Story idea

http://www.ghosttheory.com/2012/01/12/woman-claims-she-is-from-a-parallel-universe

Stellar Gift of Death Post 144

Stellar Gift of Death 2011 Revision

Progress Bar from Writertopia

METRICS
New Words: 432
Chapter Eighteen total words: 2064
Total words for the new draft: 75,930
What I hate: I have felt like crap for the past two days and I really don’t know why.
The Good: Lots of words today (compared to my progress this year) and I had enough energy to work on Forget the Sun.
The Bad: The feeling like crap for the past two days means that this is the first day I’ve worked on anything since Monday. This is no way to finish projects. :p
Fave line: “I was going to duck, guys!”
What I'm looking forward to: Charting uncharted territory. I have a fight scene coming up, but I’m going to outline in the rough draft before expanding it.
What I'm not looking forward to: I have a lot of uncharted territory between me and “the end.”

Stellar Gift of Death Post 143

Stellar Gift of Death 2011 Revision

Progress Bar from Writertopia

METRICS
New Words: 536
Chapter Eighteen total words: 1632
Total words for the new draft: 75,498
What I hate: I have to go back to work tomorrow.
The Good: I finally got into the confrontation of the scene.
The Bad: Sometimes I think I have ADD. I couldn’t settle down to any writing until today.
Fave line: “And I thought you’d be more intimidating. The thing of nightmares, since you killed eighteen sentients.”
What I'm looking forward to: Charting uncharted territory. I have a fight scene coming up, but I’m going to outline in the rough draft before expanding it.
What I'm not looking forward to: I have a lot of uncharted territory between me and “the end.”

Stellar Gift of Death Post 142

Stellar Gift of Death 2011 Revision

Progress Bar from Writertopia

METRICS
New Words: 231
Chapter Eighteen total words: 1096
Total words for the new draft: 74,962
What I hate: Contacts that have gotten too old. Luckily, my appointment today is to get new ones.
The Good: Finished the first scene of Chapter Eighteen.
The Bad: My daily word count has dropped and I would love for it to pick up a hair over the weekend.
Fave line: “So impatient. Give me time to type.”
What I'm looking forward to: Charting uncharted territory. I have a fight scene coming up, but I’m going to outline in the rough draft before expanding it.
What I'm not looking forward to: I have a lot of uncharted territory between me and “the end.”

2012 Project Post 01

My friend Mez has organized an edit your novel project for the entire year of 2012. This has become the new hang-up area for me and I thought I’d be done with Stellar Gift of Death (You can stop laughing now, I’ve made it to Chapter Eighteen.), so I signed up.

The final steps before you are ready to start are:

1. Choose what you are working on, both the revision and the new project (if you haven’t already done so!)
2. Set up folders, files, plotting cards, notebooks, whatever you need when you are writing and revising.
3. Start thinking and planning, but don’t go crazy – you need slow, sustained progress. Don’t burn out before you’ve even started.

Project 2012: … and a Plan (with a capital P)

I was supposed to write this post between Christmas and New Year’s and didn’t get to it until now. Somehow I doubt #3 will be that big of a problem.

Choose what you are working on, both the revision and the new project (if you haven’t already done so!) The new project i.e. what you are writing to get a first draft is easy Stellar Gift of Death. When I finish it, I have a list of what to pick up next. I have a list of what to revise too, but everything on it is a short story. Getting off that list—though I’m hoping to cover those stories too working through this project—there’s the Hyrueliana (fanfiction edit which only has a few scenes left to write) and Night Storm: Forget the Sun (an experimental hypertext novel set in an universe where a vampire becomes a superhero). I want a fresh start, so Forget the Sun it is.

The binders, folder, and notebook filled with the previous version and notes for new ideas I had are sitting out on my desk. The computer files are now on my USB drive. There’s more than enough material to work with, given the nature of the hypertext novel.

More importantly, how am I going to structure my day to do this and write Stellar Gift of Death? I’ve done editing at the paying job and it is much harder than writing first draft. Plus the binder is a full two-inch monstrosity that I have no desire to haul to the paying job every day. So 2012 Project is a home project. Luckily, I have more time at now since I changed my paying job hours and I’m not nearly as brain-dead when I get home.

That said, I have no idea how much I’ll get done this first week. My FSA renewed and I promptly filled the week with medical appointments that I have put off for a few months. :p

Stellar Gift of Death Post 141

Stellar Gift of Death 2011 Revision

Progress Bar from Writertopia

METRICS
New Words: 328
Chapter Eighteen total words: 865
Total words for the new draft: 74,731
What I hate: I have to figure out how long I should stay in Baton Rouge after my chiropractic appointments again.
The Good: The scene outline works! Granted, I didn’t get much typed, but writing during supper went super smoothly.
The Bad: I ended up spending too much time in traffic and I have another after-work appointment tomorrow night.
Fave line: Zy bit down on her bottom lip to keep from saying anything out loud, while her brain jumped between “gotcha!” and “we can’t be this lucky.”
What I'm looking forward to: Charting uncharted territory. I have a fight scene coming up, but I’m going to outline in the rough draft before expanding it.
What I'm not looking forward to: I have a lot of uncharted territory between me and “the end.”

Stellar Gift of Death Post 140

Stellar Gift of Death 2011 Revision

Progress Bar from Writertopia

METRICS
New Words: 255
Chapter Eighteen total words: 537
Total words for the new draft: 74,403
What I hate: I never should have told my mother I’m still writing. It has never been important to her so she has no problem keeping me at her house for hours after I get home from work.
The Good: I read Prentenious Title: How I Went From Writing 2000 words a day to 10000 Words a Day. I don’t expect that amount of results, but her observations on time, excitement, and using a scene outline will help me get through the scenes when I feel like I’m floundering.
The Bad: I’m floundering right now.
Fave line: “I don’t want to calculate the odds out of one thousand six hundred seventy spaceport docks limited to passenger travel of just how many are big enough.”
What I'm looking forward to: Charting uncharted territory. I have a fight scene coming up, but I’m going to outline in the rough draft before expanding it.
What I'm not looking forward to: I have a lot of uncharted territory between me and “the end.”

My Year in Fiction 2011

Word Count for 2011

Progress Bar from Writertopia

I do like how this forces me to examine the results I made in the previous year. Often I surprise myself.

Stories I finished:

"Words of Parting" - 4966 words, the only original story I finished all year. I submitted it to the Triangulation contest, but it wasn't selected for publication.

"Something in the Air - 2673 words for Crossover Challenge #4. It's a brief glimpse of Glitch and Az in Kansas from the sequel to Dragons and Ninjas. If I participate in more of these challenges, I may get the major scenes of this story written before I actually write the story.

"Representing the O.Z." - 198 words written for tm_challenge Round 20. I couldn't resist answering the challenge with a little bit staring the Mystic Man and my OC Franklin.

Tin Man/Medical Investigation: Alchemy - 33,804 words for the annual BDPT. This story had been banging around my head for a while, so I made it fit into the prompts to help my team win, and then the results were never tallied!

I wrote 107,062 fictional words in 2011, which leads to a new section in this meme. Stories I didn't finish:

Untitled steampunk mystery - 434 words. I have the characters, setting, and plot, but it hasn't gelled completely yet. I typed up an opening scene and haven't gotten back to it.

Tin Man: Prince of the Outer Zone - 8974 words are done in this sequel to Tine Man: Pirates of the Nonestic. I thought turning to this story on Mondays (which are brutal days to write on with the paying job) would give me a boost when I turned back to Stellar Gift of Death. I didn't really see a boost, but I have typed the first two chapters now.

