Writing a Novel.
“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”
― Ernest Hemingway
September 13, 2016: Began writing my novel. I started in the middle. I do not have the entire plot set up, but I'll just see where it goes. Wrote 493 words today.
September 15, 2016: Introduced another character, Darrow. He is a Fairy of the Greenwood. He is tall, with wild white hair, when in his human form. He shows little emotion. Wrote 294 words today.
September 18, 2016: Very productive day! Wrote 790 words!!!!! My book has just taken a turn for the darker. Laruza, a sort of forest spirit, entices Jay and April off the path and into his house. He wears fine leather gloves and keeps pigs. He is a sort of Baba Yaga type character, and I plan to make him try to eat my protagonists.
September 20, 2016: My first bout of writer's block. How can Jay and April possibly think of battling Laruza? They are two children. Wrote 170 words, but those are mostly just stalling. I'll probably edit them out later.
September 23, 2016: Wrote 532 words, which detail a battle between Darrow and Laruza. I am reasonably pleased with it, though I fell asleep in the middle and now have no idea how to finish this.
September 25, 2016: School is getting more difficult, and I had to stay up till midnight to write. But I still got 584 words in!!!! :D Darrow is taking Jay and April to Faerie, to meet Queen Titania.
September 28, 2016: This has been a weeeeeeird night. I couldn't think of a metaphor for a certain sentence my book, and when I woke up I had a sheet of my tear off calendar on my chest. On it was written the perfect metaphor. It needs some editing, but as Ernest Hemingway once said: "Write Drunk, Edit Sober." I only got 196 words in today, but they're good words.
September 29, 2016: I wrote 535 words today. They have nearly reached the Winter Court of Faerie. Right now they are still in the Trembling Forest. The setting right now is based on Philmont Scout Ranch, and the aspen forests on Mount Baldy.
September 30, 2016: (207 words) They have reached the Winter Court.
October 1, 2016: (528 words) Titania tells them that she WILL send them back. But only if they find the Six Scales for her. *tells backstory of Six Scales*, tells them they will find the rest of their journeymen at an inn in Bight.
October 3, 2016: (201 words) I spent 2 HOURS writing a song today. And by the way, they are in Bight.
October 4, 2016: (378 words) my protagonists meet each other. The character development is going to be extremely difficult.
October 8, 2016: No words. I went to my grandmother's house, and was expected to socialize. This is the first time since the beginning that I have had a day without writing. Oh well. I'll think of it as a rest.
October 9, 2016: (371 words) I got a sufficient amount of words in today. Jay is lonely.
October 10, 2016: (148 words) Suspense leading up to a goblin attack.
October 11, 2016: (326 words) The attack is partially written. I like this scene. It offers the first opportunity for Jay to start to become the more hardened person that he will need to be to survive this journey.
October 15, 2016: My most productive day so far. 811 words!!!!! The Goblin attack is finished, and Jay is quite injured. I feel that this first duel offers a nice respite from the Mary Sues of modern fantasy, (Eragon for instance), who can fight like a master after like a week of training. (Jay gets beaten almost to death by a goblin with a rock, and is only saved by his little sister stabbing the goblin from behind.)
October 16, 2016: (376 words) I went to the library to write today, and it would have been easier had someone not been making snide comments about whether or not I was speaking Greek every time I used an above-Neanderthal-level word. Still, all in all, it was a good day of writing.
October 18, 2016: (468 words) Writing feels somehow absolving.
October 23, 2016: (35 words) From the moment I got up today, everything went wrong. Everything I write seems...bad.
October 24, 2016: (247 words)
October 31, 2016: (206 words) Skipped ahead in the plot. Alicia is in Pelanum, appealing to the King for help. The prose seems a little repetitive, but that should be ironed out in the editing process. (Last few days have been editing)
November 2, 2016: (115 words) Alicia is turned away, despite Pelanum owing her a favor.
November 3, 2016: (203 words) Great day of writing! Faerie feels sufficiently foreign and creepy, and we got to see the true natures of the Court. Alicia is put under a spell to make her fall asleep, as Titania cannot have her going after J & A.
