Camp NaNo Week 1

Well, I ended up spending most of the first week revising sections of Surge of the Soul Eater. I also did some exploratory writing for Nusquamton Archives.

Camp NaNo Progress Made Yesterday

I sifted through and revised 3209 words as I redrafted a chapter in Surge of the Soul Eater. I didn’t add those words to NaNo tracker since I was reordering scenes with a ton of copy/paste with tweeking to smooth it over.

Camp NaNo Progress Update #1

Yesterday’s word count 4498. So much for taking it easy this run! I spent the entire day writing a new chapter in Surge of the Soul Eater to accommodate moving scenes from the end to the beginning. After that I had to revise the next chapter to smooth things over and tie it all in.

Camp NaNo has Begun!

So let’s sharpen those pencils, fire up the laptops, and get cracking!

This month I’ll be working on both revising Surge of the Soul Eater and writing episodes for the Nusquamton Archives. I’m going to pants the heck out of the short story series while trying to make progress with the novel.

Knowing me with how my brain is right now, I’m not going to be able to settle on just one thing. Current word count goal for the month is 1000 every day. Hopefully I can hit this modest goal – not going to push myself as hard as NaNoWriMo (well that’s the plan anyway but we’ll see).

Any who… I wish you all luck and hope you enjoy the month!

To Rewrite or To Revise

I sat down last night with the intent of rewriting the first chapter of “Surge of the Soul Eater” but instead I ended up just revising it. For some reason I just couldn’t bring myself to start from scratch and put it in 1st person, even as just an experimental writing exercise.

I know what’s wrong with my book. It’s not personal enough so it doesn’t generate the emotional response I want from it. Knowing this should make rewriting and revising easy but it isn’t. I rewrite short stories often, testing POV narrative styles, and don’t experience this much angst over it. If anything it feels as part of the normal process. Some reason this book is different.

Honestly, I’m not sure which will work better for this book. Rewrite from scratch or keep revising what I have? I’m frustrated that in the feedback I’m getting Thomas continues to remain distant.

Camp NaNo Prep Update

I finished writing the short story episode, “The Demons That Consign Us”, introducing Eddie yesterday. Current draft 3,290 words total and it’s nothing like the original Eddie’s intro episode posted over on the Chaos Pen.

Discovering Scapple

I’ve discovered Scapple and… holy cow I love this program! It let’s you build mind maps with it and you can drag and drop them right into Scrivener (if you have it).

Explaining the Nusquamton Project

I thought I would take a moment to explain what this project is to those visiting for the first time.

The Demons That Guide Us – Outline

In keeping with how the original series started, I will be working with the randomized Tarot themes. This story has evolved to some extent already, but still needs to be reworked from the ground up. I think it’s reached a point that I need to start from scratch with it in a way. So here is a very basic “panster” themed based outline that I will be building on.

If you’re not familiar with this method of outlining, click here. Basically I’m just working with symbolism and concepts while writing, allowing the characters to drive the plot forward. And yes, it does make for a lot of rewriting at times but it’s a rewarding process for me.

Nusquamton Archives

Throughout the mortal realm are dimensional beings providing services to humans on Earth that they aren’t aware they need. One such being is Nusquamton, the Pleasant Regions of the Miserable. Taking the form of a simple brick apartment building, and with the assistance of its Keeper, it offers respite to those with wounded souls and the opportunity to heal themselves. In return, it feeds upon the energy generated from their misery. Such the way it’s been for millennia. However the balance has shifted, and something must change if they are to survive.

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