A Meandering Writing Day & New Story Ideas #BYBin30

Today, I managed to write another 902 words for a total so far of 12,016 words written of my story. The writing today was just a bit to expound on what happened in the story yesterday. I'm also not entirely sure what the next part of the story will entail yet, so I will have to think about it tonight in order to be able to continue the story tomorrow.

I also have another story growing in my mind, which I am struggling to set aside so that I can continue working on this story. Ideally, I like to finish one story before beginning another one, but sometimes my muse won't l;eave me alone when a new idea comes to me. It's being fairly persistent this time, but I am more determined to continue this particular story, so I will write a paragraph as a quick synopsis of my new idea, and then I will set it aside until I have finished my current writing project.

What do you do when new story ideas come to you and beckon you to leave your current project behind? Do you give in? Or do you set the new ideas aside for later? Let me know in the comments!

The Full Writing Day that Turned Into a Research Day #BYBin30

Today, as the start of the weekend, was intended to be a day of intense writing. Instead, it was a day of no writing, but lots and lots of research.

My story is set in the Joseon period of Korea's past. Occasionally, I get to parts of it that need setting description or even a closer relating of certain roles within the period that require me to do some research in order to get it right. Fortunately, my story is a story within a story, and the setting, rather than being purely in the Joseon period is actually set in a Kdrama version of the Joseon period, so, if I get a few small things wrong, it can be put down to the drama being wrong. But I still want to write this as accurately as possible.

That research can sometimes take me down a rabbit-hole of interesting information and I can let myself get carried away by the research, beyond what is needed for the scene I am writing, and that is what happened today.

How about your story? Does it require you to do any research? Or does your story stick to things, places, people and roles that you are already familiar with? Let me know in the comments below! Also let me know how your writing is coming along.

New Possibilities and Directions for the Story #BYBin30

This image of a fox has nothing to do with the story I am writing; I just like it, so I decided to use it on this post.

I have only written a little bit today, but my story is taking on some interesting *possible* twists. I put the word "possible" inside asterisks because I am not sure what I will do with those possibilities going forward. I might run with them and use them in the story to create new plot twists, or I might keep things on a more even keel going forward and these possible leads to new directions will lead nowhere. This is all part of the fun of "pantsing" a story. I have no outline and no detailed plot in mind, so my story can take me absolutely anywhere, especially since the story is premised on a magical, supernatural event to begin with.

Here is an excerpt from today's writing that will give you a small idea of how my story could evolve:

In the Kdrama this world was based on, Kai had died on that battlefield and would have been dead for days by now. What if the Kdrama was trying to re-assert its intended storyline by correcting the “mistake” of Kai surviving? There were so many things about all of this that she didn’t understand. What were the rules in a world where she’d already turned the rules upside down?

My character Faith is wondering the same thing I am; what are the rules in this world where nothing is impossible? Are there any rules? How much of reality do I want to bend in this story? How much can I bend the reality of this world before I lose my readers? I don't want to go too far for my readers' suspension of disbelief.

And here's another quick snippet from today's writing:

If every film or TV show created a mini world based on the storyline, what happened when the story was over?

Faith is interacting with a side-character in a Kdrama, not even the main character. The original story was written for a different character than the one she is spending time with, and that main character's story has already ended. So what happens to the story now? And what happens to her, as an intruder in that story?

And yes, I know I have to figure all of this out in order to continue writing my story. What do you think? Do you think the story should be trying to correct for the changes that had happened within it, as if the story-world is a living thing with a mind of its own? Or should I just leave it with the one bad guy who is already involved in the story being the main problem these two face (aside from the whole not-being-from-each-others'-world thing)? Let me know what you think in the comments below.

I'd also love to find out how your stories are coming along.

(For those of you unfamiliar with the phrase, "suspension of disbelief," it is a phrase intended for stories. Wikipedia defines it this way: "The term suspension of disbelief or willing suspension of disbelief has been defined as a willingness to suspend one's critical faculties and believe something surreal: sacrifice of realism and logic for the sake of enjoyment." It means you can watch a film or read a book with supernatural elements, or even just slightly unbelievable events within the storyline, and you can suspend your critical thinking on those aspects long enough to enjoy the story.)

Refreshing the original story in my mind and going from there #BYBin30

Image by nile from Pixabay

I spent today re-reading the words already written in my story, so that I could refresh the story in my mind, making it easier to start from the correct point and to remember the plans I had for it. Usually when I re-read something I wrote in the past, I hate it, but I quite enjoyed the story so far, which I think is a good sign.

