Monday 5th April 2021

Technically, this was supposed to have been a bank holiday.  But I have a number of projects on the go and I find myself in one of those weird times where I seem to be productive without really trying.  Perhaps it’s because I’m focused on the now rather than getting frustrated about the future.  Or perhaps it’s because I’m not waiting on anyone.

The Accursed is continuing to be written.  These are just introductory chapters, helping me find out if things like voice and theme work.  Ideally I need to write about 20,000 words of this.

This book has a series of flashbacks and it’s the first flashback that appears in these opening chapters that is causing me some problem.  These should be punchy and to the point, and whilst I can use them to do things like establish the world and its magic system, the version I’m currently working on feels too drawn out.  I want it to get to the point.

So that might need a rewrite to make it a bit more punchy.  That may mean changing more than just the approach.  I might have to make some story changes.

I’m still feeling quite happy with this project, but perhaps because of the flashback scene,  I feel I need a bit of a tighter grip on the writing.

Currently all my outlines are in MS Word.  I have one document with a template that I’m using as I build these outlines.  I’ve foregone transferring to Scrivener and the more rigid scene structure as it’s likely that for a lot of these projects they’ll not get much further than the opening chapters.  But I feel the Accursed needs the control that will bring.  Then I can start doing chapter plans.  It’s looking likely that the Accursed will be the next book I write.  My agent seems to like the concept, but I want to get her feedback on early chapters.

So part of today was starting the task of moving my template outline into Scrivener.  It’s a relatively easy conversion.  My template has 27 chapters.  I will create 27 scene cards in Scrivener’s chalkboard and then copy the outline notes into the metadata.

The challenge of this book is that it follows a large cast of characters.  I feel for it to work, they all need their own arc, even if that arc is something supplementary to the main story.  It may be something that happens in the background, but I need to feel that each of them has the feeling of some sort of growth even if we don’t dive too deep into it.

Already, my chapter notes are more expansive than they’ve been on other projects,  but they’re messy and as such I’m writing these sample chapters without direction.  Next I need to really dive into them and tidy them a bit, ensuring that hints of character arcs are seeded for the secondary characters when needed.

I have a strong idea of theme, and voice seems good, so  I’m going to be doing this WHILST continuing to write.

I managed to get some more words out today and did a number of writing sessions.  Numerous sessions for 30-40 minutes seems to be my most productive.  Between that I’ll jump on Warcraft for a bit.

I got a lot done and, because it was a bank holiday, finished my day early.  Instead of sitting on the support bubble sofa and watching TV, I sat at the table and leveled another character.  My monk was at level 55, but I powered through, fueled by conversation and episodes of 90 day fiancé  (don’t judge me, it’s mindless TV my support bubble enjoys) and finished the night leveling another character to 60.

That’s 2 in 2 days!

As you can imagine, I’m loving this spurt of productivity and want it to continue.  I’ve got the sample chapters of the Accursed to finish, another 2 outlines to do, and a pitch that needs to go out early this week.

Oh, and I’ve got more Warcraft characters to level.  It’s gonna be another busy week, even if I didn’t really get a break over Easter.

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