Current Writing Shenanigans

So, I suppose I should write about what I've been up to, writing wise.

I usually work on two projects at once: drafting one novel, and editing another.

Unfortunately, uni hasn't been giving me enough time to develop a new concept, and to draft it too (that's going to be a NaNoWriMo thing, since I'll be done with uni forever), but I've been busy doing mass edits on one of my older projects, which some of my older readers from LiveJournal might remember, my NaNo novel from 2010, titled Fool's Gold.

At the moment, I'm in the midst of a complete rewrite of the first 3 chapters, after coming to the conclusion that the first chapter literally did nothing to further the story, other than a bit of worldbuilding and info dumping. Events that have happened in chapter 3 now happen in chapter 1, and it gets complicated after that, with bits and pieces from all those chapters happening in different places.

After that, chapters 15-18 are going to need to be scrapped and rewritten from scratch, because I was young and dumb and wrote awful things that my current feminist self cringes with disgust at.

I'm glad that I've finally decided to work on this novel 4 years after having drafted it. I've grown so much as a writer, Fool's Gold having been my second completed novel. Now in mid 2014, I've already written about six novels, in various stages of completion. I've discovered books that have helped me develop a vibrant voice, that have made me reconsider plot points, character development, and world-building.

I hate it when people call their books their babies, but this novel has been on my mind for almost 5 years, and it's finally so close to being queried to an agent. It's an exhilarating feeling knowing that I've worked so hard on it, and it's been 5 years in the making.

Keep an eye out for future posts on my progress.

On Poetry, or, Jess Fears Taking a Leap of Faith.

In the last month or so, I've found myself increasingly unable to think of any story ideas, and unable to write a single decent line in any of my novels. Instead, I've found my mind wandering towards poetry.

I find this odd, considering I've never really written much poetry before. In fact, I sort of think that I don't really get poetry. I mean, it has something to do with rhythm and words and... stuff, I guess? I don't know.

And the more poetry I've written, the more I've been thinking of trying to incorporate my newfound poetic style into a novel, like some of my favourite writers: Catherynne M. Valente, Markus Zusak, my friend Nafiza ;). But do people really want to read a whole novel of poetic beauty, where words flow like water? I mean, I do. Those are my favourite kinds of novels. I'm worried about the marketability of such work.

Another concern is that I may overdo the poetic prose, and it'll turn out like Taherah Mafi's Shatter Me. Now, I know a lot of people just absolutely love that book, but seriously, most of those metaphors don't even make sense. At times, you can see potential shining through, but it's mostly bogged down by prose that needs to be cut, reworded, and basically edited within an inch of its life.

So yeah, that's my conundrum. I want to write a novel with lush prose, but I'm scared to do it. (also, I don't really have much of an idea, which I suppose is my biggest problem, haha.)

It's a big step, a giant leap, and it's going to take a lot of self-prodding to do so. But something in my soul is yearning to come out, and one day, I'm going to have to comply.

One of my poems. Click to enlarge.

Editing Deadline

what edits look like.

So, I'm on holidays. Nothing to do. And I just so happen to have an unedited manuscript which I can't help but dream will become a best seller.

I've come to the conclusion that I need to discipline myself and set a deadline. Since I start classes at the beginning of March, I have one and a half months to achieve my goal of finishing this latest round of edits, and send it out to my crit partners for feedback.

I'll check back occasionally to update my progress. Expect a lot of crying, hair pulling, and rants about how much editing sucks. But I shall persevere.

Wish me luck!

NaNo Weeks 2 & 3

Oh my gosh, I am so bad at this blogging thing. This is just a quick post to show that I'm still alive, and still writing.

And, apparently, at the whole NaNo-ing thing.

After the first week went swimmingly well, I seemed to have developed a nasty case of procrastinationitis, because I just got basically nothing done, so it's not even worth showing my stats.

I got so far behind, though, thanks to my incredible headstart at the beginning of the month, it wasn't as catastrophic as it was last year (and let's not even go there). I've slowly began to catch up. Right now, I'm at 39k and I need to be at 40k, so it's not too bad. Once I finish this post, I'll get back to writing.

Basically me right now.

I think my biggest problem is that once I get to about 30k, I hit a wall. This happens just about every time I write.
I don't plan my novels out much, you see. I basically just know the very basic storyline, and I have a brief understanding of how it ends, but I don't know what happens in the middle. And so, I falter.

I should probably start outlining my novels more, but when I outline too much, I get stuck as well--I feel like there's no freedom while I'm writing.

Basically, I'm fucked. I'm screwed if I outline, and I'm screwed if I don't. I'll try to find a nice medium, because, seriously, this is just no way to write.

Anyone else have the same issues as me? Any tips on how to fight it?

