What are you writing about now?

Changes in the three tales are now reconciled between the two versions and I finished the Grammarly edit on them. All 358 pages have been edited again using the advanced Grammarly. That was a lot of effort! I'm happier with the prose, though.

I popped the edited version back into Autocrit and ran two key reports on it. The first was the Readability Statistics. It's dropped two full grade levels in complexity. That means it's easier to read!

Second report I checked was the pacing and momentum report. I was at 13.9% slow-paced paragraphs, now I'm at 11.7%. So, unravelling overly complex sentences also make it a faster read. I'm not ready to do the rest of the changes for this report yet, I'm working thru another one in detail first.

The report I'm currently working on is the Repeated Words report. It warns me if I've used the same world multiple times in close proximity. I'm working my way thru that report first.

All but one item came in for my bookbinding tools and materials. I watched a couple of how-to videos yesterday.

Well. that repetition report just caught an embarrassing mistake! I have 1 skirmish and 3 battles in Lorien in Book 2 ('cause that's how many were in the LOTR!).
The repetition report caught that I was using the word yrch very frequently in the combat-related paragraphs. As I was adding some variety to the word mix (warriors, raiders, enemy, invaders, etc.) I realized I had accidentally used yrch (plural) when sometimes I meant orch (singular). I'm now checking each usage of both words to make sure I didn't use the wrong one.

david_wendelken said:

As I was adding some variety to the word mix (warriors, raiders, enemy, invaders, etc.) I realized I had accidentally used yrch (plural) when sometimes I meant orch (singular). I'm now checking each usage of both words to make sure I didn't use the wrong one.

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I did not know the singular of yrch, so thank you.

WatcherWraith said:

I did not know the singular of yrch, so thank you.

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Glad to oblige! I don't know the "official" way to pronounce yrch, but in my head, I think it's like hacking up a lugee in one go, but with more of a y sound starting it off. That last four letters in the word needs to include all the contempt you can stuff into it. Kind of like yuh-rick, but with the two syllables smashed together and the emphasis on the latter one.

Started my Autocrit edit last night and worked on it some more this morning. I am plumb edited out at the moment. I think this rainy, gloomy day may be a vegetative one.

david_wendelken said:

Started my Autocrit edit last night and worked on it some more this morning. I am plumb edited out at the moment. I think this rainy, gloomy day may be a vegetative one.

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Send the rain my way. I love the rain :]

Well, I'm watching the new Shogun and working on the pacing & momentum editing.

I have to say that, so far, the 80s version was way better in my opinion. Better screenplay and the casting was awesome. I still have a crush on Yoko Shimada as Mariko.

But I digress.

The report listed 276 paragraphs as slow-paced. I've cleaned up 11 so far this evening. The algorithm isn't perfect. It looks at the paragraph's overall length, the complexity of the words used in it, and the complexity of the sentence structure.

I usually end up rewording a few sentences to simplify them (which is usually a good idea 'cause I tend to write inverted sentences) and splitting a paragraph into 2 or 3 parts (so that each new paragraph is organized about a smaller, tighter concept.

14 chapters, 136 pages edited for pacing and momentum. I'm down from 276 "slow-paced" paragraphs to 185. Two paragraphs I've looked at remain "slow paced." Maybe I'll figure out a better way to write the two of them.

david_wendelken said:

14 chapters, 136 pages edited for pacing and momentum. I'm down from 276 "slow-paced" paragraphs to 185. Two paragraphs I've looked at remain "slow paced." Maybe I'll figure out a better way to write the two of them.

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Forgot to mention something I've observed. It's important to understand I didn't write the book in order from page 1 to the last page. I wrote different chapters as the way to handle them occurred to me. So far, the chapters I wrote earliest have the biggest problem with slow-paced paragraphs.

Why is that important?

Because it may just mean that practice makes perfect, and that's an encouraging thought!

Some people write from beginning to end, others like birds, hopping from one spot to the next as needed. Others write in still other ways. It's interesting to see how people's minds work and what they see through their actions and their projects.

WatcherWraith said:

Some people write from beginning to end, others like birds, hopping from one spot to the next as needed. Others write in still other ways. It's interesting to see how people's minds work and what they see through their actions and their projects.

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It is, isn't it?

I'm on a roll! Down to 144! (And it's bedtime...)

david_wendelken said:

I'm on a roll! Down to 144! (And it's bedtime...)

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Down to 43, of which 4 are keepers.

david_wendelken said:

Down to 43, of which 4 are keepers.

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Almost there!

david_wendelken said:

14 chapters, 136 pages edited for pacing and momentum. I'm down from 276 "slow-paced" paragraphs to 185. Two paragraphs I've looked at remain "slow paced." Maybe I'll figure out a better way to write the two of them.

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Just now finished this editing pass. I now have 10 "slow-paced" paragraphs left. 3 are in the "academic" writing in the preface and one appendix. The other 7 are within the text of the main story or in stories told in the appendices.

I need to make two more passes thru. One a grammar pass to make sure I didn't make a mistake with the other changes. The second one is a continuity read.