November 5, 2016: (226 words)
Week of November 6, 2016: ( words) I'm now going to merely catalog my writing every week. It's very depressing to see a blank date and I think that I could maximize my work by doing it merely weekly.
Week of November 14, 2016: (1530 words) Jay is imprisoned by Langue Clotaire and add to fight in an arena against a boy his age, Odo. Jay kills him.
Week of November 21, 2016: (1626 words) Jay finally turns to dragon, flies off. They begin their journey to Navgur. I really enjoyed writing this part. It does seem a odd/sociopathic that Jay would not lament the innocent he killed, so that is a bad error.
Week of November 28, 2016: (1089 words) Jay falls off a waterfall walking up Idris, and he meets an old, sad man behind the waterfall. I am not sure yet of the man's identity or origin, but I hope that comes in time.
Week of December 5, 2016: (2024 words) The man is Idris, the personification of the Mountain itself. He is one of the more puissant beings I've introduced. There's something quite sad about that amount of power juxtaposed with Idris's helplessness. I really like him as a character. All the citizens of Navgur are dead when they get there.
Week of December 12, 2016: (1080 words) Exploration of the dead; editing of previous words. I had a reasonably productive week; however, I did have a couple of hundred words I had to delete for the sake of the plot.
Week of December 19, 2016: (0 words) Christmas guests, midterms, assorted stress.
Week of December 26, 2016: (0 words) Ditto
Week of January 2, 2017: (2097 words) Great week for writing! The protagonists squabble about the murders, and finally depart from Navgur.
Week of January 9, 2017: (1097 words) Journey from Navgur. It got rather boring, so I began to describe the setting more.
Week of January 16, 2017: (3530 words) Jay and Co. see four soldiers on the road at twilight. They are wary; rightfully so, as these are demons. I describe the demons (had to go through some truly disturbing material to find characterizations of demons I could adapt and use) and the fight began between protagonists and villains.
Week of January 23, 2017: (969 words) What have I done? I just killed all my protagonists except Jay, and even he is maimed, and at this point, I doubt his mental sanity.
Week of January 30, 2017: (2001 words) Jay drags himself through villages, none of which would give him water. He finally passes out and wakes up with people tending to his wound.
Week of February 6, 2017: (0 words) Editing.
Week of February 13, 2017: (453 words) Jay discovers the true purpose of his "saviors". Jay now owes them his life, and he will now be trained as an assassin. He remembers what happened to his fellows, particularly April, and grieves intensely.
Week of February 20, 2017: (2043 words) Again, what have I done? Jay just had his "snap" moment--i.e. He went insane. He saw a vision of April, and just when he thought everything would be fine again, he is jerked back to the dark truth of reality. He now calls himself Shard.
Week of February 27, 2017 (1007 words) Jay retrieves the box he is sent to the island for, and is told the specifics of his eventual mission: kill a king. It is essentially a suicide mission. He doesn't care.
Week of March 6, 2017 (1189 words) Jay's training with Teacher begins. I like ths part; it is relatively easy to write, but I sense a big hill coming at the end of this smooth road.
Week of March 13, 2017 (3470 words) More training, mental, physical, as well as some brainwashing.
Week of March 19, 2017 (1728 words) I detailed a very long conversation with Charbel, one of Jay's new peers (classmates?). I hope I can develop him well.
Week of March 26, 2017 (0 words) No words. I'm stuck.
Week of April 1, 2016 (0 words) Still stuck, but I've made great progress on my National History Day Project.
Week of April 8, 2017 (29 words) Wow. 29 whole words. In three weeks. You know how I said about the hill at the end of the level road? Well, this is it...
Week of April 15, 2017 (3040 words) 5 years later: Jay is embarking on his second Retrieval, to find his Sword.
Week of April 22, 2017 (0 words) Preparing my speech for Judgement Day (see ABOUT ME for details)
Week of April 29, 2017 (0 words) Preparing for Judgement Day! So nervous!!!!