NaNoWriMo Week One

Well, the first week (or, half week) of NaNo has come and gone. It was quite an experience, and it sounds cheesy, but it feels like I've learnt something. I always learn something about myself each time I sit down to write, and it's a nice sort of feeling.

I've had a very productive week. I was worried that I'd be barely able to make the daily word goals, but I far surpassed my expectations, and it leaves me brimming with pride. I can't help but gush about how well I'm doing on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook.

Here are the stats:

01/11 Thursday: 5,278
02/11 Friday: 3,062
03/11 Saturday: 4,128
04/11 Sunday: 1,796


Total for this week: 14,264
Total word count: 14,264
Where I should be: 6,666
Words ahead: 7,598

Total word count:


On Thursday, I went to a write-in hosted by one of my uni-friends, and it was a great experience. I got to write, talk about writing, and eat cupcakes, brownies, and pizza. Word-warring in real life was really motivating. It feels far more real than word-warring online.

I'm really loving my story. I love the characters, I love the plot, and I love the worlds (Woooh! Alternate dimensions!). I'm not much of a plotter, so there was a point where I was worried that I would run out of steam and not know what to write next (to be fair, though, I have that feeling with every story I write), but it got sorted out in the end. I pretty much only plan a few chapters ahead, and I have a vague idea of how I know the story will end, so that I can make the journey without feeling forced to do something I end up feeling isn't right for the story. With plotting, I feel like I have no freedom to change the direction of the story as I go. I don't like being limited like that.

One thing that's really bugged me about NaNo so far is finding myself suddenly running out of time to do everything I want. I haven't been reading much because I've been too busy writing, so I've been running low on creative juices. As I said above, I've been learning a lot through writing, and I've learnt to organise my time more efficiently. I have to make time to write, sure, but I also need to fit in reading, excercise, playing with the puppy, socialising, playing Pokemon or The Sims 3, and other shenanigans. It's been tough, but I've managed it.

And because I hadn't been reading much, I'd felt a bit shitty and worn out. I just had no motivation to write, because there just was anything to write. After spending the day sitting out in the sun, reading and relaxing, I managed to fix that, and managed to plod along, writing the minimum daily word goal, which is nice, considering I'd only planned to write about 500 words to bump my word count up to 13k. But now it's at 14k, how wonderful!

So, how are you faring with NaNo? Feeling proud of your wordcount, or feeling shitty? Learnt anything new about yourself through writing? Feel free to comment!

Writing Superstitions

Happy Friday the 13th!
So, today is obviously a day that makes some people very superstitious. I'm not one of those people, but I do have general superstitions when it comes to writing. I can't tell you how hard I had to think to come up with these superstitions and habits--it's all rather subconscious, isn't it? I mean, I have OCD, and even I don't know exactly what kind of quirks I have, except the ones people have pointed out to me.

So, onto my superstitions and habits concerning writing:

The mystical writing hat

• I like to wear my writer's hat (shown on the right)
• I like to have a warm, sugary drink on hand
• Writing every day has proved to make me more productive, but I can't always make that, because of time constraints or pure laziness
• I have to have the right font for my story. Luckily, most of my stories so far have been Arial Narrow, size 11, but, it can sometimes change depending on... well, I don't know, subconscious stuff, I guess
• Each story has its own playlist, and I can't write to the wrong kind of music. For example, my newest WIP has a playlist that consists of a lot of Skrillex, Metallica, Motley Crue, Fear Factory, and generally just a lot of different kinds of metal. The right music can work wonders, but if I listen to something that just doesn't suit the story at all, it can put me in a writing funk
• I don't like talking about my stories too early on in the writing process. Mainly because of two reasons: 1) What if it turns into a bum idea? I'd have let down all these people who were looking forward to reading it, and it ended up going nowhere. 2) I know this is silly, but I'm afraid that someone will steal my ideas. I love originality, and I'm sure this sounds very arrogant and up-myself, but I like to think that my stories have some level of originality to them. I wouldn't want anyone stealing my precious ideas. 
• Writing in my house is hard. This is less of a superstition, and more of an observation, but I get so distracted by my puppy, by the internet, by pretty much everything. I like to go to coffee shops or the park, and just sit and write for hours. That's why I got so much writing done during my first semester of uni: because I was writing on my breaks.
• When I'm editing, I have to print out the entire manuscript, and I can only write on it in angry red ink. 
• I cannot write my story out of order. Absolutely cannot. I like my things to be organised in a nice linear order. Unless the story is supposed to be all over the place, then I'll write the non-linear story in the way I envision the non-linear-ness to be. 

Okay, so maybe I'm a wee bit weird. 

Do you have any odd superstitions or habits while writing?