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!
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Battling Resistance

“Most of us have two lives: the life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.”
— Steven Pressfield

I should have seen it coming.  Whenever I pursue ambitious goals, Resistance always shows up to test my resolve and challenge my dedication.  Anyone who has read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield knows exactly what I’m talking about.  Resistance is that universal force that acts against us whenever we pursue creative goals.  It has many clever ways in which to sabotage our artistic aspirations, including anxiety, self-doubt, procrastination and an endless variety of shiny-new distractions that keep us from doing our life’s work.  And let’s not forget rationalization.  Resistance has kept me from my writing for two weeks because of rationalization.  I’ve been sick with the flu and have been nursing a sports-related injury all week, which has zapped all my creative energy — or so I’ve rationalized.  It all sounds so convincing and rational when you’re sick and in pain, so I postponed all creative activity until I was feeling inspired again.  Very clever, that Resistance, whispering poisonous suggestions in my ear while I’m impressionably weak.  Well, I’m feeling better now so I’m pushing back against Resistance by doing something creative.  I took out a pencil and paper and sketched out a drawing of one of my characters. Take that, Resistance!

“The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the more Resistance we feel toward pursuing it.”
— Steven Pressfield

This blog post is my attempt to get back on track with my ROW80 (Round 1) goals.  I’ve started reading The War of Art again for encouragement.  For inspiration, I re-read one of my favorite short-stories, Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard.  I’m starting to get back into the flow of my pulp-serials again and will have a lot more to say about them in my next post.

“The Warrior and the Artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day.”
— Steven Pressfield

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

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