What's Happening in Wardiloth

This is just a short post on what's been going on since winning NaNoWriMo 2013, since I've been pretty quiet about the topic recently.

The answer is: pretty much nothing, and here's why -

My enthusiasm has suffered a major - and I mean MAJOR - lag; if you're reading this, you may know about how I struggled with this in November, but back then, I only knew some of the truth. My intrinsic reward was gone, which was definitely true, but I couldn't pinpoint why. Now I know. Here's why. I've been sensing this for a while now. My story is...off. Majorly. Some of the characters are kind of messed up, the overarching plot is formulaic, and I have way too many planned main characters. I plan to keep most of them, but I'll need to shake up the series completely to do it.

That means a complete rewrite is in order.

Oddly enough, I'm not sad about it in any way. I'm confident that now that I know what I should salvage and what I should throw away, a complete second (or is it third?) draft will be much better than the previous ones. The themes will be entirely different, but I think this is a good thing. My friends and family were understandably shocked about this decision (how could you just throw away such an accomplishment?) but I'm not throwing it away. The file is still on my computer, and I never plan to delete it. I have, however, removed it from being accessible on this blog.

The story world, by the way, now has an ink and watercolor map - the world also got a complete makeover. Incidentally, my art class now thinks I am awesome.

Comments? Please don't be shy.

~ Sophia-Rose

NaNoWriMo 2013: How and Why I Won

This year's NaNoWriMo was different from what I had expected in many ways. Unlike the easy, early and oh-so-fun win I had experienced at Camp in April, you could say my win this year was almost depressing in several places.

But do I regret the experience? No way!

I had known something was wrong all the way back in October, as shown in this post. I didn't want to plan. I was missing that spark of inspiration that had driven me to revel in the writing of Legends of Light, the book I wrote in the spring. So slowly, out of disappointment, confusion, and anxiety, working on the new book, Ice Quest, fell to the bottom of my to-do list and I found myself staying up super late on Halloween night to frantically do my outline, after, of course, collecting an amazing haul of candy. I admit, without that chocolate, I would probably have lost.

Boom! At midnight, National Novel Writing Month 2013 had begun, and I wrote the opening few hundred words. As much as I loved the opening line (If Etimard's entire existence had to be shaken to the core, he preferred that it not be done over a plate of fresh nut bread), my style felt off. Something about this book wasn't like the last.

At first, my word-count climbed upward at a steady and somewhat manageable pace. My first and second chapters I can absolutely say are some of my best first-draft work yet. However, I reached a snag at Chapter Four. This is a pivotal moment for the series, and I wanted to get it exactly right, since I had been looking forward to it for months. That was my downfall. The words couldn't come out exactly how I wanted them, and I slid into a sort of writing depression that I couldn't climb out of for several days. By then, I was far below the par.

Bribing myself with chocolate, which worked decently well, I wrote about 3,000 words a day until I reached Chapter Twelve. Despite the chapter being a lovely sequence with some great lines from my favorite wizard apprentice, my heart just wasn't in it, and I took a second depressed break, which turned out to be emotionally draining even though I wasn't actually writing at all.

At that point, I believed I had given up completely after about three days of not writing. There was no way I could climb out of this newest sinkhole, so I just stopped writing. I'm not proud of that, but I think getting a break was good for me. If I believed I had stopped writing for the month, I stopped worrying, too.

Soon, it was the day before Thanksgiving. I was in-game on Wizard101, decorating my Wooded Cottage and humming along to the Wizard City Main Theme. I was just putting up the wallpaper when something hit me. I'm still not sure what it was, but I shouted aloud, "WHAT AM I DOING?!? THERE'S ONLY THREE DAYS LEFT!!!" And then I opened up my document, still in the early 30,000s, and started writing.

I wrote 6,000 words that day, with plenty of chocolate eaten along the way. That evening, despite being very drained, I was exhilarated. I wrote only about half a chapter on Thanksgiving Day, which eased up my stress enough to enjoy the party with my extended family.

Then came Friday, the 29th. I'm not sure exactly what possessed me, but I took it upon myself to hit 50,000 words. Or else. If Emma could do it, I could do it, too. So I did. That day, I wrote 10,000 words and won, and there was much happiness and relief that night. It took all day, from about 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, but I did it, and that was my highlight this year. I never knew I could write so well (those 10K words had some of my favorite scenes), so fast, and so much at once!

Here's my graph at the end of the month. I was only above the par for about five days.

It looks rather similar to my cabin stats in the spring, only I won.

So in the end, I had my 50,000 words, albeit in a different way than I had anticipated, but I had won, and that was what I had hoped for all along.

~ Sophia-Rose

Improvement

I feel somewhat better after venting; I actually managed to get some planning done. I wrote the blurb for Ice Quest (although it has spoilers for the end of Legends of Light):

It has been over a thousand years since Torvara has seen the light of day, and she finds that troubles in the capital city of Handelan have deeply festered during her slumber. Jormunt, the tyrant who hatched a failed plan to bring down the city’s defenses, has taken the throne, and it is up to Torvara and her brother Etimard from the past to stop him. Meanwhile, Etimard faces troubles of his own as rumors of a mysterious and highly dangerous northern leader spread. While Torvara traverses the perilous path of time travel to find her brother and Etimard works to unravel the northern regime of death, their dangerous paths collide. Soon, they discover that they have only one choice: to gain powers that will end Jormunt’s reign forever, they must embark on the treacherous and legendary Ice Quest.

