Drawing from the Well
Queries: 58 (+1)
Rejections: 47 (+1)
First Eighth
Chapter 7/90
Scene 29/500 – 5.8%
Word Count: 8795 (+2052) – 5.6%
I’m making some progress. I got to write a quick combat scene which turned out to be harder than I thought. It’s easy to write a fight beat for beat, move for move, but that’s not interesting. It’s not interesting to write or to read. You start to glaze over. There has to be some emotion, some connection in it. So that took some doing. It’s good enough for a first draft.
And that’s something that I’m trying to remember. This first actual draft is going to be rough so I’m letting it. The only thing you can’t edit is a blank page. So for now, I’m just filling the page. Onward!
Filling the Well
Miraclist: 87%
Blue Lily, Lily Blue: 83%
The Bible: 80%
The Handmaid’s Tale: 25%
I’m getting a decent amount of reading in right now. Not so much on the listening front, but I’m getting along. Miraclist is incredibly engaging and a very fun ride. I’m loving it and all the more because I know the author.
Polishing the Well
We took one of our dogs to the vet today for a checkup. She’s great and we got everything updated. And we got this sublime picture. #ilovemyfamily
Well Chat
My Method for Baking Ideas
Google “baking ideas” and you get some delicious results like the one above. Go take a look. Go on ahead. I’ll wait.
Go on!
Now that you’re back, let’s talk about how I move from “idea” to story. Now, I’ve only done this once, but I’m moving forward on my next idea so let’s talk about what I call “percolation.”
I think about story all the time. If you style yourself as a writer, you should be doing the same thing. The vast majority of the time it’s focused on my current story. For now, that’s Book Two, but ever since I watched the latest episode of Publishable, my brain has kicked into overdrive for IP #2.
So what does that look like. Well, initially it’s a ton of thinking. I’m in Phase 1. It’s all world building and character creation right now. I have an idea of the plot for this standalone novel but it’s mostly starting point, ending point, and one or two moments of awesome. None of that works without characters to act it out within a living world.
That’s what makes Phase 1 so important. It is the foundation for everything that the novel will become. There’s three protagonists in this story. Two of them are well-formed but the third, who was most important to the story, was not. His placement was exceptionally arbitrary. I had images in my head of things he would do and the way he would act but it didn’t match up with his occupation. Tonight, his true profession struck me. I updated my notes and saved it for later. Now my mind is chewing on something else.
The key to my “incubation” period is letting my subconscious chew on pieces of the story, the characters and the world and the magic, so that ideas can come to me. The kernel is there. The magic system is semi-developed. I need details but those take time to develop. So while I write Book Two, my brain works on IP #2. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG