Thursday, April 14, 2011

A Long Week and a Prologue

Be it a stomach bug, door closing on my fingers, an exceptionally busy and draining work week, or getting locked out of my apartment at five am this morning, this week has been filled with delightful treats that take pleasure in muting the muse as I call it.  But now that I've gotten all of the whining out of the way...

I really haven't written much this week, and while there are those contributing factors, the truth is I feel like I've hit a point already where it's kind of getting BLAH.  I mean, I was writing, and I liked it, and I thought it was good (can't get confirmation because my friend who is reading it is in fact not reading it due to computer problems, SUPPOSEDLY) but then I hit a point where I feel like I'm just filling space to get to the next round of good stuff.  And my problem is, writing a story makes it feel like it's much longer than it would be reading it, so I can't tell if it's dragging because of that, or if it's really because it sucks.  So the wind has sort of been taken out of my sails for the moment, and I'm having a tough time rebounding with everything else coming down on me at the same time.

How do writer's do it?  I mean, not the rich ones who write full time, mind you.  If this was my life, I feel like it would be way easier, and if I had a problem I would have plenty of time to brainstorm a way to fix it.  With nothing else to drain your creative energy from you, I feel like it would be fairly easy (no offense to full time writers who feel like writing is hard).  If anyone knows any writers who also work full time who have a solution to these problems, let me know.  Because I'll pay heartily for such wisdom!

Now, let's shake off the negativity for a minute, because goodness knows I didn't start this whole thingamajigger so I could come on and bitch all the time.  People who know me in person know that I looooooove to whine and complain (that's sarcasm, but they would most likely confirm it, much to my chagrin), but that's not what I'm doing this for.  Anyway, good job shaking off the negativity, eh?

Okay, negativity officially shaken off!  So the other reason for this update is to let you guys know that I posted my Unedited Prologue on GoodReads.com this morning.  Here is the link.  I read through it and made a few tweeks here and there, but it's still not complete and may have some grammatical problems.  I'm not really looking for any minor editing critiques or anything, but basic stuff like...  Did you like it?  Did it seem like it was novel-worthy?  Did it suck?  Was it confusing?  So in those regards, I'm open to any feedback you guys might have.  There might be spacing issues that won't exist in the book because I'm writing the book in Word, double spaced and properly indented, but pasting it over it all mushed together.  So if I missed a paragraph break, I apologize!  Thanks again for all of your support guys, and until next time...


Dream Big,
Ian

4 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear your week has been crap.

    I went and read your prologue and aside from the very first paragraph and a few word choices throughout the entire thing I think it's exactly what I would expect if I had picked up a fantasy novel in the bookstore to read the opening.

    Now, since I'm familiar with the basic concept of the world and such I'm curious... is this scene essentially the ending of the story and the first chapter will be events from earlier in Flynn's life or...? I'm just curious. ;)

    Next time we chat we can talk a little about what doesn't work for me in that very first paragaph. It's nothing major I promise.

    Hope your weekend is better than the week has been!

    -- Rhi

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  2. I actually hated the first paragraph, but my friend read it and said it was his favorite part, and that is basically the whole reason I decided to post it up and get opinion. Obviously the minor word choices and stuff is all for the editing process, but I am glad to see my opinion on that paragraph being echoed a bit. I honestly think the second paragraph starts in a way that I could just chop the first one off. :) Thanks for the feedback, and I will certainly be reaching out again soon!

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  3. The prologue still stands as my favorite part, It grabbed my attention right away as I was not expecting it. Sorry it took me a while to finish reading, but I'll try to call you maybe tomorrow or this weekend to go over my critique..mwahahaha. But I really like it! When I got to..nope, tomorrow!

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  4. LOL The first paragraph's major flaw isn't the concept or anything like that. That is alright. It just doesn't flow smoothly. It's bumpy and jerky and clumsy.

    You know me Ian, when I write my own stuff I read it out loud to see how is flows so... *shrug*

    It's one of those things you can skip and come back to when you have some inspiration for edits. Oh and I have a book you might find helpful actually.

    Elements of Fiction Writing - Beginnings, Middles & Ends

    I haven't been writingwriting since the baby was born but back in our RP days I read it to help me just figure out some things about my own writing that was frustrating me. Honestly the beginnings stuff was the BEST. Very helpful.

    I was a reviewer on the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award back in March and let me tell you... I read a lot of really good beginnings and a lot of bad ones. (We each had 40 excerpts of about 10 pages and that is a LOT of reading). I think you're off to a solid start. :)

    I was actually surprised to read through the finalists and see some of the ones I hated make it and others I loved not make it into the next round.

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