Hatrack River Writers Workshop: NSG 7/9

This is topic NSG 7/9 - 7/15 in forum Hatrack Groups at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by WBSchmidt (Member # 8533) on :

Welcome to this week's Novel Support Group (NSG). Anyone can join. If you're new, tell us a bit about who you are and what project you are working on. Although we can report on any number of things, here is a list of suggestions (suggestions welcomed).

What were your goals last week and did you accomplish them?
Describe what you worked on.
Set goals for next week.
Did you learn something during this week?

Here is a list of things that you can do each week as we work on our novels (suggestions welcomed).

Writing on a novel
Characterization
World Building
Relevant research

=-=-=-=-=

Last Week's Goals

Last week I did well with the outlining goals. I have completely reorganized the outline I had previously. In addition, I took some time to determine what this book was about. The theme I have now has helped me better determine what I need to outline. The theme has helped me find three things that are important to the main character that I can threaten. Now I will be able to create subplots specific to those three things. I have the main plot outlined 75%, which is the point where the big conflict occurs against the antagonist.

The second thing that I did was to include my antagonist more. Previously I had the antagonist go against the main character much later in the story. Now, I have the antagonist become involved in the story much sooner. This presents several opportunities to do some things with the antagonist that I wanted to intrigue the reader with.

I did get a few hundred words written for one scene. It is a scene that occurs very late in the book but I wanted to get my thoughts down onto paper before I forgot them.

My goals for next week:

Write scenes
Outlining

This week I want to focus on one of the three subplots and get a good outline for those scenes. Right now I'm not seeking much detail on those subplots but I want to get the try / fail cycles started.

What did I learn this week?

One thing I learned this week is that a story needs to have an involved antagonist. This should be obvious but my previous outlines did not have my antagonist involved soon enough. Another thing is to avoid making an antagonist not evil just for evil's sake. My antagonist has always had a "story" of his own, but including him sooner in this latest outline will help me better bring out that "story."

Good luck to you all this week.

--William

Posted by Meredith (Member # 8368) on :

Last Week's Goals:

DREAMER'S ROSE: Work on chapter exchange revisions as they come.
Yes.

THE SHAMAN'S CURSE: Let it rest before trying to cut some more.
Easy goal.

THE IGNORED PROPHECY: Continue chapter exchange in FPNA (Future Published Novelists Anonymous).
Yes.

BLOOD WILL TELL: Work on revisions to get deeper immersion into the character sooner and make the unique aspects of this world more understandable.
Yes. I got through the first three chapters (sample), once.

MAGE STORM: Get back in the flow. Finish chapter 4.
Nope.

OTHER:
Update my blog twice a week.
Work on the new short story.

Yes and No.

Next Week's Goals:

DREAMER'S ROSE:
Work on chapter exchange revisions as they come.

THE SHAMAN'S CURSE:
Let it rest before trying to cut some more.

THE IGNORED PROPHECY:
Continue chapter exchange for this in FPNA (Future Published Novelists Anonymous).

BLOOD WILL TELL:
I'm going to continue to at least read through the whole thing and look for places to get deeper/smooth things out. Then I want to go back over the first three chapters again. Oh, and I really need to work on the synopsis for the synopsis challenge.

MAGE STORM:
Get back in the flow. Finish chapter 4.

OTHER:
Update my blogtwice a week.
Work on the new short story.

[This message has been edited by Meredith (edited July 09, 2010).]

Posted by MAP (Member # 8631) on :

Hey where are all the novel support members?

I know I haven't posted in a while that is because I haven't been very good at writing lately. I am really having a problem finishing my story. Don't know why.

My Goal:

Write an hour every night.

Posted by Meredith (Member # 8368) on :

quote:
Hey where are all the novel support members?

Seems things always slow down during the summer. Can't think why.

Posted by axeminister (Member # 8991) on :

Unfortunately I'm taking a break from finishing my novel to focus on some short story contests. Only when there aren't any do I put pages toward my goal.

Axe

Posted by Crank (Member # 7354) on :

NOTE: Recently, I challenged myself to complete some of the short stories that were sitting on my shelf in various states of incompleteness and/or disarray. "Trophic Decrescendo" has been completed and sent out to a potential new home. "Do This in Remembrance" is almost done, but still screams out for me to spend some more quality time with it. All of this, quite obviously, has been at the expense of my novel writing exploits.

LAST WEEK
Mainstream novel: Not much.

Science fiction novel: I completed my synopsis for Meredith's challenge and sent it in. Regardless of how my entry fares, I consider this entire exercise a major success; the synopsis pointed out a few issues in the novel that required tightening, and gave me a few new ideas that, if written correctly, will make the story even better than before.

"Metzgerhund Empire": Yep, I've pulled this one back out! Months ago, I became completely fed up with my agent cover letter. As it turned out, writing the letter revealed a few discrepancies in my story. That added to my frustration, so I chose to put the entire project aside until my head cleared. But, as it has always been with me, I don't simply forget; during that time, I recorded a few random observations during my commute. The other day, I played one of those recordings, and spent the next hour rewriting an existing scene; the result: one of the discrepancies is now gone. With this success, comes new enthusiasm for this story, so it's back in my starting rotation!

UPCOMING WEEK
Mainstream novel: Business as usual...but better than last week.

Science fiction novel: Take a break from this story until the synopsis feedback shows up.

"Metzgerhund Empire": Review the remaining audio files and do what the voices tell me to.

S!
S!

Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :

I certainly slow down in the summer--it's the heat, I think.

Posted by Meredith (Member # 8368) on :

Yes, but at least some of the time, reduced activity leads to more "butt in chair" time, and so, more writing. At least for me. It hasn't been that hot here, yet.