End of day one, how's it going?

Not doing as good as you, looking at your wordcount! My characters are being weird and acquiring personalities, which is nice and I did more than I thought I would yesterday, so I'm largely happy.

Many great ideas have been lost because the people who had them could not stand being laughed at.

Despite losing 200 words yesterday between what I thought I'd written and what the official counter thought I'd submitted, I have decided to run with my original characters and storyline. The introduction has started a little bit further back and has made the transition into the main storyline much easier. As some of you know from the Durham meetings, I was showing a bit of uncertainty about continuing with my plot but things are making more sense now. As it is I was up at 5 am this morning and have managed to double yesterday's score. Hopefully after this short break I may be able to reach around the 6-7k mark. I'll be happy to keep above the daily average although I have now one or two side plots in mind which could help to add another few thousand words.

I want to die peacefully in my sleep, just like grandpa. Not screaming and panicking like his passengers.

I am now counting down the hours between now and midnight when I can start writing again. Though it is tempting to break my Monday's off rule. So very tempting. But I still have my college homework to do, so that has to come first. I'm right in the middle of the action now though, so it is flowing nicely. And my plan is working so I know where I am and what is coming next, which I am finding is really helpful.

Chelle

I'm actually doing a lot worse than I ever expected D: My original plot abandoned me and I lost all inspiration for it, so I had to start something completely different and a lot less developed than the original. Although I love this plot that I'm writing, and I have enough notes/ideas to keep me going for about a couple of chapters. But then after that I'll be writing by the seat of pants.

I'm just about to start writing for the second day. Good luck everyone, I hope you all do well :)

My plot decided to punish me at about 11pm on Sunday because I had the cheek to actually plan what I was going to write about this year so it has taken me a bit longer than it usually would to get started. But I have a pretty good concept and my characters seem to be finding their voices so should catch up soon enough.

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The plot is fine, the characters are interesting, but it's been so long since volume I of this that I can't remember anyone's names!

2005: The Stone of Alkair Taì (Fantasy)
2006: The Quotation Tree (Children's)
2007: City of the Dead (Historical Fantasy)
2008: Such Things As Dreams Are Made On (Knitting/Fantasy)
2009: Such Things As Dreams Are Made On: Volume II (Knitting/Fantasy)

Got off to a little bit of a shaky start, but things seem to be running much smoother now - fingers crossed it stays like this!

Umm, end of day one, which was yesterday I did really badly. Only 258 words! It's only my first year so... Um I'm trying to stay positive! But any tips on increased productivity would be welcome, bearing in mind I work on my story around school work and times too! Thanks much appreciated.

Not going too badly. Really pleased with my word count so far, but think that the pace of my novel is going a bit too fast. I'm too used to writing short-stories. Might have to add an extra sub-plot in towards the end, but I am sticking to my original plan and I haven't gone off on a tangent.....yet.

Deep in the heart of Bluebell Forest there is a small clearing, and if you look very carefully, you will discover some very, very tiny creatures. Be careful that you do not stand on them! They are the Fairies of Bluebell Forest.

I'm doing a bit better than I thought I would be, considering Nov 1 came along as quite a surprise. Think I might have a few too many subplots going on, but I'm working with a capricious lot so we'll see how well we can get back on track there. :)

"And sometimes there's a third, even deeper level, and that one is the same as the top surface one. Like with pie."

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Almost the end of day two now, and I've got 4352 words down. I'm aiming to get about 500 more before tonight's close. I'm definitely writing better stuff than I did the last two years, and from sending the document to people, quick reactions are that it's aces. So I'm writing to a pace, AND to quality. Hopefully that's gonna be kept up. Here's an extract:

As he left Drinking Inn Comfort (he excused the pun because they did Don’t Blame Us from the tap. Not many bars were that brave) Chingo tried to recall the names of the “heroes” he was meeting. The two from Goblin City had rough names. Gremkarc and… Truss? He’d learn soon enough, he was sure. As for the human, she was called Temma. Chingo considered his own name as the only one that wasn’t bloody strange in the company of four that would emerge from this first meeting.

Chingo began a not particularly brisk walk down the road, heading in the direction of Jeremiah’s Statue, where he had arranged to meet the terrible threesome. He knew Maiden’s Grass extremely well, and this never normally paid attention when he was walking through it, but today was noticeably different. It was a quiet town with boring buildings which sought to eliminate this downside by making their names into amusing bouts of wordplay. Gambling was unheard of, drinking was always done sociably, and swearing in the street was normally met with polite, hurt requests to stop, much to Chingo’s chagrin.

Never before had Chingo seen so many guards in the street. He looked right, and saw three of such lounging on a bench, skins of hot water buried in their hands. They had builds which Chingo had always considered quite alien to Maiden’s Grass. And then he saw the swords and shields. They shone in the sun as if they knew how out of place they were.

Even without their presence, Chingo would be able to tell something was amiss, by dent of the guards being there. The gnome scowled at the world, and continued on his journey. It led him in the opposite direction to the huddled group, but that didn’t stop seeing more swords, more shields, and more bulky men to wield them. He was not curious as to their purpose because he knew they were here for the orcs. Maiden’s Grass had never felt any effect of the orcs and goblins, but everyone knew about them. Everyone knew about the wars.

He suddently regretted his usual fun and games of being late, but that was too late now. Quickening his piece was no option either, because the guards were surely watching him. And whilst the mayor had agreed to let Chingo meet his new party here, it was an example of “under my terms.” If Chingo didn’t know what he was doing, he should have damn well met in some clearing in a forest – not in a village.

But that was key to the whole idea of being a hero. You helped people. People who lived in houses to either side of the grimacing gnome. He knew them all by their faces if not by their names, and this was critically important as a hero. If you had no contact with people, then you couldn’t possibly know what they needed or wanted, and thus you could not help them. Maiden’s Grass was a good choice for this message to be communicated to the orcs, despite the paranoid guard presence, or perhaps because of them. The intent of heroes may have been to help people, but you didn’t have to be an orc to get spit in your eye. Most villagers, citizens, generals, mayors, and the rest of them… most of those were never rude to Chingo anymore, because Chingo had quite a reputation for being twice as rude back. But to an orc? Or to a young human woman?

Having negotiated the route to Jeremiah’s statue, the stony effigy came into sight. It was of the same hue and tone as the rest of the buildings in the village. This was done on purpose, and wasn’t just an indication of a lack of variety in building materials. Jeremiah was the village’s proudest son. Though for the majority of his life he did not reside in Maiden’s Grass, he had been born here, and thus the rest of the world had it to thank when it came to appreciating many of the finest plays which had gone down in history. Jeremiah, Scribe of Story, had long locks of grey hair, a scroll you could bludgeon someone to death with, and a look into the sky, in aspiration; not in awe, that suggested that others could follow in his footsteps.

As he cloud gazed and presented his written works for all to see, an armoured man who had apparently deigned a shield unnecessary stood near two orcs, and appeared to be in the process of asking a few questions. It was quite the picture.

After a fun filled day of presentations and lectures at uni, fixing my pc and re-downloading all the programs i lost when i formatted it things aren't going great! Only got 2K words :/ need to spend an hour or three on it tomorrow to catch up

Cliched fantasy, bad dialogue and emo characters a specialty.

well that is another day done and dusted. Things seem to be going well, and I am right in the thick of the start of the action now, so it is fun to write. Tomorrow I get to shoot one of my characters. I am looking forward to that (though she will hate me for it, and it does complicate everyhting that she is trying to do. I am blaming the plot bunnies.)

So, anyway, how is day two for everyone? going well? not going so well?

Chelle