I didn't write much more on the story today, only another 329 words. (I didn't do any writing yesterday.) I'm becoming more familiar again with my characters and the issues they are facing.

Here's a short excerpt from the story:

As she turned, she started to fade. Kai could see through her to the objects behind. In a panic, he reached his hand out and grabbed onto her arm, squeezing tightly. 

She instantly came back into focus, the strange transparency was gone. Had he been seeing things? Thinking of how she arrived here and from where, he thought that maybe he hadn’t been imagining it.  

She turned back to him in surprise at his sudden grip, wobbling slightly in place, placing one hand on her forehead.

“You were disappearing,” he said. “Did you feel it happening?” 

“I felt dizzy, but it went away when you touched me.”

So that's it for my update for today. How is your story coming along? Anything about it you'd like to share? Let me know in the comments!

Keeping the Story Moving Along #BYBin30

I haven't done any actual writing yet today. It's only 5:00pm here though, so I still have time. I've spent some time today thinking about how to move my story along from where it is. At the moment, my main character is trapped inside a world created by another writer, a world that was set in a long ago past and in a different country.

The plan is that she will, eventually, get pulled back into her world again, but that the other protagonist ends up being pulled back into her world with her. I'm just not sure if I want that to happen at this point in the story or later in the story. I also haven't decided if this is going to be a novelette, a novella or a full-length novel.

But this is all part of planning and plotting a story. As my story moves along, I suppose it will dictate to me how long it intends to be, but in the meantime, I have to figure out how to keep it moving. 

The first day writing this story was a piece of cake. the idea came to me in a dream and I wrote the part of the pot that I had already dreamed in 12 hours, writing 10,365 words of the story. But then I set it aside for many months, and now I'm having to get a feel for the story all over again. when I haven't outlined ahead of time, that fresh, bright, first writing of a story comes so easily, but then the story becomes a bit more work because I have to make sure that, as the story grows and moves forward, everything still connects and makes sense.

How are you doing with your writing this month? Let me know in the comments.

My Story Begins #BYBin30

Yesterday, I took a story that I had already started, a fantasy romance, and decided that I would work in it for this month. Since I am already committed to writing more of the story this month, I also signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo. Now I am motivated in two ways to keep writing, one by this challenge and the other by the Camp NaNoWriMo challenge.

One thing that I like about NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo is that they give me a place to put a synopsis for my book, a title, an excerpt and a working book cover. (I call it a "working" book cover, because it is just the cover I use while writing not the book, not the finished cover or what will actually be used when the book is published.) I have, at this point in time, written 10,365 words of my book - all of which was written in one day. I decided to take that beginning and try and complete the book for this year's Blog Your Book in 30 Days challenge.

I started it with the title of "Alternate." When I was setting up my Camp NaNoWriMo page, I couldn't remember the title I had given it, so I typed it in as "The World is What I Make of It." Then I found the story and the original title I had given it. While both titles work for the story, I took a bit from each title and settled on the title "Alternate Worlds" for this book. That may change again in the future though.

The synopsis I wrote up is this:

Faith likes writing fan fiction, and she's come across a side-character named Kai in a Kdrama that inspires her to write a fan fiction giving him a happier ending. But when she ends up inside the story she's writing, which is alternatively inside a Kdrama world that someone else created, how is she supposed to get back to her own world? And how can she keep Kai from finding out he is nothing more than a fiction character that someone wrote, one who died in the original story?

I wrote it more like a blurb, and it still needs some work.

Here's an excerpt from the book (from what is written so far):

      Weakness and fatigue started to pull him under. Before his eyes drifted shut, there was a bright flash and a woman’s scream. Weakly, he turned his head to find an angel lying beside him. Her eyes were closed as if in sleep, but, as he took in her copper hair and the freckles dotting her delicate nose, she opened her eyes and looked straight at him.
      Her eyes widened even wider for a second and she sat up quickly. 
     “Y – you – you’re bleeding,” she stammered in a startled voice that still managed to sound sweet to his ears.
     “Angel. You’ve come to reap my soul. I’m ready,” he whispered, his voice soft because he was too weak to speak any louder.
     “N – no! I’m here to keep you from dying. You can’t die like this.” Her eyes widened again and she put her hand against her mouth, as if startled to hear the words that came from it.

Again, it still needs some work, but the editing can begin once the book is complete. You can find my Camp NaNoWriMo page here.

How are you doing with your story? Have you come up with an idea yet? Are you already writing it? Are you editing instead? Let me know in the comments. 

