Write a book this year

[GlumyGloomer]

I started back around February I think, and hoping to finish the first draft before the end of the year.
Anyone else fancy a chat/support thread?

Morning all. After being stuck for ages I was finally able to wrap friday up. Saturday is going to be an interesting one, as it introduces some extended family members whom I've barely thought about. First though I must once more do battle with my old nemesis, geography....
How is everyone else doing?

Morning @GlumyGloomer. It's really daunting when you move onto a new bit that you haven't got much of a clue about yet - hope it goes well! I'm doing ok, pushing on with getting "what happens" down, but realised that my antagonist is not nearly scary enough, and still doesn't have a name.

Slowly, very slowly here. Dd has finished reception for the summer so nap time writing isn't happening and by the time the small people are in bed I've lost the will to live, let alone write 😂. But, I will get there......eventually!

Morning all!

How’s everyone getting on?

@GlumyGloomer that feeling of being stuck but then wrapping it up and moving on to new characters can be nerve racking but exciting too! Let your imagination go and don’t think about it too much, sometimes you can surprise yourself. Hope it’s going ok for you.

@MarisPiper92
how it going with naming your antagonist?
When you least expect it a name will pop into your head. That’s happened to me. Good luck!

@Bakingdiva
Keep going! I know that feeling lately. My eldest is poorly again since yesterday and off nursery. And my youngest now seems to be forgoing his daily nap. So writing is on a bit of a pause, however I’m wide awake now 🤨and can’t get back to sleep, and they both will be awake around 5.30am so may just make coffee now and crack on with tapping away.

Keep going everyone! 😀

Mrs R is now in love with her main character again.
I'd forgotten in "having" to write him under contract, how much of an absolute joy he is with his wife (who isn't yet his wife at the point I'm writing) and how much I love writing their interactions.

2k words since yesterday and they really are the Nick and Nora Charles of the 1660s - I loved all those wisecracking private investigator noir films when I was a nipper, obviously I'm combining a love of 17th century history with the influence of 1930s Hollywood here AND LOVING IT!!!!

I'll have to go back and edit out just how much I love the scar-faced idiot when it's done, but....oh it's good to be back.

Great news! @MrsRussell keep going!

MrsRussel well done for getting back into the groove, must be a relief to your publisher too 😁

Maris my first book had a minor villain who had 2-3 name changes and I still wasn't happy by the end.
I think it's hard to make a person scary. I do ok with monsters but struggle with people.

Hang in there Baking! Small person interference is a challenge for sure.

I've made....no progress since my last post. Been spending all my time on Scribophile instead

I quite like making scary characters (although as i do children's they aren't that scary). It's trying to make them nasty without going overboard. Then you can call them after someone you don't like.

@GlumyGloomer Scribe is addictive at times. You can get very invested in a particular story at times, and wait for the next chapter avidly.

I agree that scariness is hard. The most frightening people in real life are usually quite low-key and subtle (in my experience), and it's hard translating them to the page without them becoming boring. @MargaretThursday I like that, I think I'm going to have to think of a few people I don't like and mash them together!

@MarisPiper92

Yes, the scariest people are often very subtle. They also often present a good side, or are charismatic leaders, so I try and make them not just total evil.

I’m struggling, I seem to have to plot. Had my ending in mind, well so I thought and was working towards but my writing flow isn’t really there at the moment.
Does that make sense?
My characters are a bit all over the place, I’m feeling quite stuck at the moment. Seems quite hard to push forward.
Been reading loads and loads as I’m awake all hours at the moment.

Happy writing day all!

@Coffeeandbooks13 when I've been stuck I find the issue is often with my character motivation. It makes it almost impossible to write if as well as describing what's happening it's taking a lot of extra justification too, if that makes sense.
I've tied myself in to some fair old knots trying to justify some pretty irrational actions. My first novel needs some serious rewrites as things I bodged through don't really hold together.

I have been writing some flashbacks to fill in my protagonist’s history and am getting more amd more invested in her family. Starting to wonder whether it is a separate piece. I’m going with it to see where I end up, but know that I have to restructure because the flashbacks are slowing the action down.

By the way, thanks for mentioning Scribe. I have joined and written my first critique. It seems like a great site!

@IrisAtwood I can PM you my scribe name if you like?
I quite liked Bakingdiva's idea of an MN group too

Some progress is being made, my two mc's are off on another road trip, then splitting up for a while. It's going to get very dramatic on the reunion so this is the last time I suppose that they will just be normal with each other. Their interactions have largely driven the story to this point, so it's going to be odd.

[quote GlumyGloomer]@IrisAtwood I can PM you my scribe name if you like?
I quite liked Bakingdiva's idea of an MN group too [/quote]
Yes please. I am the same user name on scribe.

Finally made a bit of progress, and got to 50k. No idea how good any of it is but it is at least getting through the plot. There's still a bit of manuvering to do before I get to the end game.

@GlumyGloomer well done! 50k😀

I’m still a little lost, however been exploring my characters a bit more and making some headway. It’s a long process...

Happy writing day everyone!

Finally managed to get chapter 9 finished. That ones been a struggle.

I'd say I'm into the middle section now where I get to have fun being mean to my MC!

Hi everyone,
not much progress here as I've been agonizing over renaming one of my MC's. I think I've settled on one that sounds very similar to the original, but fits better with the surname and family origins (via one that sounded totally different).
@Coffeeandbooks13 hope things are going well. It can take a long time to untangle roadblocks.
@Bakingdiva well done on finishing chapter 9!

Hi, I'm just starting out having wanted to write a book for a decade or so. I've been mulling over ideas and have one for an adult fantasy, and have a few characters and scenes plotted out but am getting caught up in outlining and planning.

Do you spend much time planning? I'm a planner by nature. And methodical. Hope that translates to creativeness!

Hi @Icenii,
I used to plan quite a lot, but these days I don't have time. As a result my current story is rather simpler than my usual efforts, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I've got copious notes for stories which either might not or definitely won't happen, so for me planning is no substitute for just getting on and writing, but different things work for different people.
Good luck!

After a longish hiatus I'm making a small amount of progress. Some of the dialog is now in Italian, which is fun and something I've not done before. I'm just using Google translate, but I do have a family member who speaks Italian who could provide a more legitimate translation. The only problem is that he's in to serious literature and I'd feel quite embarrassed showing him my light fantasy story .
I shan't worry about it until the first draft is done anyway, google will do for now.
Happy writing

Hi @Icenii

I plan a bit, I had a plan for each chapter before I started but once I actually got writing it had to be flexed as somethings took longer than expected.

I do have quite a lot of research notes.

Also, sometimes I get an idea for a future scene so I write it and file it away for later use (or not if it turns out not to work)

I've found Trello useful to plot all my ideas for scenes across each quarter of a book, which I've ve been moving around. Have been reading about how others take up to 3 months to plan and I think that sounds a lot.