hope yours was, too.

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27 responses to “The Fendle Warrior’s Heart”

  1. Mary Avatar
    Mary

    OK, I had every intention of writing during the week but unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Work was far too stressful. The weekend was better. About 1000 words on my new WIP on Saturday and about 1300 yesterday. I have the day off today so I hope to do at least another 1000. I’m loving my new WIP. It just seems to write itself.

    I also need to work on sending out query letters to agents for my last novel, an epic fantasy. Getting the query letter right is the hardest thing of all.

  2. Jessica Avatar

    I can’t say that I’ve written anything for WIP yet, since I worked through half my lunch before my coworker was kind enough to point it out to me. Dang tunnel vision work focus!

    I did, however, have a successful weekend for SNSS: 3337
    I wrote my own private version of Peter Pan, which will never be published due to copyright but it IS a FINISHED all-in-one-sitting story!

    And I did come up with a big solution that has 3-fold effects for plot, characters and culture! The new scene is in my head, now I just have to make sure I write it when I get home. Hmm… dishes or writing… clean blank page or hours worth of dirty, smelly, fuzzy things?

  3. Writing Nerd Avatar
    Writing Nerd

    having a great time writing but im sort of stuck on a major detail… in TWOA, the story is mainly about how this race goes to war and the consequences of it. They are more like an advanced tribe than anything else. They do not have the technology we have at all and trade for the most part. What i havent figured out yet is what could cause an entire people to go to war and kill each other? I have some little things that help finally push them to it, but what is that BIG thing they do not agree on and will fight to have? hmm……

    happy writing everyone!

    1. Jessica Avatar

      Religion. Plenty of examples in history for that. If you don’t want to go down that road though there are plenty of non-religious belief issues that can get people riled up: slavery, women’s rights (or classic bourgeoisie class revolts), or maybe it could be central around technology and trading itself – one group wants to industrialize, the other wants to remain “traditional”.

      HTH. The latter has effects in my cross-world and I can’t say it’s an easy topic but plenty of conflict arises out of it! Good luck.

      1. Danzier Avatar
        Danzier

        How about sports–the hockey player with the league’s best uppercut? In my neck of the woods they’re still trying to decide whether to hang the quarterback for going to the “enemy”; when I first moved here I went to a football party wearing the wrong colors and nobody would talk to me for three years (true story). Take something like that to South America a thousand years ago, you’ve got continental mass murder…and in the eyes of the locals, it’s completely justified.

      2. Gabby Avatar
        Gabby

        Wow, Danzier, seriously? I love football but wrong colors…??? Sounds like a turf war. lol

        1. Danzier Avatar
          Danzier

          Something like that. Superbowl 31: Green Bay Packers vs. New England Patriots. I moved from Massachusetts to Wisconsin and didn’t realize that the people out here have four fundamental needs: air, shelter, water, and football. So I wore Pats colors to the superbowl party. And nobody who’d been there (about 50 people) would speak to me for three years. That was my entire graduating class, and they only forgave me at the rematch, when I voted for the locals.

          More recently, the Green Bay quarterback, Brett Favre, joined the Pack’s rival team, the Minnesota Vikings. The whole state went nuts… for more info and to see how the two nicest states in the union go to war, here’s a link to an article about burning gear worth a couple million dollars. I thought it was funny. (And you all thught I was joking!) http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20090929/PKR01/90929072/0/PKRSPECIALS&theme=PKRFAVREVIKINGS

    2. Mary Avatar
      Mary

      Land and resources. It’s what people always fight about. Religion or class distinctions are just an excuse. People fight to control fertile farmland or pastures. Or they fight for minerals rights. They fight to control lucrative tradeways or for access to the sea. Anything that involves people’s livelihood is a cause for contention. Hope that helps.

      1. Writing Nerd Avatar
        Writing Nerd

        Wow, everyone! Thanks so much for all of your ideas! They really help!

        1. Danzier Avatar
          Danzier

          One other thing that didn’t get mentioned above: nobody ever listens. Plain old language misunderstandings combined with hot heads, short fuses, and big tempers, and the gullability of large crowds make great fireworks. I have a society that’s all about going to war with anyone anytime (it’s a genetic thing, really) so how to start wars is becoming a pet project… along with how to diffuse them, which gets really complicated sometimes. 😀

  4. Greg Avatar
    Greg

    Weekend:
    Revised four scenes of D&DI, and got most of the way through my structural revision for OFL.

  5. Danzier Avatar
    Danzier

    No new words, but I figured out that every time I’m stuck, my main character goes hunting. Since they don’t have grocery stores in the wilderness, it’s understandable, but hunting is only story-applicable two or three times. Four other boring hunting trips to la guillotine.

  6. Deb1789 Avatar
    Deb1789

    Well, I’m finally back! for the first time I’m writing with an outline, and I’m hoping that it will help keep with the story to the END!!!

    So 1794 words:
    A book of strange powers and mysterious origin, the boy it hijacked, a “goddess” who thinks she can play with lives and win, and a girl who just put herself in the middle of it, though she does’t know it yet.

