What are you writing about now?

I have finally finished the fanfiction I started writing in October 2023. After some final editing, I shall be posting the rest of its 11 chapters here.

Details on what this story is about, and why I decided to write it, can be found here.

Finally got my wife's computer back from Dell - whose quality control and service are abysmal - and then my own computer decided the video won't work.

So I'm having to write on my wife's computer. I was able to bring the MS Word template with all the styles over, but haven't figured out what I need to get my custom dictionary to be installed. It's been taught all the elvish (etc.) words I use so spell-check won't flag them. Plus I have the autocorrect set up so, for example, when I type Adunaic, it automagically changes it to Adûnaic. THAT's a bother, I can tell you!

Plus the MS Word addins from Grammarly and ProWritingAid arent' installed. Arrgh!

Just got accepted to attend a Paper & Book Intensive set of workshops for 2 weeks in late spring. Lots of skilled book binders and paper makers will be there.

Got my computer working again. Yeah!

Up to 16,886 words (from 16,160) for the 6 chapters I'm working on. Not a lot of additional words this week. On the plus side, I fixed the timeline/location mismatch, slipped in a bit of ambiguous magic, and character development / interaction. Plus, I got a bit further on the party's search.

Tried turning my conceptual sketch of the harp into a proper perspective drawing and failed miserably. Going to try again tomorrow.

I found the bullet points particularly good food for thought...

Oh, and add in, "Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl romance" to the list. First, he finds a country-bumpkin to tell the story, who knows absolutely nothing about that romance until the bride shows up for the wedding. Even more unique, the romance is told in a "just the facts, ma'am" manner IN THE APPENDICES! I don't think any other author has ever had the creativity or gumption to do that.

Up to 18238 words from 16680 on the six chapters I'm focusing on. Slowly gaining momentum again. Chapters 1 & 2 are written, over half of chapter 3, and the start of chapter 4.

Taking a few days off with my honey later this week to visit friends and deliver some tools to artists harmed by the hurricane in western NC.

An excerpt from the 6 chapters I'm working on. A human knight and an elven lady are travelling together, this is his first time to journey with her. They are taking back country trails to avoid notice by those agents of the enemy who might attack her or mark her passage.

The narrator is the human knight.

The music I hear for the song is much like the opening lines in this song, The Crone's Lullaby by Gwydion Penderwen:
I've included two endings for this scene. One leave the interpretation of what happened completely up to the reader, with just a single comment by the narrator at the end to prompt them to ponder it. The 2nd ending makes it much more overt.

Thoughts? Advice?

Thanks!!

PS. Didn't realize the editor would label each stanza of the song "Code". Ignore that!

*********

We forded at dawn and turned northwards. Two hours later, we approached a ridge crest paralleling the mountains behind us. Míri dismounted and motioned for me to do so.

Her song changed from a happy riding song to a lullaby as we trudged upward towards a densely thicketed briar patch as high as my horse’s shoulder.



An odd song. And then I noticed a flock of birds hidden in the thicket, carefully watching us. Not one took flight; they just observed our passing. Most strange.

We paused to get our bearings. The tree-lined ribbon alongside the King’s Road was across our path, a league distant. As we descended the ridge, I heard the birds singing, but none left their shelter. And then she sang a new song, which forestalled many a question from me.

Alternate ending, with a more detailed and overt description of what just happened:

We paused to get our bearings. The tree-lined ribbon alongside the King’s Road was across our path, a league distant. I turned back to the thicket and realized it prevented us from being silhouetted against the sky. Those on the road would be far less likely to spot us.

As we descended the ridge, I heard the birds singing, but none left their shelter. It came to me that, had those birds taken flight, they would have drawn the attention of everyone on the road ahead.

Had she enchanted the birds to remain still? Or just convinced them? Either was possible. And then she sang a new song, which forestalled many a question from me.

Forgot to mention the above is a first draft, which means, "I've told myself this part of the story". Lots of editing and polishing still to do!

