Goals update #5

Poems written this week: 5. All crap, too, I might add.



World-building achieved this week:

Finished the history! I really just got so tired of writing the history that when I moved to the realms outside what I'd already written, after finishing up the history for the kingdom in which Sunstone is set, I just said "these other countries had the same battles and problems that the empires they were once part of had, or that were laid out in what's already been said of history to this point." I know it was super lazy but it took so much time to figure out the years, and eras, and all that jazz for the one. And the one I spent the most time on is really the most important. I can always go back in and fill in the gaps later. I just was too lazy to try coming up with new names for eras of history for these other countries and try to figure out the reference points to orient the reader (myself) to what was happening in the more detailed history I'd already written. I started doing that, but I was only succeeding in confuzzling my poor brain even worse than it already was so I just gave up.


I also wrote out a paragraph expounding a bit of the development of magic in my fantasy realm. I'd mentioned at the beginning of the detailed history when magic was first born in this world, but I'd not said much about it since. I did that and then was ready to move on to hammering out the plot details and figuring out all my characters and trying to begin to trace how they all fit into the storyline.


Character bios were also attacked this week. I started out so strongly. I have this book, The Plot Thickens, and the first two chapters are dedicated entirely to questions to ask your characters. The problem is, I have a rather large ensemble cast of characters, be they main or major (thanks to Elements of Fiction Writing: Characters and Viewpoint for the distinction), which need fleshing out. By the time I got through 3 of those characters I was done with the questions. I had had it up to my eyeballs with those questions. But there were still 11 to go. Plus my main villain will require several pages of detailed character biography to keep all facets of his convoluted life organized and keep spillage to a minimum.


I got lazy after that third character bio. It probably doesn't help that I'm really feeling the crunch right now since I still need to hammer out my plot and then let fly with my outlines all in before I go to bed this Friday. I say this Friday because Saturday is August 1 and August 1 is my first day of writing at my 2000 words a day pace. I need to finish up the last of this world building before I can pick up the writing.


The last few characters I've done bios for are nowhere near as detailed. Especially the children in my book. I mean, not much has happened to a 9/10 year old in their life and they're still maturing physically so there's not much to say about that. I've got a book, Writer's Guide to Character Traits, which will help me in writing the children as they mature to adulthood and change and their personalities solidify, but it's not much help in writing the character bio at this point. I know I should try harder, but it's just so time-consuming and there is the pressure of that deadline looming.


OK, I'm going to cheat and include today in my goals achievement tally. I know I shouldn't but it'll be more self-encouraging if I do. As of when I went to bed last night, I still had 4 characters to go for characterization. (And I've already done 11. Now, put the rotten vegetables down and breathe. Only 1 of those is my MC, the rest are just major characters who will have solid roles in the story, but not as big and important as my MC. But they're still major characters so they have to be fleshed out more than all the background people who will come and go throughout the series. Rotten veggies away? OK, let's continue.)

Can you tell I've been writing this successively throughout the week instead of in one fell swoop? No? Good.

As of right now, when I'm going to bed for the night because I'm awfully exhausted after getting up at a quarter to 6 this morning to do a certain writing exercise, walk for an hour with my mom and dog, go to a golf clinic, and clean my mom's house for 3 hours (and all that before 3 this afternoon. Yikes.) I've got 1 character left to do a bio for. 1!!!! I'd do it tonight, but I've twisted my timeline into bunches and need to get the ages of certain major characters sorted out. It will require some minor revisions to character bios and to the history I previously laid out.

Needless to say, I have yet to attack my plot or outlines. Fortunately for me there's still another scant handful of days in this month for me to get the rest of the background stuff I need cranked out.


Now to bed with my bones.

I've written and scheduled tomorrow's post because I'm going unplugged for the day. Fingers crossed I actually last this time.


Good night my dear friends. I bid you adieu.


(Melodramatic just a touch?)