Abracadabra!

[theladywolf]

A  couple of weeks ago I decided to make a serious stab at the very last  short story I wanted to write before devoting myself full time to my novel. With great delight, after about 2500 words had only made a dent in the opening, and introduced a fabulous new character and a twist I simply had to run with, I realised I had, yet again, a novel idea

Comments

[bogwitch64]

Oooo! How exciting. Starting something new is never anything short of exhilarating in a myriad of ways (ranging from thrill to fear

[theladywolf]

Isn't it terrifying though? The feeling of it ranges from a Godlike power of creation, to a desire to curl up underneath the sofa and cry like an abandoned kitten. :)

That's really interesting about whiskey actually. I studied every word and deeply. :) For some reason I imagine my world as an overlay on Earth, and the country I am writing about now is resting on Russia. So some Russian influences might eek through. So maybe that's where I need to go. Research Russia. So he'll be drinking wodka instead of whiskey I guess. :)

I've actually bought quite a lot of books about Russia because I suspected I may have to do this. But I was in denial and so I didn't read them. But I think I might have to after all.
Thank you. You've helped me clarify my thinking.

[bogwitch64]

Yay! I was helpful!

I have found this site invaluable through the years: http://www.etymonline.com/

[theladywolf]

You were very helpful. ;)
I've checked out that site. Excellent! I can see I shall be a frequent visitor too. There's so many aspects to this writing a book malarky. :)

[rob_haines]

Good luck with the novel writing! Remember, don't get too hung up on what to call things in the first draft. While it can be a useful tool to help develop the voice, it's fairly easy to go through afterward and do a Find/Replace on common terms.

I've been running into that a lot with my current project where in the first draft I did a lot of 'poison A' and naming wine purely by its colour and region, rather than specifically coming up with names of poisons and creating new names for wines which I'm doing in this second draft.

[theladywolf]

OK, and that also is a good idea.I have a sneaky feeling that I may have to do a fairly loose first draft in order to get a handle on this novel.
It's all a bit wild and bushy eyed(deliberate mistake) right now. Thanks Rob. I've been following your novel progress with a certain amount of envy and admiration for your discipline, BTW.

[rob_haines]

While I'm not entirely recommending it, I tend to find that I write approximately 40K of a very loose 'pre-draft', getting a handle on the voice and first few plot threads, before the sheer weight of not having had a clue where it was going at the start drags me to a crushing halt.

Then I go back, with the protag's voice firmly established, and write the full first draft based on those bits that worked from the pre-draft. It rather goes against most writing advice, but I find it works for me :D

Thanks for the support. I'm finding LJ a very useful tool for personal accountability during this rewrite. If I can't find an excerpt from a day's work that I'm happy putting up on LJ (excluding plot-spoiler material), perhaps there's something missing!

[theladywolf]

Whatever works, works.
I love the idea of a predraft. People who have a first draft are at a very advanced stage indeed. :)
I think what will work for me is a synopsis/first draft hybrid. I've also realised I don't have to write every scene that maybe will or will not work. I can just do a few sentences record of that scene and then decide if I want it. I've heard of a system where the scenes are all written down on postcards and then you can play around with them deciding if you want them or not.
I don't do accountability. I just come here with my problems. :)

[brni]

Names of alcoholic beverages very often derive from the words for water, life, the name of the place where it's first thought to have originated, or the sort of thing it is distilled from.

Whiskey & aquavit both mean "water of life," vodka comes from "voda" (or water), tequila came from the town of Tequila, slivovitz comes from the serbian for "plum," while rakija (brandy) comes from the turkish word "sweat" (as in, the process of the alcohol vapor turning to drops in the distillation process).

Shouldn't be too difficult to generate new sorts of alcohol based on those rules that fit the world you're building.

[theladywolf]

Ah thank you. That is very useful information. I see now how it's all going to tie into my world building. Lot of work ahead.

[kara_gnome]

ha, big headrush, but I'm so glad! I'm the same way about voice and all, I feel that tone and how things sound is very important, and even though it might change as you go, but you just need that starting sound--like a gunshot, "And they're off...!" Well, it's very exciting :)

Very interesting about the alcohol info; I'm more a drinker than an knower, so can't really help you there. I saved bogwitch's link, too; amazing! Anything to do with drunkenness and hangovers, well, I'm your girl (unfortunate heh).

[theladywolf]

I used to be a champion drinker. Absolutely champion. Believe it or not, writing made me cut down. I couldn't afford to waste my weekends going out and being hungover so I started to decrease consumption, noticed I was doing OK with that and gradually more or less stopped drinking. I will occasionally have a few, and I do love a glass or two of wine with dinner occasionally, but I get tipsy really easily now.I won't tell you what I used to be able to drink and stay relatively sober. :)

And yes, the voice for novels is so so important. Voice is what really sucks you in I think, so I really want to figure it out for this one.

[justin_pilon]

Wow, 60,000 words. Looks like the non-blogging is paying off! Good luck!

[theladywolf]

How did you miss the part where I said I couldn't use them. ;)

But yes, blogging about everything is a distraction. Maybe when I write myself out of a day job but not until then.:)

[justin_pilon]

Well, maybe not directly usable, but they will surely be a part of your novel nonetheless. I'm thinking like Tolkien's Silmarillion. Maybe they'll lead up to the creation of something great.

[theladywolf]

You should see the pile of stuff I have created. It's beginning to be quite the reference library of my own making. ;)