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51
General Discussion / Re: Accountability by 2/11/18
« Last post by Monique on February 08, 2018, 08:36:21 pm »
Thanks for starting this thread (and the forum), Jamie!

My plan for this week was to do character arcs (the full 8 point Dan Harmon thing) for the rest of the characters in my novel. This is a good amount of work, but not perhaps as much as it sounds as the characters are on a not-huge spaceship headed towards Saturn. There are only 20 and so far I've done four days worth of 3/day. I also went through my notes from my last edit and made a list of those worth pursuing.

So, it's the 8th today and I have done 8 days worth of work on my February schedule, but I did 4 of those days worth yesterday :-) I have come to the realization that, while I want a goal for each day, it needs to be something that I can "catch up" on if there are busy days (and there are always busy days).

For the next few days I plan on doing more character arcs! (It has been super useful to have to really think about the more-minor characters and who they really are.)
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General Discussion / Re: Accountability by 2/11/18
« Last post by JamieLynWeigt on February 08, 2018, 07:05:57 pm »
Hey Carol and RJ!  Great goals! 

I decided I needed a way to map out what I want to do this year, in a way I could continually update, and I found a neat free downloadable calendar I thought I'd share. 

This site actually has TONS of  different free calendars, so find which one works best for you, but I liked the Excel version of the "2018 Calendar template 15: two half-year blocks on 1 page" one best on this page:

http://www.calendarpedia.com/2018-calendar-excel-templates.html

If you want to see ALL the options, go to this page.  I really like Excel, but you might want the Word or PDF versions, and maybe not the yearly/monthly version, versus the daily/monthly version, etc. 

http://www.calendarpedia.com/

Let me know if these are helpful!

Also, CHECK one part of my accountability off, I'm reading and replying to posts, yay!!!
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General Discussion / Re: Accountability by 2/11/18
« Last post by RJ on February 08, 2018, 07:17:41 am »
Accountability: this is a great place for that-thanks Jamie!

My 'plan' blew up in my face but, like you, I want to finish my first draft by year-end.  Now that I actually understand what a first draft is, that may still be possible. 

This week:
1) pull basic info together for my next mag. article & make initial contacts w/sources;
2) finish reading "Your Book Starts Here"
3) List concepts that must be included in my story that will drive individual scenes; think/determine new triggering event.
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General Discussion / Re: Re-Introduce Yourself! - plan shot to hell
« Last post by RJ on February 08, 2018, 07:08:59 am »
Hi Carol,
Thanks for your encouragement and support. Talking through issues with other writers is so helpful!

After I wrote this original email, I did reach out to Kate and I think she provided me a way forward. It will involve a great deal of 're-envisioning' what happens in my story but now with a 'guiding light' - my Synopsis -- including a clear conflict/dilemma which I think was missing before. 

Thanks for the suggestion about the book.  There are so many out there.  One that I'm going to return to is "Writing Your Book From the Middle" by James Scott Bell. It's a very quick read and gets to the heart of a character's transformation and working backward to create what happens to get him/her there. 

And yes, 'freewrites' can be really helpful working through a concept - just letting thoughts about it flow.

If I can help you with your rethinking, let me know.
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General Discussion / Re: Accountability by 2/11/18
« Last post by carolj1974 on February 08, 2018, 01:16:41 am »
Hi Jamie,

In an ideal world, I'd get three things done by 2/11:
- Complete the Scrivener tutorial (I just bought the software license and got about halfway through the tutorial before I was slammed by other work and obligations)
- Finish the tension graph exercise from Week 3 of Kate's class
- Create a rough plan for steps to take to finish my novel this year (Kate's 4th assignment, which I thought about but didn't put anything into writing for)

But, if I get even one of these things done by 2/11, I won't be super mad at myself, because it'll be progress at least!
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General Discussion / Re: Re-Introduce Yourself!
« Last post by carolj1974 on February 08, 2018, 01:10:41 am »
Hi RJ, I don't remember if I mentioned this in the class forum, but I happened to pick up a book during the novel class, called "You've Got a Book in You," and I found it totally inspiring. It dovetailed a lot with what Kate was saying, so not a hugely different take on things, but since it's a whole book vs. 4 lectures, it got a lot more in-depth.

