My Project Update

The first week of ROW80 (Round 2) has been relatively productive.  My Goal for the “Spring Round” is to write an 80,000-word heroic fantasy novel set withing my “sword & sorcery” story-world.  During the month of April, I will be planning out my novel (outlining, world-building, character development, etc.).  In May and June, I will be writing and editing my novel.  I have set a self-imposed deadline of June 30th for completion.  As I have stated in my previous post, I’m re-imagining one of my short-story ideas so that it better fits into a full-length novel (expanded scope, increased stakes, character-arc, subplot, etc.).  I like the original premise, I just want to make it more epic.

I’ve created a new Scrivener file and named it “Spring Project”.  I’ve imported my original short-story into the file, but I’ll probably only use it as reference and inspiration.  Essentially, I’ll be starting from scratch with this project.  This past week, I’ve been mostly working on the main characters.  This includes the Hero, the Confidant, the Mentor, the Love Interest, the Villain, and the Villain’s Henchman.  These six characters will comprise most of my story, so I’m developing them first.  I’ll add more cast members later as needed.  I’ll be working on my Villain’s Plan next week because his actions set the story in motion.  Obviously, the Hero’s Goal will be to stop the Villain’s Plan, but I need to work on his desires and flaws so that I can develop his character arc.  In order to add complexity to the Hero’s Goal, I’ll be adding a Love Interest subplot, increasing the stakes of whether he succeeds or fails.  Defeating the Villain will be his physical goal, securing the love of his Love Interest will be his emotional goal, and overcoming his flaw to reach his potential will be his spiritual goal.  Weaving these three goals (physical, emotional, spiritual) into a plot will be challenging, but rewarding.

Next week, I’ll be fleshing out my characters further with base archetypes and personalities.  I’ll also chart the various story-threads so that they come together in the Grand Finale.  That’s a lot of work for next week.  I work the typical 40-hour work-week, so I only have a couple of hours in the evening to work on my project.  Since my weekends are open, I’ve decided to check-in here every Sunday with a “Weekly Update” of my project’s progress.  Wednesday check-ins are optional for me because I want to focus my limited time and energy on my project during the work-week.  I’ll see ya’ll on Sunday.

That’s all for now.  Keep the Fire Burning!
Please visit the other writers in the ROW80 Community…

My "Spring Round" Goals

The second round of ROW80 is finally here!  I’ve been looking forward to getting this 80-day writing challenge started again.  ROW80 is the only writing challenge that I’ve tried that has kept me consistently writing.  Writing to this blog twice a week helps me clarify my writing goals, which forces me to prioritize my time so that I can implement all the actionable steps necessary to accomplish that goal.  It has taught me that publishing words to a deadline is a habit that all authors must acquire.  Putting my intentions here keeps me accountable to myself and the world.  It forces me to be disciplined and consistent.  Most of my most productive writing has come while participating in the ROW80 challenge.  It is my intention to return to that level of production during the next 80 days.

Goals for ROW80 (Round 2)
My goal for the “Spring Round” of ROW80 is to write a heroic fantasy novel set within my “sword & sorcery” story-world.  During this 80 day writing challenge, I plan on writing approximately 80,000 words toward my novel (averaging 1,000 words per day).  I am re-imagining one of my short stories, expanding it into a full-length novel.  In order to do that, I will have to expand the scope and up the stakes, intensify the opposition, add a character-arc, and weave-in a subplot with a possible love interest.  Essentially, I’m starting from scratch with an old idea, creating an “origins story” for one of my characters.  I am concurrently participating in Camp NaNoWriMo during the the month of April, where I will be brainstorming, world-building and plotting the basic story-structure of my novel.   Here is my Camper Profile if you want to follow my progress there.  After April, I will further develop and refine my story during the remainder of the 80-day challenge.

“When writing a first draft I remind myself that I’m simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.”
— Shannon Hale

That’s all for now.  Keep the Fire Burning!
Please visit the other writers in the ROW80 Community…

My "Spring Round" Goals

My goal for the “Spring Round” of ROW80 is to write a heroic fantasy novel set within my “Sword & Sorcery” story-world.  When finished, this novel will be approximately 80,000 words, but for this 80-day challenge, my goal is to keep the first draft to 60,000 words (750 words a day — ambitious but achievable).  This will help me focus on the main storyline first.  Once I have the main storyline roughed-out, I can weave in the various subplots that support the main storyline in a second-draft, which I figure will add about 20,000 words to the final manuscript.  I have a relatively structured outline going into this round, with all the major story-events and plot-points arranged into a somewhat coherent chronological order.  This approach is a much-needed improvement from previous goals, where I was working on several story-ideas at one time, including my fall-back position of world-building.  And even though this has provided me with most of my story-ideas so far, it has yet to produce a finished manuscript.  I hope to change that this round with a more-focused intention of one — and only one — story project.

