Today was one of those days where I couldn’t get anything written. I had a particularly intense day that had me fighting off a panic attack by 2. This is, of course, the sort of thing that happens when you’ve got 1 month to complete 1.5 months worth of work. Sigh. I’m tired. As a result, I really didn’t have the mental energy to solve my chapter 3 problem AND put it into prose that is at least an approximation of ‘not suck’. All that said, I had a good run today, and while I wheeled around the small gym track some forty times, I managed to come up with something like a solution. There are a few sticky details to work out, but once I actually sit down and put myself into the main character’s shoes in the scene, I should be able to see exactly how he manages to squeeze out of it. It’ll be difficult, for him, but I think it should be. So, tomorrow, after I’ve thought about it for a while, I’ll sit down and make it happen. For now though, I think I’m going to check out a nip of single-malt, and get some sleep. Tomorrow is likely to be just as intense as today.
Tag Archives: writing process
Fantasy book research #1
I have notes everywhere. Some are on note cards, some scribbled in completely unreadable handwriting in one of a dozen or so spiral notebooks, plus two three-ringed binders. Not to mention the fancy journal, drawing pad, and odd bits of sticky notes and what not scattered about. Of course, I also have piles of digital notes which are about as organized. Today, I decided to flip through some of my digital notes and came across this little gem:
A trade-ship (Here based upon the east India men) averages 4-5 knots in favorable wind, providing 120 miles/day. (http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~vaucher/Genealogy/Documents/Asia/asiaShips.html) OR formula of hull speed = 1.34 * SQRT(waterline length)(http://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/12911/middle-age-transportation-by-river-questions) Rowing is likely to make no more than 3-4 mph. Barges of goods are pulled along the shoreline by use of oxen, and transport of persons or important goods will be done by ‘narrow boats’ which are rowed by 10-20 oarsmen, depending upon the size of the boat.
There was a lot of other stuff along with it, but this little excerpt points out something that is a rather large part of my writing process. Research. Now, I don’t even bother trying to research to the point where I might speak intelligently on the topic, though in most hobbies that’s where I go. However, I do try to get to the point where I can develop details that are, if nothing else, consistent with reality, or at very least can nose past a BS test. Sometimes I totally miss the mark, but I do try.
I think one of the most difficult thing about researching for a book is that when you’re looking into a topic, most of the stuff you might find on the internet is specific to ‘not-pretend’ applications, meaning that you get a lot of ‘it depends’ sorts of answers, which are less than helpful. Sometimes, I really just want information that would give me the bounds on reality. So, in the example above, which took a bit of searching, I could reasonably claim a 300 mile trip might take between 2.5 and 5 days. Now I have something that at least scrapes the realm of plausibility.
Writer’s improvement hell
Screw you spell-check! I mean it. I’m a terrible speller, and it’s all your damn fault. I also blame you for my awful grammar. Okay, neither are so bad, but they really could be a lot better (insert angry spitting and what not)! I blame part of the problem on really bad habits developed by relying heavily on grammar and spell-checkers to notify me of problems then offer helpful suggestions along with an immediate remedy (right-click replace). The habit formed over a number of years, starting with college term papers, and now infiltrates my e-mails, memos, project plans, and also my creative writing.
So, why’s it a problem? I mean, those tools are there to help right? Yes, that is the claim. The first (minor) problem is that when I really get into a scene, I mean I’m really into it, I’m seeing the scene, not so much the words (I am conscious of things like word choice but I’m not really seeing those words. I can’t explain how this works, except to say it’s a lot like day dreaming in rush hour traffic – I get there, but haven’t got the foggiest how), and so I’m also not really paying attention to those nice little squiggles beneath my misspelled and out of place words. This is exacerbated by the fact that I’m writing a fantasy and a very large number of names aren’t in the correction database, so the writing is already full of squiggles (yes, I know this is an easy fix, and I should do it, but I’m reluctant all the same) That’s fine, I suppose, I’ll just catch it on the next read through, which will occur as soon as I’m finished with the scene or whatever. Yeah, I suppose that works, when I’m paying enough attention on the second, third and fourth run-throughs.
The real problem is that relying on those auto-tools not making me a better writer. I think my story is suffering for various and sundry mistakes that I’m unconsciously expecting to be noted or even corrected for me. Sure we all make them, and I do try to focus on improving those habits, but the damn bad habits are now so ingrained it’s like pulling teeth to focus on getting it right.
My solution? I don’t have one for my grammar issues yet, still working that out. Possibly fixing the exact same problem about sixteen thousand times will get me there (I wish this were a joke 😦 ). Spelling though, that one is simple. Instead of using the right-click replace trick we’re all so fond of, instead, I’m checking the spelling with that tool, and making the corrections by hand. That, I think, should help me learn to spell more words correctly the first time, naturally, and will help me to work toward being a better writer.
Also, to come clean on this a little. This idea came out of technical necessity, rather than just having a good idea. I run Ubuntu Linux instead of Windows, and though I long for a Mac, it’ll have to wait. As a result, many of my applications aren’t quite as well tested as other platforms, so when writing a blog post, for instance, I can’t highlight and replace text. It locks up the keyboard and I have to re-start the browser. So, all of my spell-checking has to be done manually (right-click replace causes the lock-up as well). When I started doing this, I realized that it was a good way to actually re-learn how to spell words.
On Writing Dragons 