I don't claim to be an expert--Kate's class opened my eyes to bigger problems in my manuscript than I realized were there, or rather she inspired me to take them more seriously--but if you want to try and lay out what your biggest blocks are at present, maybe I and the other members could help you get through them.

But also, you might want to read that book. It's really fun and makes writing (or in my case seriously rethinking) a book seem much less daunting. One thing it suggests is if you're feeling stymied, write! She calls them "stormwrites" and has all sorts of exercises you could do to try and write through your problems. I haven't had to use that yet; I'm not feeling stymied, just short on time with a bunch of other projects and obligations. But when I get back into my novel and if I get blocked, I will try her exercises to try and get through it.

I also sprang for that Scrivener software. I'm about halfway through the tutorial, so I haven't started using it yet, but it seems pretty awesome.
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General Discussion / Re: Back to Square 1 - Almost
« Last post by RJ on February 06, 2018, 06:37:16 am »
HI everyone,
I don't know about you but for me, Kate's class was a real eye-opener. Jamie, don't worry about whether you feel others are farther ahead of you in your draft. After revising my Query and Synopsis (maybe 25th time) and getting it to a point that an agent might sit up and take notice, I realized I have no idea how to tell my story!  So, my entire plan is out the window.

I know what I've learned about how to write and what I've written these last two years isn't wasted but I'm feeling totally stymied, not just because of this realization but because I don't know where to turn for help to get me back on track. If I can't specifically explain the problem, how can I determine a) what is the help I need and b) where to get it? 

I had hoped this class would help me figure this out, but it has only clarified my dilemma. If anyone has felt this way and can put a name to this issue, please share.  Especially if you've found a resource that might help work through it.  I do not want to give up.

RJ

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General Discussion / Accountability by 2/11/18
« Last post by JamieLynWeigt on February 05, 2018, 10:08:15 pm »
What do YOU want to accomplish this week?  Let us know, and then let us know how you did!

As for me... yeesh, I feel so overwhelmed with what I have to do!  So writing out goals is a good start. 

+ I have to do another regular dragon artwork feature on my site http://www.WritingDragons.com before Saturday, which will take another entire evening this week.

(I post once a week on my blog, and when [like last week] I miss my deadline, I have to make it up the next week, which is why I spent tonight [Monday] finishing a post, but still have to do another one before Saturday.)

+ I want to start on that last assignment Kate gave us -- figuring out what the heck my road map really looks like for finishing this dang first draft this year! 

(I got so busy with life, and my parents came to town for the weekend for Superbowl fun [not to go to the game of course, but we saw the festivities in downtown and then watched the game on our big tv] that I never even got started on a plan.  Sigh.)

+ And finally, I want to spend another two hours (two separate times anyway) reading and replying to this forum and to all of your posts. 

(I tried to take advantage of the format in the class, but fell off participating as much as I would have liked.  I can't do that this time!)

Thanks for reading! 

What do you plan to do before 2/11/18?
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General Discussion / Re: Re-Introduce Yourself!
« Last post by JamieLynWeigt on February 05, 2018, 09:45:15 pm »
Wow, I'm so glad some people showed up, I was kinda worried this would be shouting into the ether! 

It's also great to reacquaint myself with your works-in-progress, and as RJ mentioned, I hope we can continue getting some feedback on some of the exercises Kate assigned us in the class -- I thought they were great!

Right now I'm much further behind than you all seem to be in my novel progress, I don't even have half a first draft, but that's my main goal for the next few months.  Unfortunately I find balancing my blog and my fiction writing a difficult prospect!

Although I also refuse to give up my blog, because I have almost 300 followers -- which doesn't seem like a lot, but on the other hand, that took me 2+ years to build, and I have a consistent 20-30+ (and occasionally huge spikes to 70+) views a day, with a lot of actual regulars, and as Carol mentioned, marketing is now part of selling a finished manuscript to a publisher.

So once again, I'm the admin since I made this forum, but feel free to create new topics and start new threads without me, I want this to be a democratic process and look forward to more accountability and progress for us all!

(Hm... speaking of accountability, though... I think I might make that a topic as well... I certainly need the motivation!)
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General Discussion / Re: Re-Introduce Yourself! - Carol's Plan
« Last post by RJ on February 04, 2018, 03:13:15 pm »
Hi Carol,
It sounds like you have a good handle on what you need to do. If I can help in any way, like bouncing ideas, let me know.

RJ
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