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Post by Athaia on Aug 1, 2017 19:47:58 GMT
I think it's always good to have a plan, even if I rarely keep to it . So these are my projects for August: - Beta for Holly, Chief, and whoever else participates in our beta readers thread
- Beta/review for my review game partner on ff.net
- Beta/review for whoever will be my partner in the two bookclubs on Wattpad
If this looks as if I'm overextending myself with betaing... you'd be right. But except for our group, I'm striving to get as much exposure as possible for my stories on the various fanfiction sites, and the surest way to do that (or so I've read) is to connect with other writers via these games. It's a bit 'I wash your back, you wash mine'...
... y'know, I started writing fanfiction as a low-pressure way to hone my writing skills, but I'm beginning to see that it's also a terrific training ground for dealing with rejection and practicing (or learning) marketing...
Anyway, apart from all the betaing, I also wanted to-
- Finish the third draft of The Good Seeds and upload it on the fanfiction sites
- Finish my research/immersion for The Interrogation (my order list from amazon must make me look like a psycho...) *)
- Finish my plot outline for the original sci fi story which I tentatively titled Star Pilgrim (and it is just a working title, I'm not at all satisfied with it, but it's shorter than 'my original sci fi story', so...)
*) That reading list so far comprises-
- The Lucifer Effect by Philip Zimbardo (The Stanford Prison Experiment)
- A Question of Torture by Alfred McCoy
- Essential Guide to Interrogation and Torture (seriously, that's the title! It's the CiA's KUBARK manual)
- The Interrogator - the story of Hanns Joachim Scharff, master interrogator of the Luftwaffe
and coming soon: - Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A study of brainwashing in China by Robert Jay Lifton
- Secrets of Calculated Questioning from a Veteran Interrogator by James Pyle
- Psychological Torture by Pau Perez Sales
- The Neuroscience of Interrogation
- How to Break a Terrorist
Thing is, I'm terrified to not do this subject justice. I'm probably overshooting by a wide margin, but my reading list would be as extensive if I'd planned to write about rape. There are just some things you mustn't get wrong.
And on that light-hearted note...
... so, what are your writing projects for this month?
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Post by Chiefy on Aug 1, 2017 22:04:15 GMT
Well, that's certainly a handful! I've got a little more free time on my hands here. Oh and do share some of what you find on interrogation, Athaia!
Reading list:
A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin - the second book of GoT, I need to get around to finishing this.
The Tall Man by Chloe Hooper and Stasiland by Anna Funder - my narrative journalism books for English class. They're boring as heck, to be honest, but I have to read them, and soon...
And of course betaing for y'all.
As for writing...
Finish the draft for Blazing Fires
Finish writing the sequel
Finish drafting prequel
Hopefully start working on spinoff/continuation series
Short story for a writing club at school
Yeah it's lot of work to do. And then I've got homework.
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Post by hollyash85 on Aug 1, 2017 23:35:15 GMT
So August is going to be a little crazy for me. I have my brother-in-law's wedding this weekend and then we are taking vacation later this month and I don't plan on doing any writing that week. That being said, here's my plan for August:
-Complete draft 2 rewrite of The Journey Missions: Family Binds (probably 10-15,000 words left) -Continue writing first draft of Cleansing Rain (plan to complete in Sept)
For my writing goals I usually set a daily word goal, usually 1,000 words a day, and give myself every Friday off. I'm debating if I want to keep it at 1,000 words a day and allow for more days off or keep my schedule and lower my word goal so I'm at least trying to write everyday. Guess I better figure that out since today is the first and I haven't written a word yet.
In addition to writing goals: -I plan to beta read for Chief, Athaia, and anyone else who posts something to read on the thread here. -Plan to read Wool by Hugh Howie, The naked truth about self-publishing by a lot of people, Type Talk by Otto Kroeger and Janet M. Thuesen, and maybe start another novel but I'm not sure which one yet. I'm hoping to get some good reading time in on vacation. We are going to Disneyland in CA so we have 5 hours in flights each way (hopefully the kid will sleep) and then nap time back at our hotel.
I honestly need to start working on building my author platform again, but I probably won't do much of that. I haven't put a new blog post up on my website since March or April. Opps. -
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Post by Jendora on Aug 2, 2017 4:15:26 GMT
So, first, I found a Nano-style competition while perusing Twitter. It is called "Writing Wars" and was designed by a couple Nanoers. It's basically the same as Nano November--write 50,000 words in the month of August (31 days, yay!). I'm still looking into it (I know it's a bit late now, but I forgot about it until this morning) to see if I can figure it out, but I set up a goal tracker on Nano for it. I lost a day, so, again, I'm behind, but I'm still looking into it anyway. I'll make up the deficit later.
For Writing Wars, I'm going to begin writing a new original story that I've tentatively titled "A Princess's Honor" (it's a medieval story about a Princess who gets fed up with royal life so she leaves, journeys to the rival kingdom, starts life over as a boy, and becomes a knight; the idea's been done but I'd like to put my own special spin on it. It'll be a hilarious tale of cross-dressing and secrets...and a bit of a one-sided love story too!)