I chose this story idea from my many story-candidates because it was the most developed, especially since it has an elaborate “villain’s plan”.  Each chapter has specific scene goals and set-pieces, with designated word-count goals to keep the entire three-act structure in balance.  On the first pass, I’ll be concentrating on roughing-out the main storyline, especially the hero and villain story-threads.  I have a pretty good idea how I want the story to end, so I’ll probably start choreographing my “climatic moment” first and work my way backwards into the “black moment” so that my hero goes into the third act determined and focused on the villain’s destruction, leading to a final conflict that is emotionally satisfying to the reader.  Once I have a solid ending, I can work myself backwards to the story’s beginning, which has the hero in the opposite state of his character-arc from the ending.  I’ll discuss my outlining process further in future posts.  Just know that I have a plan this time and I’m going to attempt to follow that plan.

Also, I have set up a structured writing schedule for myself that I think will keep me in the habit of writing consistently each day.  I will be doing a comprehensive, week-in-review weekend-wrap-up style check-in about my progress on Sundays, but the mid-week Wednesday check-ins, at this point, will be optional for me this round.  The mid-week check-ins have been a stumbling point for me in the past and, because of that, I want to set myself up for success this round.  So for now, mid-week check-ins for me are optional.  That may change later, depending on whether I have something exciting to say or whether my limited weekday time permits, but because I work forty-hours a week during the weekdays, I have limited time to write in the evenings and want to spend that time story-crafting instead of blogging.  I’ll make up for it on the weekend when I have a week’s worth of subject matter and progress to report.  Anyway, that’s the plan.  I have my project file set up and ready to go.  Until next week…

Please visit the other writers in the ROW80 Community.
Keep the Fire Burning!

January Assessment

One-twelfth of 2016 is already in the books; eleven-twelfths remain.  Being the last day of January, it’s time for my writing-progress assessment of this past month.  Each month, I plan on reviewing my writing-progress for that month so that I can stay on track with my yearly writing goals, as well as the quarterly goals for each round of ROW80.  For me, I’m far more likely to keep my new year’s resolutions if I renew my commitment to them each month.  A fire needs constant stoking.

The new year always starts off with quiet contemplation of the previous year and renewed hope for the next.  As you can see, I’ve listed all my writing goals for 2016 on the right-hand column on this page.  These are my ideals that I hope live up to this year.  For my ROW80 (Round 1) goals, I chose to work on my four novella-sized pulp-serials that I’ve been developing.  Each of these four serials will star one of my established heroes.  My hope is to lay the foundation with these characters so that I can develop multiple adventures for each of them, much like Robert E. Howard did with Conan the Barbarian and Solomon Kane (my characters will be completely different, of course).  So far, all I have been working with are base hero-archetypes.  These nameless characters are in the rawest stages of development right now, but I have a vague idea of each of their multiple adventures.  My goal for January was to develop these four characters further and to outline simple stories for each of them so that I could start writing vigorously during February and March.  That was the plan for January.

The first ten days of January were golden.  I was excited about my writing goals and was making some significant progress.  I was re-reading and researching many of my favorite pulp-serials, studying their basic story structure.  I created individual project folders for my four characters, each with their own characters, villains, settings and situations.  Everything was coming along nicely until I hit a couple of setbacks.  A nasty bout of the flu and a sports-related injury put my writing ambitions on hold.  By the time I was feeling better, two weeks had gone by and I struggled to get my momentum back.  I was in a creative funk.  The remainder of the month has been me trying to re-start my writing routine again.  To do that, I had to re-establish discipline and accountability back into my life.

Going into February, I’m going to continue developing of my four pulp-serials.  My characters and stories are still very vague and need a lot of work, but I’m starting to get a feel for them again.  I can almost visualize a few of them and have a few ideas for a couple of story adventures.  If I need to re-calibrate some of my goals for this round, I'll adjust them over the next few weeks.  The important thing for me is that I’m excited about the project again.  A new month is a new beginning, which blows a gentle breeze over the dying embers of my goals and reignites my passion for my story-world.  Like I said, a fire needs constant stoking.

Keep the Fire Burning!
Please visit the other writers in the ROW80 Community...