I'll be adding in the placeholder pages for the planned illustrations so I can tip them in as they are created.

Then I need to make sure chapters and key sub-chapters start on the right-side of two opened pages. I.e., not on the back of a page.

So close!

Did I mention all the bookbinding tools/supplies arrived? As soon as I get the above done, I can start making a prototype hand-bound book.

Recently got reminded of a very important part of writing any serious story: theme and plot-theme.

A writer named Ayn Rand(those who recognize her book "The Art of Fiction" will know best what I'm talking about) describes the theme of a book as the basic philosophical question which the book is intended to be based upon. The plot-theme introduces the setting in which the question will be discussed, in a manner of speaking. The plot itself, I believe, is supposed to lay out the actual storyline within the setting heretofore outlined.

These things are essential to understand within one's own mind before actually attempting to write a serious story, and I had forgotten them in my hungry research and quests to understand the intricacies of Tolkien's world and the places where it lacked. Having been reminded of these things, I worked out what I believe is the best theme and plot-theme for my story, my plot being already mostly laid out.

Theme: the question of the importance and moral value of what a person ultimately serves(agenda), and of the benefits this agenda gains for them.

Plot-theme: a man leads a number of people in a quest to protect his exiled countrymen by undermining the forces and capabilities of a dark being before he returns to power.

The plot obviously surrounds Amandil doing this exact thing.

Understanding and establishing the theme and plot-theme help me understand where my plot is going. Even better, it helps me make up characters, because each of them must contain in themselves their own answer to the question the theme speaks of. Their actions and interactions and the consequences to these will drive the plot and make the story more believable and relatable. Having found these things, I am relieved and somewhat more satisfied. Perhaps now my progress will be easier.

Note: while I recommend reading Rand's The Art of Fiction, I do not always agree with her interpretation of how people think, nor on how she believes empathy works. One does not have to agree with a villain to write a convincing one. That being said, I still do recommend her book, as it has helped me a great deal with understanding how writing fiction works in its basic forms.

@WatcherWraith , it's an intriguing way to look at building your story. There's definitely some merit to it!

I would caution against using Rand as an example of how to be empathetic or as a moral guide! And definitely remember that the characters are most important, the plot second-most, and the overarching theme the least important. The characters and plot shouldn't be wielded like a battering ram for the theme to gain entry into the reader!

I'll close with this meme. I think it's very apt. One has to click on the image to see all of it.

david_wendelken said:

@WatcherWraith , it's an intriguing way to look at building your story. There's definitely some merit to it!

I would caution against using Rand as an example of how to be empathetic or as a moral guide! And definitely remember that the characters are most important, the plot second-most, and the overarching theme the least important. The characters and plot shouldn't be wielded like a battering ram for the theme to gain entry into the reader!

I'll close with this meme. I think it's very apt. One has to click on the image to see all of it.

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I don't intend to use Rand for either empathy or moral guidance, indeed. But she did study writing fairly extensively, so her advice in that field does have value.

This morning, I finished the follow-up Grammarly edit after I fixed most of the slow-paced paragraphs. Yeah!

I thought that just left me with a continuity edit, in which I re-read the book from start to finish looking for continuity problems. You know, like saying someone stands up when two paragraphs earlier, they already did. Or honkin' big plot holes!

But I remembered something else I meant to do when the text was ready. So, this morning, I did an MS Word Advanced Search for words in italics. I put all the Sindarin, Quenya, Khuzdul or Kuduk words in italics. This was for the convenience of the reader, to make them stand out, and also for my convenience. The Advanced Find feature lets me find things by font or bold, italics, etc. I now have a list of words or phrases in those languages added in an appendix.
I've put them in a tabular format, with three columns: Word or Phrase, Language, and Meaning. It's easy to have MS Word sort them alphabetically.
Now I have three tasks left for this, which will take a couple of hours:

1. Place the translations and language in the table.
2. Search for the first usage of each of those words in the text of the book to verify the first time it's used, it has the meaning either in the text body or in a footnote. (Except for a few cases where I intentionally don't do that as the person hearing the words doesn't know what it means and I want the reader to share that confusion for a trice.)
3. Search each usage of the word to verify it's in the correct font and italicized.
   
   After this, I'll print it out and do the continuity edit. For some reason, I need to do some kinds of editing from a paper copy. It's inexplicable, it just is.

Hi Ent. It's been a while I know, but my writing took a bit of a back burner for quite a few months as my family and I had other and far more important things to do. I am currently 2/3 of the way through my historical novel 'The Kings of Kaltis' and that will take up much of my time on research and developing the last 12 chapters over the next 6 months. As far as my 'Elrond and the Blue Wizards' fanfic is concerned, I busied myself over Xmas/New Year evenings by reading 'The History of Middle' Earth (All 12 volumes) to familiarise myself with any backstory, timeline and Family name issues (Nothing like accuracy!)

Your list of writings is both impressive and onerous sounding, and I wish you nothing but the best of luck, especially if you can get #1 completed soon. But like Tyelkormo the Fair, I am looking most forward to the characters of Middle-earth.

All the best my friend.