Tag Archives: fantasy writing

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Another map

Argrenedrin

Here is the second map of my world. It’s fairly poor quality because it’s still in pencil and my scanner isn’t great. There is one more, but that one will probably never see the light of day because it’s more of a sketch. This map is of a place I’m calling the Argrene Archipelago, also known as the country of Argrenedrin. It is the main setting for the sub-plot of War of Shadows. It’s not final, and I’ve only got a few places listed on here, but I haven’t got the sub-plot all that well mapped out. What I can say is that this part of the story will deal heavily with dragons. The inspiration here comes from the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. Once I have an opportunity to revise it and make it darker, I will probably share again.

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Re-writing

So, I finished a chapter this weekend that I’ve been struggling with for a while. I went back tonight and skimmed it, then went back and re-read the chapter before it. It needs to be re-written. It’s not a well done chapter, and it doesn’t fit the rest of the sub-plot, which is actually very well written. The weird thing here is that while I’m not thrilled about being set-back, I’m not particularly upset about it. Perhaps it’s because I’m not in love with the chapter anyhow, I don’t know. What I do know is that the highlights of the chapter I had drafted this weekend will stay, but the circumstances will change.

This has been a major part of all re-writing I’ve done. For most of the chapters I have re-done, all of the main plot elements haven’t changed, they just look different than I had initially imagined them. Even some of the ideas I had thought were thrown out have managed to creep back in somehow. All that said, the more I think about the revelation that I’ve got to scrap this weekend’s work, the better I feel about it and the more energized I am about the re-write. Being full of energy and excitement about a chapter seems like the best way to get it done. This is especially true if I’ve already taken a crack at it and have the sketch of where I want it to go. If I had my way I’d skip work tomorrow just to do it. It may be that’s not going to happen, but I will have tomorrow evening. Anyhow, that’s the thought for tonight – Don’t dread the re-write, embrace it!

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This weekend wasn’t a total loss after all – Progress Report

sail-73790_1280

Saturday was an early day, no doubt. I got into Anchorage about 7:15, collected a colleague, and headed for downtown. In spite of the time of year, it was pouring rain, and about 45F and blowing 30mph. The weather was much more like that of late spring or mid-fall than late winter. We crossed 4th Avenue on foot, sloshing through the slushy mess of a track the race volunteers had set for the mushers. The conference broke for lunch early as well, so we were able to bop the next block up and watch a few of the mushers go past. One of them was wearing shorts. It feels like I’ve seen that before, but this time it actually felt like it was appropriate attire.

Anyhow, I went to a friends house after and had a grand old time eating too much and playing the dirtiest game in the whole universe. It was good fun. Of course, this morning it was time to pay the piper. Much of the week’s housework was awaiting. No time to do it the day before. I cracked away on that until about 1, before finally getting a chance to sit down at my computer.

Turns out with the sun-room in a cleaner state, it was easier to concentrate. The whole point of this story is that in spite of an action-packed weekend, I managed to knock out the chapter I’ve been struggling with. It’s not great at the moment, but it is a draft, and that’s something. The most interesting thing about it is that it’s shorter than expected and is begging to be followed by another chapter. I had thought this would be it, but when I started getting into the dialogue, it took an unexpected twist. A completely logical and necessary twist, but also completely outside of the plan. Anyhow, I’m sitting at just about 75,000 words, and the anticipated end-length for the draft is now sitting between 85K and 90K words.