Progress Report Thursday

Well, hello Thursday.

I completely forgot about you the last time. And it wasn't like the time before that, when there wasn't any progress to report about. Although I probably won't hit the deadline (I know! A shock!) I am making progress. I've written at least six more chapters and the ending is clearer once again. It's just around the corner... But I think I said that the last time.

There are changes in The Poisoned Apple. I'm bringing in characters that weren't there from the beginning and having them stay around for the entire time. There's a mystery subplot in the story that involves a murder, but I found it strange that a few of the characters came across the body yet it doesn't feel like a big deal to anyone. Plus, I think it's derailing much of the plot so I changed it a bit.

I'm also discovering a few new things about my characters, things I thought my character sheet told me. It's funny that when you actually start writing about them you learn new things, like what their personalities are really like.

I'm also finding out that I've been avoiding writing/author blogs. I think it's because, to me, a lot of it feels repetitive: How to write, how not to write; what to put in a query letter, blah, blah, blah. It's starting to get boring. Not that I don't enjoy reading them, I just need a break. Which means that I'm probably missing out on some good things :)

Progress Report Thursday

To keep my blog from becoming too inactive, I think I'll do a progress report (high school term!) every Thursday. Why Thursday? Because I've decided to do it today and today is Thursday and if I wait to do it tomorrow or some other day, then the procrastinator demon inside of me will make sure I won't do it at all.






See that, Invisible Reader(s)? 409 pages. 205,488 words (I know you're not supposed to start sentences with numbers written numerically but I really don't care at the moment). And I have at least fifteen more chapters to go. I think most writers just write their stories or something, without an outline. But I love outlines and keeping my chapters separate. Only a few days ago did I put them all in one file. I told myself that I wouldn't do this until I was finished. But I wanted to see now how long the story was going to be. My goal, as I've said before, is to whittle this manuscript down into a range of 90,000 to 100,000 words.

So, I'm not panicking.

Not yet.

But yes, progress is still going (hence this post). I think I can finish off another chapter today. And I think for once, by the end of the month I will finally have a completed draft of this damn story.

Twenty-Two Day Challenge

Well, I'm not going to meet my self-imposed deadline for The Poisoned Apple. So, I'm extending it to December 31st. But I'm also going to see if I can finish it in twenty-two days, which means the other deadline is for December 9th. It honestly took me a little over a month to finish the last chapter. That's ridiculous. But I know I can write it. There's not much left.

And speaking of writing. I don't have anything for NaNoWriMo. I'm too lazy to upload anything. Maybe I should upload what I just finished writing. I think I will.

I really have nothing to say today. Hopefully, by the time of my next post, the first draft of The Poisoned Apple will be finished.

Dangers of Starting a New Book + Excerpt

Yesterday, instead of working on The Girl Who Ate the Poisoned Apple, I started writing on a new story, Summer Fun That Never Ended (hooray for long titles!). I started writing it because my brother was using my computer and, instead of simply working on The Poisoned Apple and writing it down on notebook paper, I decided to write Summer Fun. I only got far in writing on one sheet of notebook paper- back and front. I wonder how much it is on the computer. Anyways, it's a bit of a danger 'cause that's usually the sign of me wanting to start another story. I'm trying not to do that now. Lucky for me, I've been working off and on on The Poisoned Apple for a year now, so the characters are firmly in my head. They're begging me to finish the story and I'm looking forward to writing about them. I'm on chapter fourteen now. It's a flashback chapter for two of my vampires (when they were human). I'm almost done with it.