Is it already apparent the soldiers are close enough to spot the knight and lady if something attracts their attention? If so, I'd say go ahead and use the first one. If not, the second one might be better. The first one does create the impression that she calmed the birds, but the reason why is not fully clear unless the reader would already be aware of it.

Ashley said:

Is it already apparent the soldiers are close enough to spot the knight and lady if something attracts their attention? If so, I'd say go ahead and use the first one. If not, the second one might be better. The first one does create the impression that she calmed the birds, but the reason why is not fully clear unless the reader would already be aware of it.

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Thanks! And good catch, it should read "Anyone on the road" instead of "Those on the road".

I was writing an essay for school, and something happened I think @Ent will appreciate. I only had two instances of 'that', and both of them were in the quotes I was using for evidence. All of your tips have definitely paid off.

Ashley said:

I only had two instances of 'that', and both of them were in the quotes I was using for evidence. All of your tips have definitely paid off.

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😍

Just sent an email to a very skilled songwriter to see if she is interested in composing music to go with the song lyrics in my books.

Here's hoping!

Up to 19964 words from 18238 on the six chapters I'm focusing on. Chapters 1 and 2 are at first draft stage, Chapter 3 is 1/2 done, and Chapter 4 is 1/4 to 1/3 done. Four of the six questing characters are together. The other two won't get involved until after the events in these six chapters are done.

Remember the silk artist, Vicki Essig, who makes silk garments by choreographing the silkworms to do the weaving and sewing? Had a delightful dinner with her and her husband this evening, and got to visit her studio. I got to see this silk apron in person.

I've been focusing on portions of book 2 that deal with the Great Quest. Initially, I focused on the first six chapters of the quest. I've now got a complete list of chapters for the Great Quest along with some notes about each one. Word count is 22,208 so far. There are now 13 chapters in the Great Quest, which just might be a portent for how things turn out...

I'm particularly happy with the notes for the final chapter of the quest, which are fairly extensive. I figured out some fun twists to a well-known trope to make it much more surprising. Such fun!

I have a whole lot already written on events after the Great Quest, so when this quest is written the book will be much, much closer to done.

I'm beginning to clearly see the path I need to write!

I've attached the new table of contents for Book 2.

Master Chapters contain a series of chapters that are tied to the master chapter theme. Some Chapters represent epic tales translated into prose, and have sub-sub chapters called Cantos (or they are just big enough to need sub-chapters).

If the first character in a title has a blue background, it's not yet complete (as in "first draft complete"), but there is a substantial amount of writing in it. If the first character has a yellow background, it's either a stub or (more likely) just has notes and scribbles in it for what needs to happen therein.
If there is no coloured background, that chapter is first draft ready.

I'm going to take the info in the Gondor Lives master chapter and spread small bits of it it hither and yon where needed. I just haven't figured out where that is yet. It would contain too much expository back story and too little action.

Oh, the book is currently at 167,467 words.

One of the downsides of writing out notes about what goes in each chapter...

When I start turning those notes into first-draft quality prose, I have to write 250-750 such words in each chapter before the wordcount goes up.

In other words, it frontloads the dopamine reward.

Have about half the final chapter in the quest proper written. It's got a riddle game with an unconscious participant in it. As you can imagine, that makes it a hard riddle game to win.

david_wendelken said:

Have about half the final chapter in the quest proper written. It's got a riddle game with an unconscious participant in it. As you can imagine, that makes it a hard riddle game to win.

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I'll give you all a riddle to guess how this works.

It's done with the helping hand of a friend and inspiration from this (non-Middle-earth) entity:

"Take the 'el from my first name and add water to get my last name. Who am I and what am I known for?"

david_wendelken said:

I'll give you all a riddle to guess how this works.

It's done with the helping hand of a friend and inspiration from this (non-Middle-earth) entity:

"Take the 'el from my first name and add water to get my last name. Who am I and what am I known for?"

Click to expand...

I'll add a hint, when you guess the name, never say it...