Bending the Laws of Time and Space

This is my accountability report for the week that ended on 16 April.

This week I added 1,738 words to my WIP*. At my current rate, it will take me about a year to finish. That’s not acceptable, so I will have to find ways to get more done next week.

*I actually have about another 1,500 words written, but I haven’t transferred those from the handwritten stage to the typed stage and I’m only counting typed words at this point. It will certainly help inflate my word count for next week.

It’s been a very eventful week. It started off with my little Scrivener adventure that I blogged about on Tuesday. Scrivener already has a new version out, but they said

“Scrivener saving issue. Hopefully, this has been addressed. Unfortunately, we were not able to reproduce this most sinister issue so we'll have to wait for confirmation that our changes have in fact worked.”

You’ll pardon me if that doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence about using the software again. I still plan on buying it once it’s released but for now, I’m sticking with good ole Microsoft Word.

I actually hit a little issue as I was writing this week that actually had to do with my story and not software.

I have these two events events that happen in my story. If my universe works the same way as the one we live in (and it does) each of these events is timed, and the reader will implicitly know the timing of them. If it starts at one time, it must end at another particular time.

I saw an opportunity to create some tension by making my Main Character have to choose between the events as they come to conclusion. The problem is that for the events to end at the same time, the way I had originally written the story won't work unless I bend the very fabric of space and time or hope my reader doesn't notice. Spring starts around April, and ends around June. I can fudge those dates a little bit, but i can't very well have something that is supposed to happen at the end of spring, happen in September.

This would introduce what is known in the industry as a plot hole. I'm sure I'll wind up with some of those anyway, but I have no desire to knowingly allow one to exist. I feel like the tension I create by setting up the choice the Main Character has to make it worth it because he really wants to be in two places at once. So part of my writing time this week was spent figuring out how I was going to fix that issue. I’m pleased to say that I was able to move some events around and make it work, and that I think the new timeline works much better than the old one.

I've also started Holly Lisle’s How to Think Sideways (HTTS) class. I’ve only done Lesson 1 so far, but already I can see how Ms. Lisle is challenging the way I think. I firmly believe the hours I putting into HTTS will pay off down the road with better characters, plotting and writing.

But ultimately, this week was about not taking my writing seriously enough, and letting other things get in the way. The good news is I have a fresh week in front of me to make better choices and get further towards my goal.

Dreaming about my WIP

Since today the blog post will go up on Honor’s Code announcing this blog to my former readership, I thought it would be a good idea to post a little bit about my current Work In Progress (hereafter referred to as my WIP).

I started back in October brainstorming ideas. This was supposed to be my NaNoWriMo subject. November came and went with my book unfinished.

I made a file on my computer called “The Idea Box.” Whenever I got an idea for a story, I would put in that file. I have idea for Adult Fiction, Science Fiction, Mystery Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, and a Young Reader/Middle Grade Fiction. Some of my ideas were for characters, others for plots, and others still were themes. Some authors seem drawn to characters. At this point in my writing journey, I seem to be attracted to themes and plots.

I looked over all my ideas. Now this is my first time trying to write a novel. Actually, that’s not true. I tried to start one in College. I never finished it, but I put that as an idea on my idea list. I started another one about 6 or 7 years ago. That one wasn’t finished either, and now lives as another idea on my idea box. But the point of saying all that, is to say that I know this first attempt at a novel will likely not be all that good. I’m a rookie, a freshman. I didn’t want to ‘burn’ a good idea on my first time out, but as I thought about it more, I realized that I must be passionate about the idea or it will never go anywhere.

I settled on one of my Adult Fiction stories. The next step was coming up with a one line description. This would be a sentence to define the overarching story of my novel. Something to be used in polite conversation when someone asks, ‘So what is your story about?” Eventually, it will find it’s way into query letters and maybe one day in the future on the back cover of my book. I can dream can’t I?

My one sentence description is:

A young DBA turns his back on a promising career to pursue his dream of becoming a pastor, but his unconventional approach, and a mistake from his past threaten to keep his dream from ever becoming reality.

Interest piqued?