My “Core Four”

For the foreseeable future, I’m going to be focusing my energy and passion into developing my four pulp-serials, which I call my “Core Four.”  Each individual “sword & sorcery” series will be modeled after the pulp-magazine serialized-adventures that were popular in the 1930’s.  I hope to emulate the style and tone of the great pulp-master, Robert E. Howard, founder of the “sword & sorcery” fantasy genre and creator of such fantasy legends as Conan the Barbarian and Solomon Kane.  I’ve been re-reading many of his pulp-serials in order to study their basic story structure.  Most of stories were written for the pulp-magazine, Weird Tales, where his stories ranged from ten-thousand to twenty-thousand words, and were meant to be read in one sitting.  They featured an established semi-competent hero, a far-superior opponent, and a minimal cast of extras (no subplots).  The story usually starts with fast-paced action (in medias res) and increases in intensity as the hero actively pursues an emotionally important goal.   He encounters relentless opposition, faces seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and has major setbacks towards his goals.  Yet, at the end, through dogged-determination and innate-skill, he cleverly outwits and defeats his opponents, claims his prize and saves the the girl, all in one emotionally-satisfying climactic scene.  I been wanting to write these pulp-serials for a long time now, so while I’m still learning how to write (and finish) a story, I might as well have some fun writing action-adventure.  I have four distinctive hero-archetypes that I hope to develop and explore further.

My “Core Four”
These are the base hero-archetypes that I want to build personalities upon.  These nameless characters are in the rawest stage of development and will evolve over time.  For now, here are the symbolic representations I have of them so far.   The hero-archetype descriptions below come from Heroes & Heroines; Sixteen Master Archetypes by Tami D. Cowden, which I’ve previously referenced here.  Note: A [bracketed word] means that the idea is conceptual at this point, or that it is yet unnamed.

Pulp-Serial 1: the [Warrior] Serial
Hero Archetype: the “Warrior” and the “Lost Soul” combined

Pulp-Serial 2: the [Rogue] Serial
Hero Archetype: the “Swashbuckler” and the “Bad Boy” combined

Pulp-Serial 3: the [Huntress] Serial
Heroine Archetype: the “Boss”

Pulp-Serial 4: the [Sorceress] Serial
Heroine Archetype: the “Crusader”

I’ll explain more about these characters and some story-ideas I have for them in my next ROW80 post.  Until then, please visit the other writers in the ROW80 Community.
Keep the Fire Burning!

Frolicking through Fantasy-Land

Ah yes — the first mid-week check-in of ROW80.  I remember these.  Always a challenge for me.  The forty-hour work-week at a “regular job” will drain the creative life out of you if you let it.  So, like any heroic protagonist would do, I adapt to the situation and muscle my way through the first obstacle of the quest.  I’ve found that a twenty-minute power-nap, a cool-water face-splash and total audio-immersion of Pure Arctic Wind, usually gives me the much-needed “second-wind” that I need in the evening to write during a work-week.  I would much rather be writing in the mornings though, because that’s the time when my mind is the most creative.  I’ve noticed that when I’m at work, somewhere around mid-morning when that large cup of coffee is just starting to kick-in, my obnoxiously-perky Muse will show up in my imagination wanting me to frolic with her across the imaginary landscape of our story-world.  So, of course, I accept her invitation and we skip off into daydream-land as my body stays behind and goes through the motions of my work-routine like an automaton on autopilot.  Essentially, my body is “working” while my mind is “playing” (Hey — they can enslave my body, but they can’t enslave my mind — Bwahahaha!).

I’ve got a pretty good idea of what I want to accomplish during ROW80 (Round 1).  Like I’ve stated previously, my goal for this round is to write four novellas within my “Sword & Sorcery” universe, each of which will be approximately 20,000 words apiece.  For the past several days, I’ve been going through all my story-idea file-folders looking for story-candidates.  Through much consideration, and consultation with my Muse, I’ve chosen the four story-candidates that I feel have the best potential.  I’ll explain my reasoning for these decisions and discuss each of these story-candidates in more detail this weekend.  There it is again — work-week time-constraints — limiting my time to write.  Oh well, such is the life of an aspiring author.  At least I have the weekends to write.

That’s all for now.  Keep the Fire Burning!
Please visit the other writers in the ROW80 Community...

My “Winter Round” Goals

Over this past year, I’ve learned a lot about my writing habits and style.  Being a goal-orientated person, I’m always trying to set goals for myself that are both workable and achievable.  The challenge in setting these goals is that they must coincide with my personal writing-style and work-process.  There are two factors that contribute to this challenge; the first being my chaotic writing process and the second being my capricious Muse.

First, let’s start with my chaotic writing process.  Being a visual artist, I approach writing a novel like I would painting a landscape; broad-strokes across the entire canvas, blocking-in all the shapes so I can see the whole picture.  Then, when I’m satisfied with the composition, I go back in to add the fine detail.  That’s how I approach novel-writing as well; loosely blocking-in plots, swapping out characters, and altering scenes and settings until I am satisfied with the general structure of the story.  Then, I make consecutive passes at the story to fill in the details, building upon the layers beneath.  I’m constantly jumping around, trying to balance the story as a whole.  That’s my chaotic writing process so, knowing this, I must calibrate my goals accordingly.