  7. Greg Avatar
    Greg

    Fri 15 Jan:
    KavI: 655
    D&DII: 786
    RFW: 1242
    and some OFL revision. Unfortunately I wrote the story in lots of little scenes, which means my scene-by-scene assessment of the story is taking forever!

  8. The Pencil Neck Avatar
    The Pencil Neck

    0 words.

    I worked on Revision tonight. Got through the Week 6 worksheets and started on the Week 7 worksheets. These are going to take a while; they’re about the different locations in your novel. I have 67 different locations. The How To Revise Your Novel is a TON of work.

    For those that remember my story about the Thief, the Sheriff, and the Mage, that’s going through the grinder right now. The HTRYN has already given me a zillion ideas on ways to improve it. It’s going to be a pretty massive rewrite.

    1. The Pencil Neck Avatar
      The Pencil Neck

      579 words.

      The Princess finally goes to the Traffic Controllers apartment to fulfill her promise of going on a date with him. He invites her in and while she’s all dolled up, he’s dressed casual. His apartment is a mess. He offers her something to drink and then insists when she refuses. Then he offers her a sandwhich so she can see how the other half lives. She says she’s seen how guys live and would prefer to go out to a nice restaurant. Then he says “the other half” isn’t guys, it’s commoners. She pretends she doesn’t know what he’s talking about. And then he drops the bomb that he knows exactly who she is.

  9. HannaBelle Avatar
    HannaBelle

    Got sick (again) this past week, so no progress on anything, including basic life stuff. Gotta catch up now.

    My story is too pragmatic. I saw someone say their story was fantasy historical fiction, so I am toying with taking my story waaaay out there, too.

    I am enjoying the TalysMana story and am envious of the world building and life building. Though many of my stories are sf, they are not fantasy, and I am also toying with the idea of doing something more like fantasy.

  10. Danzier Avatar
    Danzier

    679 new words, using Pencil Neck’s advice from yesterday. I think you’re on to something–some of the upcoming story is set but most of it’s not. I know my characters have to get together, and I know one or two major events that will have to take place (my Robin Hood type guy will have to be revealed as not a monk, and the little bad guys mix the twins up) and everything else is actually fluid. I’ll focus on book 1 (PH2) and see if that makes some of my problems go away. 😀

  11. Peggy Avatar
    Peggy

    Thanks to a fast read-through by my writing buddy (much thanks, June!), I realized that much of the scene where Angela and the doctor are kidnapped — well — sucked.

    A lot of the dialog can stand as is, but I needed to ground the reader more in the actual details of where this was happening and how. Got started on that last night, to the tune of around 500 words.

  12. Jessica Avatar

    Holly that scene sounds like a lot of fun, as an ancient history buff that sounds right up my alley!

    Unfortunately my own writing is on pause for reasons that would take too long to explain, but basically I think I’m just under too much stress from everything. WIP and SNSS are still circling my thoughts though, and I have been jotting down notes.

    I will still be following WABWM but without a word count my posts and comments will be limited.

  13. Khena Avatar
    Khena

    No new words for me, I spent my time on revision. I’m still on lesson five, but I am making good progress. This lesson is taking me forever compared to the others, but I am working out a lot of problems.

    I thought I had avoided one of my big problems in writing, but I discovered I made it yet again. My male lead/sidekick is whiny and incompetent. I really don’t know why every male protagonist is always so horribly irritating. I’m getting better, but it’s still there. Something to keep working on I guess =/

  14. Larkk Avatar
    Larkk

    763 fun words, and then worked on the revision. Hopefully I can finish Lesson 2 tonight. After 300 pages of reading and catching promises I feel confident I understand the lesson, and am ready to move on!

  15. Greg Avatar
    Greg

    Exam invigilation in the morning…
    RFW: 1234
    and some OFL revision in the afternoon.

    1. HannaBelle Avatar
      HannaBelle

      You have such great output. I am always curious what others do for a living that they have time and/or energy for high output. If you don’t want to say … that’s okay. I had to look up “invigilation” so I have a glimmer but not the whole story.

      1. Greg Avatar
        Greg

        I can devote full-time hours to it at the moment, which obviously helps enormously with output. It’s not going to last forever, though, as I’ll need to get a job around April/May, which is why I’m pushing myself to maximise the time. I’m fairly free of financial commitments, too, as a twenty-something (though not for long!) living with my parents. The invigilation should give me enough money to keep going until the Spring.

        1. Danzier Avatar
          Danzier

          Invigilation: “British. to keep watch over students at an examination.[sic]”–Dictionary online (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/invigilation).

          I had to look it up too. They pay people for that?? Way to go.

          1. Greg Avatar
            Greg

            I wasn’t aware it was a British term! In the old days, when whole year groups had exams in May/June, there would be enough teachers without lessons to watch them. Now it’s a little more fragmented, with different tiers and modular courses, so finding enough teaching staff who don’t actually still have children to teach is more difficult, hence they pay people to come in and make sure the kids don’t cheat, and give them a pen if theirs runs out.
            Not very exciting.

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