 I've also written the one-page summary, and I'm actually starting to feel slightly excited again. My plan for NaNo is to write as much of the story as I got up to with the detailed scene-by-scene chart (without it I get completely lost) and fill the rest of 50k with fanfiction, blog posts, random short stories, etc.

~ Sophia-Rose

Confusion

It's October 16th. At this same time of the month in March, I was cruising along in my outline, plotting, worldbuilding, and making lots and lots of blog posts. I was excited for NaNo.

Now? How am I doing on my agenda? Planning is going abysmally. I've drawn out half of the rough pencil outline for Map #1. I've gotten stuck on my outlining on the one-page summary, which is much less than halfway through the snowflake method. I'm not sure I can finish. I still hate my lead characters. As for blogging? Well, I was going to make a post about how NaNo is the most wonderful time of the year, based off the lyrics of the popular Christmas song. I was also planning a post on the intrinsic reward of writing.

The problem is that the intrinsic reward is gone. I feel stressed, sad, and confused. Why am I having so much trouble this time around? I had to drag myself into Blogger to write this post. Even though I've done barely any planning, I feel as if I have a case of severe burnout. I used to be so excited for NaNo. I loved planning, and I couldn't wait for November 1st. Now I dread it.

I don't think I can finish all of this. That means my novel will go unplanned, which practically means it will go unwritten. I have no idea what to do.

I need help.

~ Sophia-Rose

The More Specific October Agenda (no rants involved)

Here's hoping you read the post on the Artsy Theurgist first.

Anyway, it's October, the NaNo website is down for the count, and creative excitement is running high. It's almost time for NaNoWriMo 2013, and I'm so excited about finally planning Ice Quest. Elizabeth is going to try NaNo this time around - her username is StoryConjurer.

This is my more specific agenda:
~ Plan Ice Quest
     ~ Make pencil-and-paper maps for real
          ~ Updated world map
          ~ City map (this one will be hard)
          ~ Abstract map I'm not going to tell you about
     ~ Plot out the novel
          ~ Do the snowflake method
          ~ Make complete scene and plot chart
     ~ Fix up characters
          ~ Make my new male lead less like Rayand
          ~ Make my new female lead much more likable
~ Work out scheduling scrapes
      ~ Figure out how to fit IQ's complex plot into one month
      ~ See if I can get some more of my IRL friends to do it
      ~ Decide how I'm going to juggle this with school
~ Blog at least a few times a week here
      ~ Try a post series about how writing relates to art
      ~ Rewrite the lyrics of a couple of Christmas songs
      ~ Upload pictures of my new maps
~ Stay up until midnight on Halloween
     ~ Write at least a couple of hundred words

Whew! That's a big list! I think I can get most of these done. I have a friend who brought up NaNo on her own, not knowing that I'm planning to do it, and another who doesn't think it's humanly possible to write a whole novel in a month. (What's funny is that the latter is actually very studious - he's exactly the type of person whom I think could handle it!) Let's see if Elizabeth and I can get more people at school involved, and maybe get him to try it, too.

~ Sophia-Rose

You Can Now Read Legends of Light!

Here's the link to the file:  http://sdrv.ms/14iPXWE

In exchange for being able to read the book for free, I'd like it if you could please point out any typos, plot holes, suggestions, etc. I want to make this book as good as I possibly can, and there's a solid chance I missed a few things. Thanks! And enjoy. :)

~ Sophia-Rose

My New Blurb and Various Updates

First off: I originally named my series Wardiloth's Dragons. In my mind, before starting to write Legends of Light, the dragons were going to be the centerpiece of the entire series. The plot would revolve around them. Now, the dragons are more of a plot piece - an important and essential part of the series, but part of the plot rather than the basis for the plot itself. To reflect these changes, the series is now called the Prophecy Chronicles.

Second: I finally rewrote my blurb. Here it is!

A sinister plot by a dark stranger and a series of mysterious accidents force Gabby Nelson into an adventure she never wanted. Thrown head first into Wardiloth, a crumbling fantasy realm, she is assigned to the task of curing the city's dragons. Sent to work with her is Rayand, a city guard with a dark past and many secret regrets. A few reckless actions send them on a dangerous odyssey into the heart of enemy territory. While they face dark legends come to life and the subtle plots of a hidden traitor slowly grow, it becomes clear that the fate of Wardiloth rests entirely on the shoulders of these two teens who won't even trust each other. High risks, chilling betrayal, and tests of trust all face Gabby and Rayand as they search for their one final, doubtful chance: an enigmatic and powerful legend of light.

It's a bit long, but I like it a lot.

In a few days, I'm planning to upload Legends of Light as a free PDF. My general idea is that you could be like beta readers. I want to know how people in my target audience react to my book. More details on that when I actually do it.

Anyway, now that Legends of Light is just about done, I have more time for other things. You'll see exactly what I mean by this in a couple of days.

~ Sophia-Rose