What are you working on right now?

Editing The Empress Graves. God, it's awful. I mean, I'm actually surprised I was ever that bad. And somehow, I thought it was good enough? I feel bad for the people who bought it.

Also reading a production email from Dreamspinner about the Hot off the Press antho and telling myself it's fine, I'm not going to get bogged down, I have loads of time...
 
Editing. So often, when people link to stories about writing from Facebook, it's all about cupcakes and soul-searching and "my characters take me on a journey". Actually, from my own point of view, it's a rather technical business involving choosing one word or phrase over another. I rather prefer that.
 
I'm in the midst of redrafting/editing also, and it's technical for me as well.

I spent ages trying to decide whether marrying a badger and making a kettle one's heir would be improved by going for a gnome, or ostrich, or brother-in-law [the individual in question was also male], and in the end went for something completely different.
 
As far as fiction goes, I have just started writing something. We will see how it goes. If it goes terribly, I will blame the encouragement I received from this site. :p

As far as the rest of my life, I am still slogging away at research and indexing for an ethics piece I am working on.
 
Working on the 30th Chapter. Its the set piece of act 2 in which the hero takes on a pack of werebeasts and succeeds, only to have one not fully dead and bite him on the hand. Werebeasts being werebeasts, the only option is for him to cut off his own hand.

The chapter ends with my mc passed out, one handed, and Wyn left to pick up the pieces. Should be a decent end to Act 2.

Oh, at 65k now.
 
Finished a story that I plan on subbing to an anthology. Ended up around 3500 words. I was generally pleased with the outcome although I had to decide between two endings. I stand behind my decision. :)

I suppose I'll get back to Sleepy Grove now that I don't have any shorts on the go.
 
2k today. Was meant to be one third of a chapter but the scene grew and i think the reader needs a step back after it. so its a chapter.
 
Started a new short and have rolled with it...wrote last night and at lunch time today and am just shy of 2000 words already. I thought I had the ending planned but the story changed on me...how did that happen???
 
Leaping from task to task like an antelope pursued by a cheetah. Not good.
Got two thirds of the way through a YA fantasy, then bogged down and now I'm ripping it up and starting over. Writing endless (and I mean endless) short stories across every genre and subject as a displacement activity. Using the excuse that there are competitions out there WHICH ACTUALLY PAY PRIZE MONEY as an incentive. Haha!
Very much doubt anyone will ever pay me for my drivel.
After completing the first novel (130,000 words, adult fantasy, politely rejected by a publisher near you) I was so optimistic, but the more I learn the more I realise how little I know.
Bit of a sticky patch right now...
 
I've got a Sekrit santa to do, which I'm stumped on a little (but I'll get there!) and I'm working on the new Roswell in the forest idea. I'm up to about chapter seven and am pretty pleased with where it's going. :)
 
Still not finished the set piece of act 2, Now at 68k words. This scene has a bit of world building and a brilliant action piece at the end. It also takes the hero to his lowest ebb. It needs to be perfect.
 
Still working on Saxon & Khan 2: Khan't Take My Eyes Off Of You. Hoping to get that done within the week, then finish off Treasure, then crack on with wrestling the hundred-handed giant that is Kingdom Asunder.
 
A while ago, a literary agent hinted to me about my bad style and it took a while for me to pick up on this hint. Recently, a publisher gave me some feedback about my long expositions and info dumping, which I had already picked up on, but decided not to act on until I’d received all replies from my first round of submissions.

Now, I’m on a mission to optimise my novel, whomping my exposition into a barely noticeable dust, exorcising the 'tell' to hell, streamlining my sentences and adopting a more active, less formal prose. As a writer who loves descriptive literature, I’ve been scouring Google and discovering tips to show the scenery without over describing. I’ve also been making it more believable for information to be delivered during dialogue.

62,000 words edited and only 18,000 left to go. I won’t be posting for critiques, though. I don’t mind being critiqued, but not in an online forum; I remember someone saying that their publisher wanted them to remove their critique from this site.

I'm just here to practice my writing, although I do respect other people's guts for posting excerpts to be critiqued. Different strokes for different folks.
 
Last edited:
Getting an online critique of a short excerpt shouldn't be a barrier, Ashleyne, especially now Brian has changed the search parameters so you actively have to pull down and request older crits, and if you avoid mentioning the title it won't show on searches anyway.

I think I might have been the one who mentioned having to take crits down, but that was after I got an agent, and was easily sorted, so it wasn't a problem for querying.

If you have been getting feedback that your writing is a barrier in submissions, it's probably the lesser of two evils. :) but, as you say, being critted isn't for everyone.
 
I do understand what you’re saying, but I guess I’m too much like a kid who bites people’s fingers if they try to help me build my lego castle: “I don’t want any help; I can do it myself.” *crunch*
 
I know I should be working on my Sekrit Santa but a new idea has taken over my writing and a new short is on the way to existence.
 
Just finished editing/re-writing my first novel. Now, I've got to read through it one more time manually,then again through text-to-speak software.
 

Similar threads


Back
Top