My capricious Muse is an all-together different kind of challenge.  Let me preface this by saying that when my Muse and I are attuned to each other’s frequency, magic happens.  I have many file-folders full of wonderful story-ideas due to our imaginations being synchronized.  That being said, my Muse is unpredictable and fickle.  She has trouble staying focused on just one story at a time.  Often times, she’s focusing on a story that is unrelated to what I think I should be working on.  Or she has me chasing off into the wilderness after new plot-bunnies (Muse Gone Wild).  Mostly, I just go with the flow and fill-up those file-folders.  That’s great and all, but at some point I’m going to need her to stay focused long enough to finish one of these story-ideas.  I’ve found that in order to accommodate the mood spectrum of my Muse, I must always have several different stories going at once.  Again, knowing this, I must calibrate my goals accordingly.  With that in mind, here are my goals for ROW80 (Round 1)…

Goals for ROW80 (Round 1)
My goal for the “Winter Round” of ROW80 is to write four novellas within my “Sword & Sorcery” universe.  Each novella will be approximately 20,000 words apiece, for a total of 80,000 words.  Each novella will be written simultaneously (again, alternating back-and-forth to accommodate my Muse), and each will vary in tone, mood, and style.  Essentially, I have given my Muse four different "sandboxes" to play in, each with its own set of "toys" (characters, etc.).  I have four story-candidates in mind and will be outlining and plotting them during the month of January.  In February and March, I will be focused on word-counts and getting these stories to completion.  I figure that one or two of these stories will probably take precedence over the others and will become my lead focus.  Again, I’m at the mercy of my Muse’s mercurial whims.  But, with this flexible method, I figure that at least one of these stories will catch her fancy to completion.  If conditions change, I’ll refine and update my goals.

Keep the Fire Burning!
Please visit the other writers in the ROW80 Community…

Here are my Writing Goals for 2016

A Writer’s Resolution for 2016

For many people, New Year’s Eve is a time to gather with friends and loved ones, usually at small parties or amongst festive crowds, to celebrate the passing of one year with the beginning of another.  And while I outwardly enjoy the social interactions of this holiday, the introverted part of me is always looking for an opportunity to slip away from the masses so that I can be alone with my thoughts in quiet contemplation.  For me, the New Year is one of those life-milestones where I stop to measure and evaluate myself at each particular stage of my life.  It’s a time where I celebrate my accomplishments and acknowledge my failures, so that I can bring what I’ve learned forward into my future.  It’s a time where I rekindle those deep-rooted dreams and aspirations; those life-goals that must be accomplished if I’m to have a fulfilled life that is free from regret.  It’s a time where I strive to reach my full potential, to live an impactful life, and to become the best-version of my true-self.  And with each passing life-milestone, one year into the next, the time I have left in which to actualize these life-goals becomes more and more dear to me.  And so, as I’ve done each year at this time, I retreat within myself so that I may reflect on my past and commit to my future.

Most of my resolutions focus on improving my body, spirit, and mind.  Here, in my writer’s blog, I'll be focusing on my writing goals and my aspirations to become a prolific author.  I will be referring to these goals throughout the year and will break each goal down into actionable steps in future blog posts.  For now, these are my simplified writing goals for 2016:

• I resolve to write everyday, whether I’m inspired or not.
• I resolve to finish that manuscript that I started last year.
• I resolve to finish every story that I start from this moment forward.
• I resolve to participate in every ROW80 this year and to document my progress.
• I resolve to hold myself accountable by posting to this blog twice a week.
• I resolve to help other writers as we journey along similar paths.
• I resolve to read at least one genre fiction book each month.
• I resolve to improve my knowledge by reading novel-crafting books.
• I resolve to write, revise, edit and publish my first short-story this year.
• I resolve to design a few book covers for my novels.
• I resolve to create an official author website.
• I resolve to write a business plan for my author / entrepreneur career.

Remember that a resolution is a determined decision to solve to a problem.  By definition, to “resolve” is to "solve again," so there is no failure as long as you’re trying to find a solution.  If you would like to create your own writer's resolution, I recommend reading JA Konrath’s annual article on New Year’s Resolutions for Writers.  

The next round of "A Round of Words in 80 Days" starts on January, 4th 2016.  If anyone is interested in participating in this quarterly writing challenge, sign-up now.  All writers are welcome.  Even if you've gotten a late start, you can jump into the round at any time.  I'll be posting a more in-depth account of my ROW80 (Round 1) goals on Monday.

Keep the Fire Burning!
Please visit the other writers in the ROW80 Community…