Nov
29

On Finding Aragorn

Posted in craft, worldbuilding, writing | 4 Comments
Actually, this isn’t really about Aragorn at all. It’s more about details and worldbuilding, but Viggo is pretty much the shit when it comes to getting into character, so I thought I’d use him as an example. (Although in an unrelated note, it looks like they’re trying to fit Aragorn into the two forthcoming Hobbit movies in some fashion…or maybe not, since there appear to be rumors of Viggo quitting acting before they film them. Boo!) But anyway, it’s no big secret that Viggo is a method actor (and a damnably good one). I seem to recall reading a magazine article or two back when LotR first came out, and one of his interviews talked about realism. i.e. in Aragorn’s case – the dude was out living in the woods with the greasy hair and the unwashed bod and the dirty underwear and all that – and it actually makes… Read more
Nov
28

Channeling the Emo

Posted in craft, writing | 1 Comment
I hear that a lot some days. “Channel your anger/lust/angst/wangst/unrequited emo/fishcakes into something fruitful.” Whether that means writing about it, or pouring it into a burst of artistic creativity or just arranging the garden/cleaning the catbox/roundhouse kicking the shit out of something. Apparently it’s better to do something with all that energy. (Something more productive than sitting around and stewing about it, anyway.) Some emotions probably lend themselves better to this goal than others, though. Unfortunately I’m more of an emotional stewer. I’ll bottle it up and bottle it up and every once in a while it will leak out of me. Although, I’ll talk about it an awful lot. Diarrhea of the mouth and all that.  I’m one of those people that does need to talk about the same subject over and over again, much to my friends’ dismay. I will happily beat that horse dead into the ground until the… Read more
Nov
21

NaNo and Sequels

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Ugh. I’m 1000 words behind now – mostly because the last two days have been crazy enough that by the time I actually sat down to write it was nearly midnight. But on a good note, I’ve got a good 100 page start into ShadowWeaver now, so even if some of it gets cut (as it undoubtedly will), the foundation is forming nicely. It’s funny, because I’ve been on the phone with several agents now and they all want to know what else I’m working on. And of course, I’m happy to say I’ve got the start of Book 2 cooking along, as well as a fantasy stand alone. And then, I get asked, what else? And that’s a tough one to answer, honestly. When I originally came up with the concept of the CrossRoads, I had been thinking something like 7 books – one for each year of Abby’s… Read more
Nov
16

50,000 Words or Bust…

Posted in nano, writing | 2 Comments
And I’ve finally hit the half-way mark yesterday at just over 25,000 words. Which isn’t as much as some of the over-achievers I run with who are already past 30,000, but that’s okay. I’m getting the word counts done that I need to, but seem unable to get much further past that on a daily basis – probably because I’m getting so heavily sucked into DA. Which is fine. Good things are coming out it and I’ve now got way more of a plot for ShadowWeaver than I did when I started. Really good stuff coming out that I hadn’t really given much thought to, although the villain seems to be way more of a bitch than I originally envisioned. I’m still not quite sure what her motivation is, so that’s something I need to work with. MoonSong continues to be touch and go. When NaNo is over, I’m going to have… Read more
Nov
15

Tales From the Writing Trenches

Posted in 2012, dragon age, nano, writing | Leave a comment
Or some such. NaNo and Dragon Age have caught up to me apparently. I’m still keeping my daily word count (but some days only barely), but to say I’m burning the candle at both ends would be a bit of an understatement. Aside from work and family stuff, for the last two weeks I’ve started writing my NaNo words at about 10 PM and finish up about midnight. At which point I fire up Dragon Age and play until about 2 AM. (And then get up at 7 AM and start all over again). The last few days have been…um…a little bleary in my mind. And a tad painful on the back issue as well. Still twinging off and on. The muscles have started guarding again, from my left butt cheek up to my shoulder. The nerves have died down a bit, but I’m going back to the neurosurgeon’s next… Read more