Stellar Gift of Death - I wrote 56,013 words in 2011, giving this story a total word count of 74,148. I have the beat sheet and it works. I have characters who I understand. So I think my brain, Perfect Girl, and the Fear Monger are latching onto what I don't know about the setting and the universe to freeze up the process. In 2012, I will have to break past that.

My favorite story this year: Alchemy. I was a tad bit nervous about the Medical Investigation half, but everyone who has read it has enjoyed it.

Story most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: "Something in the Air" but I really don't blame anyone. I think it needs the context of the rest of the story.

Most fun story: "Representing the O.Z."

Stories I wrote that I never thought I'd write: "Words of Parting" I didn't think this part of Mealte's back story could work as a separate story. It needs revising, but the core holds up.

Hardest story to write: Stellar, otherwise I'd be finished with it!

Biggest disappointment: I only typed 158 days out of 365. Granted some of the remaining 207 days were spent on rough drafts, plotting, or unmeasurable world building stuff, but that still leaves plenty when I didn't do any of that.

Biggest surprise: Miles/Az in Alchemy. With as much brainstorming I did on that story, it didn't develop until I started writing.

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would, less, or about what you predicted? I got really close to the total number of fictional words I wanted to write 182,500, 59% complete. But I had a goal of not writing fanfiction until I finished four original stories and I only finished one. And still wrote three fanfics!

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them? I meant to submit more and promptly forgot all about doing that.

Did you meet last years' goals? Write 182,500 fictional words between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2011

• Specific: Write at least 500 words every day - Considering I only have 158 days when what I wrote was countable, I'm mildly impressed I got to 107,062 words.
• Measurable: Post the weekly total every Saturday at DUF using the Writertopia progress bar - I've been consistent with the posting.
  • Keep track of daily progress with a marathon spreadsheet - I've been consistent with this posting too.
• Action-oriented: Finish Stellar Gift of Death by March 20, 2011 - nope.
  • Finish a 5000-word short story for Triangulation submission by March 31, 2011 - yes.
  • Finish steampunk mystery - nope.
  • Finish another story in the Piper of Shadows universe - nope.
  • Finish the "Blue Man on the Porch" - nope.
• Realistic: Finish four original stories before any fanfiction - nope.
• Trackable/Time-based: Each story has a marathon tracker of its own, and metrics are posted daily at DUF - yeah, I think tracking is now a habit.

Submit enough stories to get rid of the anxiety over it

• Specific: Submit to six markets by Dec. 31, 2011 - I submitted to two markets and neither was accepted.
• Measurable: Find a tracking method that I can update without fuss. - I found Sonar3, which I like for as little as I have used it.
• Action-oriented: Look for 12 markets - didn't do.
• Realistic: Send out at least one story in February, April, June, August, October, and December - didn't do.
  • Have conversations with the Fear Monger; it helps - didn't do.
• Trackable/Time-based: Honestly note the anxiety over each submission on tracking method - Sonar3 lets me do this; I just banished the whole goal of submissions out of my mind.

Do you have any goals for the coming year?

Fiction Writing

• Specific: Finish Stellar Gift of Death
  • Edit "Words of Parting"
  • Edit "Blue Man on the Porch"
  • World building for the steampunk mystery
  • World building for Piper of Shadows universe
  • World building for Zy's universe
  • Edit Forget the Sun for Mez's 2012 project.
  • Write 2000 words a week and pick out a new project once Stellar is finished.
• Measurable: Post the weekly total at DUF using the Writertopia progress bar.
• Action-oriented: Dedicate at least 30 minutes on a writing project every day.
• Realistic: Write what I feel like I can't not write.
• Trackable: Each story has a marathon tracker of its own, and metrics are posted every day at DUF.

Submitting more stories

• Specific: Submit to three markets.
• Measurable: Enter submissions into Sonar 3
• Action-oriented: Look for 12 markets.
• Realistic: Look for email markets.
• Trackable: Note how anxious I am about the submission in Sonar3.