Other than that, I'm going to keep writing my fanfictions (mostly for How To Train Your Dragon, but maybe do some Yu Yu Hakusho and Blue Exorcist too).
Oh, and I want to do a little more writing for "My Last Words"...another original story I've been working on. That's one's basically written in a journal-like format from the perspective of a suicidal teenaged girl, one who actually succeeded. It's dark and very unlike anything I've ever written, but my goal with that one is to accurately depict the inner thoughts, feelings, and workings of someone with depression. Many stories try to do that, but very few actually do it right.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2017 19:13:25 GMT
Dang, I look at all of you and see what you have planned and think that I'm not even remotely as organized. I straight-up don't know what to do with August. I wrote 40k words the last two days of the camp, and that story is hanging right now. It's the second story for an MC in a world that already has 3 other books for the initial MC. Or, 2.5, I guess, with .5 for the second MC that I now have a full stand-alone story in mind. I started two other books towards the end, but didn't get much past the introduction before putting them aside for now. That leaves me entirely at a loss for what to do. I probably have 8 different stories at one point in writing or another, and then 4 or 5 more that are bare ideas right now - all within world that I already have stories written in. I don't have any new ideas floating around, but I keep getting sidetracked with the ones that I haven't finished and then I don't start any. Currently, I'm going back through and rereading a series I've written so that I can do more editing...and then I go back around the horn again with not being sure what to do.
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Post by Athaia on Aug 5, 2017 7:59:27 GMT
I had a good start, I think - I've begun betaing for Holly and my ff.net partner (we alternate, a chapter for a chapter - it's her turn now) and I'm currently outlining the parallel plot of what Hasslein is up to on 22nd century Earth while our guys are running from the apes (and I'm rubbing my hands like a cartoon villain, because it will fuck with poor Alan SO HARD in the end... and it also gives me the opportunity to show how things got FUBAR on Earth and led to the ascendancy of the Apes).
I'm off to beta the next chapter for Holly now, and then I'll finish outlining the second subplot of the Hasslein strand of the saga. I only have 1/3 of the scenes I need for the full story right now.
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Post by naynish on Aug 5, 2017 19:21:24 GMT
I love seeing all your goals, guys! Mine aren't that ambitious, honestly. I just need to: - Finish The Wayfinder's Song (by the 19th, hopefully)
- Beta anything you guys have got
- Help my other NaNo-Buddy to finish her draft so we can do a novel swap
I kinda like putting less on my plate so I can breathe, though, lol.
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Post by joyrachsis6 on Aug 8, 2017 18:31:13 GMT
Heh, so...I know August has already started, but...I've got a nice chunk of stuff to work on too! (especially since I move back into school in 12 days...gah that's soon...) Here's my schedule so far: - Outline "Great Sickness" so that it leads directly into "Western War" (have to set up a big civil war w/multiple nations factoring in, so...)
- Write up backstories for the other four characters
- Finish a couple (AT LEAST 2 chapters of "The Great Sickness"
- Get a couple of chapters for some fanfictions (a Newsies story and a Harry Potter story) written, so they can finally be marked "complete"
- Finish the maps of Eagleton and Selleroak
- Figure out a way to keep Flynn present in the book, even though he's back at Galmont during this chunk
- Write a torture scene/dialogue-free escape scene for Nathaniel
- (During August 21st-27th) Beta-read whoever's stuff is on the thread
- Work on my other projects (Merry Men/Master Guardians/Space Force/Legend/etc...)
- Not die at work.....
Should continue to be a fun August! (so long as people stop trying to steal from Target via my register late at night... :/ )
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Post by Athaia on Aug 13, 2017 7:54:20 GMT
Dang, I look at all of you and see what you have planned and think that I'm not even remotely as organized. I straight-up don't know what to do with August. I wrote 40k words the last two days of the camp, and that story is hanging right now. It's the second story for an MC in a world that already has 3 other books for the initial MC. Or, 2.5, I guess, with .5 for the second MC that I now have a full stand-alone story in mind. I started two other books towards the end, but didn't get much past the introduction before putting them aside for now. That leaves me entirely at a loss for what to do. I probably have 8 different stories at one point in writing or another, and then 4 or 5 more that are bare ideas right now - all within world that I already have stories written in. I don't have any new ideas floating around, but I keep getting sidetracked with the ones that I haven't finished and then I don't start any. Currently, I'm going back through and rereading a series I've written so that I can do more editing...and then I go back around the horn again with not being sure what to do. Maybe this article is for you, then killzoneblog.com/2017/08/the-midstream-temptation.html
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2017 1:17:31 GMT
Thanks Athaia - I do some of what he noted purely by accident I've split to another story mid-stream and been crazy satisfied with it and then gone back to the original with a renewed vigor. I went back to the Lila story that I came up with towards the end of camp, and I'm somewhat at a loss on what to do with it. I have a basic idea of what happens to the character up until things go wrong - but then...nada. Frustrating. I keep thinking about it and thinking about it and I just can't get the hook of what will be hitting this character. Frustrating....
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