One of my problems is that I'm so plot oriented that as soon as I have a plot figured out I lose interest in writing the story. For shorts I can power through but for the novel I'm attempting that isn't working. So I'm trying a tactic where I write each chapter as a short then meld them together later on. Wish me luck. One difficulty I'm finding with this is keeping a constant character presence throughout the narrative. If it works I'll let you know how it went.

I got nothing. It's cold but at least the sun is out but it is supposed to snow some more. Here are the links for the week.

I usually write shorts so trying a novel brings a up a few problems I havn'e had to deal with before. One of those is characters. Character here, characters there, it seems every scene has a new character. (Not really, if you're doing that I think you're doing it wrong.) But they do come into the story line and then dissapear for a while. I do have a hard time remembering who is who and what they did and even what their names are. Maybe I shouldn't have celebrated that last birthday.

A bit of a strange title but I've been having trouble getting back to writing after NaNo. Yes, I know it's a long toime ago but I just haven't had the energy or the dedication. So I'm going to try another tactic. I've been told I can be stubborn so I'm going to trey to use that personality trait to my advantage. We'll see how it goes.

What does that title mean? Well, I finally figured out that there are two parts to my epic space opera novel. There is what happens to the characters and then there is what is recorded in my novel. Maybe I just invented a new term for backstory but I'm thinking my term is a only as part of that. Back story include the history and lots of things that don't happen in the scope of the story. By action plan I mean the thngs that happen in the scope of the story but don't make it into the written novel.

New year means new energy, new ideas, new calander or does it mean writing 2013 on checks and crossing it out. In any case get to work. Write that short, crank out a few chapters of that novel, spit out a few outlines for future work and tomorrow... If only it were that easy. I'm still thinking how to continue my Nano novel. I need to finish the first draft. After that I'm not sure but there is enougo of the first draft to do that I'll have some time before I have to decide on step two.

I was perusing my media sources, you know, TV, newspapers, blogs, and I noticed that some had started to come out with their "Best of 2013" lists. It always annoyed me that these would be published before the end of the year. So I decided to declared December 31st as "Unsung Heros Day".

That's right, did you do something great at the end of the year but didn't make the best of because it was already published by the time you preformed your heroic act? Well this day's for you.

I'm officially burned out. Maybe it was the lateness of Thanksgiving this year or maybe the weather. Or maybe I[m getting old and lazy. In any case I'm having a hard time to get back into finishing the novel I started for NaNo. The good news is that I've been here before and I am sure it will pass. After Christmas, I'll play with my new toys and then in the new year I'll get back to writing.

I am toying with the idea of pulling a few chapters out of my novel and turning them into shorts. That may get me back into the writing mode.

When I started Nano this year it was with the purpose of trying out Scrivener and earning the discount if I wanted to buy it. I did earn the discount BTW. But along the way I didn't fall in love with Scrivener. It's good, it just doesn't match my writing style. Along the way I also found Liquid Story Binder. I really wanted to love that one too but it has its own way of doing things that I haven't been able to figure out. Its documentation is all of the reference type and very little (except for some Youtube videos) of the user type.

For some reason I'm too busy to blog much. Don't know what it is but right now I have to walk the dog. Fortunatly the temperature has gone above 20 F.

As I was saying:
http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/2013/12/04/cliches-fiction-writing/

DIY:
http://writetodone.com/4-truths-self-publishing-can-actually-believe/