I decided to post an excerpt from The Poisoned Apple. Don't know why sense I'm the only one reading this blog XD. It's from the first chapter, "The House of the Uninvited"; a chapter that might have to be chopped into two or at least get rid of the heavy exposition in some parts. Here it is, in its unedited glory:

Rae had not cried at her grandmother's funeral; not that anyone had noticed.
Regardless, there had been enough tears to pass around. Her grandmother's friends cried. Sparks shed tears from one eye; the other having long gone missing. Opal White had cried the loudest, as was expected. The fact that she had worn a slightly more formal version of her usual attire- she wore outfits of clashing animal prints and bespectacled, gaudy sunglasses -made her cries even more noticeable. Prudish yet courteous Mr. Rogers, who doubled as the deceased woman's attorney, wept. Even the sensible and analytical Arthur Pryor had cried; though, the constant glares on his thick, bifocal glasses had made it difficult to tell.

That's all folks. Back to writing... or surfing the internet...

Wonderwoman

I am Wonder Woman. I finished another chapter today. It's the shortest one. They've been getting shorter. My longest chapter is 30 + pages (in the very first draft it was at 40 pages). The problem with that chapter was that I was writing from the point when one of my characters was a few weeks old until the time of their death. I'm gonna shorten it some more so that it only focuses on the short period of time before his and his brother's deaths. I think this will also make the characters more engaging (can't think of a better word).

But I think why my chapters feel so shorter now (i.e. 6 - 13 pages) is that I need to do research, so I'm leaving things out. The chapter I just finished was supposed to have a conversation about souls. It does have one, but it doesn't feel convincing. I want to read up on people's different views about souls. The chapter before that dealt with rehab.

But of course you're not supposed to look at page number, only word count.

Anyways, signing off.

Randomness: My nephew (7 years old) sees a copy of Dead Until Dark on my bed (I've never finished reading it but was using it to cover my drink). His response:

"Oh my God. Another vampire book?"

Hungry Models Eat Plot Holes

I wonder how published authors feel when they read a copy of their newly printed book-- or even when they're doing other things --and it hits them; there's a major plot hole in the story. What do they do? Do they bring it up, even though it's probably too late, or do they stay mum about it? What if a reader points it out?

It doesn't have to necessarily be a plot hole; it could be something that they realized wouldn't work or could work. For instance, I found two incidences of possible "plot holes" in my growing manuscript. Don't want to say what they are, but one was more of something that I realized probably wouldn't make sense and the other I could use to help foreshadowing. That probably didn't make much sense? XD

Anyways, I've finally got my hands on The Hunger Games, as well as its sequel Catching Fire. I haven't gotten far in the first book, yet but what I'm reading is really good. I've already got a soft spot for Peeta, the baker's son, as well as Rue who I already know is going to die in Katniss-- the protagonist --arms. I'll probably cry. But I've read that they're going to make it into a movie. I don't mind who plays Katniss, but I'm a bit put off with the suggestions for Rue; she has dark brown skin and hair, so a minority actress could play her (black, Hispanic, Indian, etc.). But people seem to forget that. It's like it's going to be another The Last Airbender. Anyways, great book. It's kind of my treat for getting me to write more.

And I'm watching the premiere of America's Next Top Model. They upped the stakes; this time around, they switched from a spread in Seventeen Magazine to one in Italian Vogue. I'm no fashionista, so I don't know how big of an improvement (if any) it is. In any case, how many people audition for the show? Every cycle, there's always "returns" to the show; people who auditioned and/or made it and now return for that season. Whatever, I'm rooting for the weird one, as I always do.

Book Cover

This is embarrassing. Found this in my file. This was from when I was into creating fake book covers. This was created when the title of my story was Boys Will Be Vampires. Yes, I'm writing a story about vampires, but it's not a paranormal romance nor is it a thriller/horror; it's a slice of life story. Anyways, I changed the title because it sounded like a comedy and the story became melancholy and nostalgic (to which I changed the title to The Place Where You Used to Live to finally The Girl Who Ate the Poisoned Apple).

I thought the cover was the shit back then. Now looking at it, it's very feminine; I don't know any guy that would pick this one up. And the spelling on the back is bad; I misspelled "sociable" and worse, the character's last name (which I'm thinking about changing). Plus, the summary is stupid.

Anyways... time to write.

Project: Poisoned Apple due November 30, 2010