Monday 5 May 2014

Log 2014 May 4th: Re-Writing

It has been one of those diverse weeks for me. On one hand I got back in the saddle and started work on editing the shit out of my novel.  On the other hand I didn't do anywhere nearly enough work, becoming distracted by other stuff, or failing to focus on the task at hand, meaning I wasted time doing other stuff.  

I'm just over half way through the twelve chapters that make up act two of my novel, and I'm finding it a dreary soul destroying slugging match.  My problem seems to be that I have no sense of when I'm changing tenses, over writing every single scene, to death, and beyond, with running sentences that never end.

I feel like a rubbish writer.

Still, after being distracted by Neil Shuck's Meeples and Miniatures podcast I did edit 40,000 words of an old set of rules I wrote twenty plus years ago.  

No doubt Roger will be along soon to ask does this mean a set of rules for for playing games in the Bad Dog universe.  The answer remains no, for definitions of no that mean possibly, maybe, if the moon is right, and I have spare time.

This week I finished reading The Coldest Girl in Cold Town by Holly Black. I enjoyed it, but it's a chick book.  It's a romance of sorts, but no sparkly vampires I promise.  

It is well written, and I read a fair chunk of it in one sitting, finishing off over the course of a couple of days as and when I remembered to pick it up.  I'm not sure there will be a sequel.  If there is I will check it out, but it doesn't need a sequel as the ending can only go one of two ways; she either does or does not turn.  Either way I'm not sure that any further story needs telling, because it would take the story into well trod areas.   

In my opinion, the biggest selling point  of The Coldest Girl in Cold Town is that it is a bitter sweet story of the dream versus the reality of vampirism.  On the other hand, I had the thought that if Holly Black takes the other characters we meet, then she could go the whole Anne Rice route.  Sorry, this is me thinking with my with my authors hat on, working from a plot structure/story arc perspective of what would I do next thing?

Watching wise, we watched Continuum season two, and season one of Orphan Black this week.  

We are now watching season two of Orphan Black on BBC 3.  Both are sufficiently good that I will come back to Continuum next week, and Orphan Black as and when season two has run its course.

Finally, this weekend was my writing group's AGM.  

We discussed the usual stuff that agendas have.  I went, because I thought it would be good to get out the house, and pretend to be sociable.  The trip back turned into a bit of a nightmare, as I had to use the bus, because the District and Circle lines were closed, and I didn't fancy facing the heaving crowd at Victoria.  

On reflection heaving crowds versus an hours bus ride; note to self choose heaving crowds.  On Sunday we went to visit my partner's step-dad who is hospital.  Not well, and rather frail, after a fall and infections, amongst other things.  Still he is eighty-two, so a survivor.  Hence the day delay in posting this, as we were  bit frazzled yesterday.

1 comment:

  1. "Does this mean…?"

    I've been vaguely thinking about putting something together myself, but I'm sitting back and thinking about what I want the feel of the game to be like for a bit before I commit myself to anything at all specific.

    ReplyDelete

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