Welcome to the Blog Your Book in 30 Days Challenge 2019! #BYBin30

Blog Your Book in 30 Days is a challenge to write the first draft of your book by posting one chapter a day for an entire month. During the month of the challenge, helpful blog posts will be shared on the website.

The challenge is here to help you write the book you have always wanted to write but have never written. Whether you want to write a memoir, a fiction novel, a comic book, a children's chapter book or middle grade novel or a non-fiction book, this challenge is going to help you get it done. 

Every day, you are going to do any research that is needed for the day's writing and your are going to post a blog post of one chapter of your book. By the end of the month, you should have 30 chapters and a completed first draft.

This way of writing your books works best if you are planning to self-publish your book, but there are some instances where blogs have garnered the attention of agents and publishers and resulted in book deals. Those instances are the exception though, not the rule.


Rules:

Sign up. You will not be entered into the prize drawing unless you are signed up. Go here to sign up.

Every day, you are going to do any research that is needed for the day's writing and your are going to post a blog post of one chapter of your book. By the end of the month, you should have 30 chapters and a completed first draft.

You have from the first of the month until the 30th of the month to complete the first draft of your book. No starting early, unless it is only research and outline you are working on beforehand.

On the 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th and 30th of the month, you will do a quick comment on that day's blog post posted on this blog about that week stating how the week has gone for you and anything you have learned or achieved from the challenge that week. Your comment might be quoted in the Blog Your Book in 30 Days book when it comes out or later in the blog itself and, by commenting, you are giving permission for your quote to be used.

Each day, you are to write one chapter and then copy and paste it into your day's blog post. By the end of the challenge, you should have a final word count. On the 30th, your comment will include your final word count and whether or not you have finished your first draft. Everyone who completes their first draft will be entered into a prize drawing. (The prize is yet to be determined.) Every time you leave a comment on (one comment per post) a blog post, you will earn one more entry into the drawing. Your comments on the 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th and 30th will earn you two entries into the drawing, and my favourite comment from each of those five days will earn an extra entry.


This challenge is self-driven and monitored. It is a way to keep yourself accountable as you write.

Amended Rules:

Alternate plan for traditional publishing #BYBin30

A few people have brought up the point that, if they choose to go the traditional route to publishing, having their entire book published on their blog may very well work against them in getting a book contract.

There are some optional ways of following this challenge, in those instances.

1. Write your one chapter every day, but only post on your blog about the writing, such as how much you wrote, what part of the story you were working on, what was easy about it, what was difficult about it, whether it stayed on plan or strayed from the original plot idea, etc.

2. Write your one chapter every day, but only post a small (one paragraph) excerpt from that day's writing as your blog post for the day.

3. Blog your book as per the original plan, but leave out important chapters, which will only be seen in the finished product. (This is a good idea even for those who plan on self-publishing.)

4. Don't blog your book at all, but use this challenge as the impetus to write a chapter a day anyway.

5. Blog about subjects related to your book or about topics your readers will enjoy reading about. (This is a great marketing technique.)

6. Do a 30 day promotional blogging adventure, with prizes and give-aways. Have your readers answer questions to previous books you've written in order to win prizes. Let them give you input on where they see you next book going or who their favorite characters are in your stories. There are many ways to make this month-long writing challenge a great marketing strategy for your book before it even becomes available.

I'm sure there are other ways to go about this and still be part of the Blog Your Book in 30 Days challenge, but these are a few ideas for you to consider.

Don't forget to follow the Blog Your Book in 30 Days Facebook page. (If enough people join the challenge, we'll create a Facebook group for discussing our books.)

You may also take a previously written book and use this challenge to edit the book, writing about the process each day in your blog.

And, if you don't want to blog at all, you can even just use this challenge as motivation to keep you writing and comment each day on the day's post, letting us know about your progress/word count/whatever.

Note: In the first year of the challenge (2014), I wrote a chapter a day on how to blog a book in 30 days. Feel free to read through those previous informative posts. (I also blogged a 30-story collection of mermaid-themed flash and short fiction as well as editing a non-fiction book - 28 day fitness challenge - that I wrote in the previous February.) In the second year of the challenge (2014), I added more chapters on how to blog your book in 30 days and also wrote stories for another anthology with different characters all set in the same world I had created. In the third year of the challenge (2015), I added more chapters on how to blog your book in 30 days, but did not post daily. In 2016 and 2017, I did the same, and I skipped running the challenge entirely in 2018. But this year, 2019, I'm back. I will be posting more informally through this year's challenge, all about the romance set in a fantasy world that I am writing. I hope you are ready to join me again this month! Let's do this!