Sunday, June 10, 2012

ROW80 Update - June 10

A Round of Words in 80 Days update:


Wednesday Day 66 - 970 words.  All of this was on the serial.  Deadlines are a bitch, but I did have some work done early, so I was able to work on some upcoming episodes.  I realize, though, that I need to change the order of events in the next few episodes.

This is the hardest/weakest part of this. I realize I can make this story up as I go along, but if I do, I have a harder time coming up with a good title for the next episode to put in the "Stay Tuned For" spot at the bottom.  Which means some of the episode titles end up very very weak.  I do change them a little from time to time but, I think it would be better to try to get the episode done ahead of time, so that I can plan the darn teaser-title.


Thursday Day 67 - 894 words.  I've decided to concentrate on getting more episodes done, so I am not scrambling so much at the last minute.  (Also, I come up with better episode titles if the episode is actually done before I have to put in the teaser at the end of the previous episode.)  Writing on the serial, however, is very slow going, because of the limits on length.  Also, because when you're working with a serial, every episode has to carry its weight.

Friday Day 68 - 1522 words.  Pitched most of Episode 11 and rewrote it.  I found a better hook and will probably give it a better title.  I think I might put what I had written (or something like it) in the book form, because it makes a good transitional scene, but it doesn't stand alone, so I decided to skip past it.

I also did some exploratory writing for The Man Who Stepped Up, and most of the writing for Episode 12, which introduces some more characters, and in which Alex gets an idea for a great diversion.


Saturday Day 69 -1566 words.  I did quite a lot of work on the twists and turns of the next few episodes.  And I did it in little bursts -- 150-200 words at at time.  I think that works for this, though.  Sure, sometimes I end up pitching a section and just writing it over, but I am beginning to get the hang of this modular writing -- especially for a sequence which might be a couple of episodes long. 

I meant to do more sketching today, but I didn't do much.  Actually, the main sketch I did wasn't for publication. Since the next 5-10 episodes will be centered around the inn which the Awarshi are using as a headquarters, I decided to draw myself a floor plan and it helped me figure out how to divide up the action into episodes.

But tomorrow, I'll be whipping the next episode into shape.

In the meantime, find this updates other participants of ROW80 here.  They are growing few.  Summer has a way of pulling at writers toward other things....

See you in the funny papers.

4 comments:

alberta ross said...

the end of every round thins - easy to visit everyone then - you're going well - I tried a sketch plan the other day for a workshop I was doing - was bad bad bad, don't ask me to design your house:( all the best for this last week

Nadja Notariani said...

Impressive word counts. I'm steadily working away on my latest, coming in at about mid point right now.

Summer is a luring time. All that sunshine beckoning for me to forget all my goals and simply soak up its generous rays. Sigh. I have to make myself stick to it during this early summer phase.

And, Alberta, I'm in the same boat as you...don't ask me for a design. Bad, bad, bad....lol.

Ruth Nestvold said...

That's excellent progress, Camille. And definitely "daring"! I would find it *so* hard to write a serial. Although I'm halfway between a plotter and a pantser, I still discover so much during the writing.

Good luck and have a great week. :)

The Daring Novelist said...

I'll probably write some blog posts about the worst and best of doing this.

One thing, it does help if you are both a pantser and a plotter. You need both skills to pull it off. But I think that's partly a side effect of doing this after you've been writing for a long time -- you have acquired a surplus of skills and ideas to get you through it.

As for summer -- I am odd, I don't like too much light or heat. It's a wretched time of year for me, and I don't want do do much of anything else.