What are you writing about now?

Wrote over 7100 words this week, of which 4400 are pretty solid. (The rest are just notes for the rest of the 5 chapters I worked on this week.) Progress!

Good news! 9100 words in this last week in Volume 2, of which 7100 are first-draft ready. Nearly finished the first of the 5 new chapters!

This is really exciting to me! I've been doing a lot of writing in this volume but it's all been ancillary to the great quest. Important character building stuff and (I believe) interesting as well. But if the book is centered on a great quest, it can't be considered complete if I don't write about the quest in its entirety. I've now found my way into this part of the story and I think it's got legs.

Well done! I'm glad you've achieved such a landmark. May many more follow in its steps :]

Decided to split the 2nd of 5 chapters into two, and I've gotten a good start on it. The other main character is brought into the story here. They'll find out about the horrible mess their mutual friend is in, and another key character will join in. Plus, we'll start to learn about one of the bad guy's key agents in this timeline.

Next chapter they'll try to clean up the mess and find out it's going to take a major effort on all their parts.

10,740 words in the first 6 chapters, of which 8,243 are first-draft ready. Woot!

Main two characters have re-met (they met decades ago when the human was a page to a mutual friend). They just travelled to the mutual friend's house to visit. They've just ridden in the gate of the manor house courtyard.

They're about to (a) meet important character #3 and (b) discover that "bad things have happened there".

Even better, I've slipped a few things in that better explain why some things are the way they are in the later parts of the story that are already written. Our character is a chapter away from discovering some tie-ins to events in volume I. That won't make her happy.

Don't expect to make a lot of progress this weekend, I'm attending a metalworking conference. Such fun!

Wishing you the best! Metalworking sounds fun! :O

12,252 words written in the first six chapters of the great quest. Of those, 8340 are "first draft ready". First draft ready means I've successfully told myself the story. It doesn't mean the wording is awesome or even grammatically correct. It doesn't mean I don't have plot holes or inconsistencies. And it doesn't mean I've culled out the non-essential elements to tighten up the wording and the story. It means I've successfully gotten the jumble of ideas out of my head and into my book in an intelligible manner.

Another 1341 are dialog ready but missing the fidgets. I don't know what the proper technical term for "the fidgets" is (and would like to). If you have a long dialog (there's an interrogation in the latest chapter), people get bored and lose their place. You also don't want to beat them over the head with Joe said, Sally said, etc. Part of the way you do it is to intersperse action statements amongst the dialog. People stand up, cross the room, squint, tap their fingers, grip something hard, grasp a loved one's hand, stomp, etc. It strengthens the imagery and breaks up the yammering into smaller, brain-sized bites.

The presence of a crime and the mystery of who did it and why has been presented. 3 of the main characters are now involved. There's a bit more info to gather at the scene of the crime and then our 3 intrepid heroes will start their hunt for a murderer and possibly a kidnapper. It will be a tough hunt; the bad guys are well prepared.

Good day at the metalworking conference!

Up to 13,197 words! 2nd chapter's story is written but it still needs the fidgets added in.

I like this word 'fidgets' in this application.
I dub thee David Wendelken - Master of Fidgetry..!!

Thanks, @Ent!

I'm only up to 13,652 words in the first 6 chapters of the great quest, but I did go back and fill in a lot of needed fidgets and correct some inconsistencies.

Oh, I'm not sure I made something clear earlier. What I'm working on now is the early parts of the great quest. I already have significant parts of the middle and end of the quest written, 71164 including the first 6 chapters. I'm excited because when I get these six done, I'll have a lot of the foundation I need to finish the rest of the quest.

Across all 5 volumes, I've got a total of 485,656 words written.

That's a fair bit of writing!

Good grief, the work is magnificent! Congratulations! Get yourself a treat or something. Little rewards go a long way :]

david_wendelken said:

Across all 5 volumes, I've got a total of 485,656 words written.

Click to expand...

This thread was originally set up as an 'encouragements for writers' thread.
I can't imagine reading anything more encouraging.

So.. I re-dub thee 'Master Of Encouragements and Fidgetry".

(On the other hand, it also makes me feel a bit unproductive..!! But we'll ignore that part.)

I'm up to 14756 words for these six chapters I'm currently working on. It's in Volume 2, Shadow War in Middle-earth, which is currently at 161,150 words.





Chapters 1 and 2 are at first draft stage.

Chapter 3 is in progress. 3 of the 5 main characters in the party are solidly committed to the quest and they are just now beginning to understand what they are up against. But this chapter has been a slog to write. Not because it's not interesting (to me, at least!), but because they are following a trail that's 2 days old. Their quarry is both skilled and well prepared. So, I've got to put in false trails, tracks and other info from the earlier chapters that give the hunters clues to follow. It's painstaking, rather like a murder mystery except they don't know the full extent of the crime yet. They know they are hunting a murderer. But is it one murderer and 4 innocents (2 adults and 2 young children)? Or are 2 or 3 of the adults complicit?

Our main hero has just realized who she is up against. It's not going to be simple to undo the damage and may well be impossible. And, whether justified or not, she feels at fault for the attack on her friend's family. One other hero is in it for the kids and for vengeance, the remaining one is in it for the kids and justice.


My guess is it will take another 20,000 words to finish these six chapters, and probably another 25,000 to finish the book. Plus about 10,000 words - split between a detailed timeline that gets condensed and story notes and ideas will get removed in the process. So, overall, I'm expecting between 190,000 and 200,000 words.
For reference, an average fantasy novel runs 90,000 to 120,000 words, whilst an epic fantasy novel can run 180,000 to 200,000 words. So, pretty much right on target if my estimate is correct.

Back to work!

Here's a first draft of a book illustration for my book #4, Lorien in the War of the Ring.

I've saved this version because it's before I add in any shading. And, of course, the harp strings, which will be the last details I add.

This is Herulin, the Lord of Song, a harp carved like a dragon.

Now I need to go and add in all the details that are needed to spiff it up.

PS - I'll probably have to draw it at least 10 times before I get it right. I still have a lot to learn.

PPS - Dragon scales are hard to draw when they are on a curved surface, particularly when there are two different curves at the same time.

Understandable. I wish you the best, and offer my sympathies. My drawing skill is not much ':]

WatcherWraith said:

Understandable. I wish you the best, and offer my sympathies. My drawing skill is not much ':]

Click to expand...

No need for sympathy about having to draw it 10 times or more to get it right. A year ago, I couldn't have gotten it right no matter how many times I drew it!

I thought I had a terrible writing weekend with little progress, but I'm up to 16,160 words (from 14756) in the six new chapters. Not great progress but still progress!

Last night, I realized the story timeline was off from the geography. So that's my job today, to get the map and the journey times synchronized. At least I've figured out how to do it.