goals, and first lines
Jan. 1st, 2012 04:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzfishLast year I had writing-related goals, and for the most part they didn't work out at all. (Success: revised "One Only" and applied to VP; partial success: posted to DW a minimum of once/week and on average probably close to 3x; failure: everything else.) Eh. Like I said earlier, I choose to look at last year as a foundation that will need further development, and this as a year for building on it.
This year, as mentioned, I want to finish six stories. That's drafting one a month, alternating with revising one a month. Usually not the same one, to give me some distance and avoid burnout. (I say "usually" because the deadline for the Bibliotheca Fantastica anthology is 15 March, and by my schedule I'm not revising Bookwyrms until April, so something's gonna give.) I'd also like to have those six stories out on submission more or less constantly as soon as they're done. That's the easy part, though. (I get to play with spreadsheets and organizing things!)
As a secondary writing-related goal, I still want to surround myself with people who Do Things. These people will have to be in person, I expect: the thought of a DW or LJ community has some merit but ultimately the internet isn't sufficient. I need the physicality of interacting with other human beings, the tangible drive and excitement. I can get it sporadically at cons, with this year are Wiscon, Readercon, and World Fantasy at least; possibly more depending. I'll need to find some way to get it more consistently and here.
In the meantime, I keep typing away.
And because it's been awhile, the first lines of things I'm at least nominally working on, with status reports.
1. Untitled / "Bookwyrms"
At ten in the morning, the campus library was quiet: no undergraduates lost in the incomprehensible catalog system, no grade-school tours, no bored business majors researching group projects for freshman English.
In progress; first draft deadline 1 Feb.
2. "The Best Years of Someone Else's Life"
The jewelled egg hovered six inches above the table, rotating slowly.
The concept came to me sometime in 2010, and I took some notes and brainstormed a bit before deciding there wasn't a story there. Then in late October I stumbled over the notes, thought some more, and found a story in it after all. Mostly just notes at this point; the first scene's about half written.
3. "Southbound"
Two sets of footsteps echoed in the tiled hall. Voices murmured and grew still at their approach, to murmur again once they were past. No one had seen Lord Fuchsia outside the council chamber in days; now the quiet slap of his leather soles was accompanied by the iron clank of the boots of Khaibys of the Guard Incarnadine.
Started in July, originally to submit to an anthology a friend was putting together. The anthology deadline was December 15, but the story's got some promise. Again, mostly notes; 1.5 scenes written, plus half of another that may or not belong in this story.
4. "One Only" aka That %&$ Space Story
The front hatch of the pod creaked as it swung open. First Officer Ling stumbled out and caught herself against the wall of the GSS Audacity's coldsleep bay.
Needs editor-requested revision and expansion; tentative deadline 1 March unless it gets bumped for "Bookwyrms" revision.
5. "Junkyard Dog"
"I didn't hear anything."
Snap.
"Okay, I heard that."
4300 words' worth of characters and setting in need of a plot. Or rather, of picking one and following through on it.
6. Untitled / "Greenwood"
One could, if one wished, cut straight through the greenwood twixt Hillestang and Arx.
"Write something meant to be read aloud" exercise from Le Guin's Steering the Craft. Needs a "what happens next and why" brainstorming session.
7. Untitled / "Words"
When they kicked in the door to the small attic apartment they found Edard Sherko sitting alone at a table, reading Kalariov's last poems.
While I know the structure for this and in theory just need to sit down and write it... I don't much like the idea of writing to the structure I have. Which means I need to either redo the structure or throw out the story.
... that's more than I thought I had. At least I'll not be starved for story ideas this year.
This year, as mentioned, I want to finish six stories. That's drafting one a month, alternating with revising one a month. Usually not the same one, to give me some distance and avoid burnout. (I say "usually" because the deadline for the Bibliotheca Fantastica anthology is 15 March, and by my schedule I'm not revising Bookwyrms until April, so something's gonna give.) I'd also like to have those six stories out on submission more or less constantly as soon as they're done. That's the easy part, though. (I get to play with spreadsheets and organizing things!)
As a secondary writing-related goal, I still want to surround myself with people who Do Things. These people will have to be in person, I expect: the thought of a DW or LJ community has some merit but ultimately the internet isn't sufficient. I need the physicality of interacting with other human beings, the tangible drive and excitement. I can get it sporadically at cons, with this year are Wiscon, Readercon, and World Fantasy at least; possibly more depending. I'll need to find some way to get it more consistently and here.
In the meantime, I keep typing away.
And because it's been awhile, the first lines of things I'm at least nominally working on, with status reports.
1. Untitled / "Bookwyrms"
At ten in the morning, the campus library was quiet: no undergraduates lost in the incomprehensible catalog system, no grade-school tours, no bored business majors researching group projects for freshman English.
In progress; first draft deadline 1 Feb.
2. "The Best Years of Someone Else's Life"
The jewelled egg hovered six inches above the table, rotating slowly.
The concept came to me sometime in 2010, and I took some notes and brainstormed a bit before deciding there wasn't a story there. Then in late October I stumbled over the notes, thought some more, and found a story in it after all. Mostly just notes at this point; the first scene's about half written.
3. "Southbound"
Two sets of footsteps echoed in the tiled hall. Voices murmured and grew still at their approach, to murmur again once they were past. No one had seen Lord Fuchsia outside the council chamber in days; now the quiet slap of his leather soles was accompanied by the iron clank of the boots of Khaibys of the Guard Incarnadine.
Started in July, originally to submit to an anthology a friend was putting together. The anthology deadline was December 15, but the story's got some promise. Again, mostly notes; 1.5 scenes written, plus half of another that may or not belong in this story.
4. "One Only" aka That %&$ Space Story
The front hatch of the pod creaked as it swung open. First Officer Ling stumbled out and caught herself against the wall of the GSS Audacity's coldsleep bay.
Needs editor-requested revision and expansion; tentative deadline 1 March unless it gets bumped for "Bookwyrms" revision.
5. "Junkyard Dog"
"I didn't hear anything."
Snap.
"Okay, I heard that."
4300 words' worth of characters and setting in need of a plot. Or rather, of picking one and following through on it.
6. Untitled / "Greenwood"
One could, if one wished, cut straight through the greenwood twixt Hillestang and Arx.
"Write something meant to be read aloud" exercise from Le Guin's Steering the Craft. Needs a "what happens next and why" brainstorming session.
7. Untitled / "Words"
When they kicked in the door to the small attic apartment they found Edard Sherko sitting alone at a table, reading Kalariov's last poems.
While I know the structure for this and in theory just need to sit down and write it... I don't much like the idea of writing to the structure I have. Which means I need to either redo the structure or throw out the story.
... that's more than I thought I had. At least I'll not be starved for story ideas this year.