Weekly progress log

1. Weekly progress log

   #1

   31/07/2015
   Me- still doing prep work mostly today but hoping to start with some writing over the weekends
   Axle- up to draft 4 of story but feeling conscious of length
   Fan- put up brainstorming for a sci-fi story
   Scras- just registered on the Google drive
   Unnamed- apparently this is Val. Not sure whether he's in as production team or also want to double up as writer/independent critic.

2. Re: Weekly progress log

   #2

   May I suggest some homework. Perhaps in addition to writing we could take some time look at some existing Amazon Ezines.  I suggest Bourbon Penn, which has a print version, and Jupiter 42 and Plasma Frequency Magazine. These are cheap, and they are in the format we are seeking to enter. If you don't have a kindle or a fire you can get a free kindle app with your Amazon account. If you don't have an amazon account I respect your free spirited nature.
   
   But if you haven't read an Ezine please take a look at these. We can discuss what we liked or didn't like about the format and content.
   

3. Re: Weekly progress log

   #3

   I do have Amazon Kindle on my PC. It expired but I'm sure that I could resurrect it. Anyway, I shall make a new discussion thread for Amazon ezines. This homework you posted is relevant but I just don't think continued convo on this aspect fits within this particular thread.

4. Re: Weekly progress log

   #4

   I think I am over editing the story now and need to get away from it for a while.  The story is complete (maybe not i a good way) but I found that in editing I lost the flow of some scenes as I struggled to add more information and shorten the piece in general.  Right now it sits at just under 11700 words. Which is much longer than I had hoped.  So I am going to start on another story and leave this one alone of a while. 
   
   When Scras comes back maybe this will get a boast of energy.  This was his idea after all.

5. Re: Weekly progress log

   #5

   Well, at least Scras now has access to the Google drive and it's good to know that you've decided to let things cool for the moment. Yesterday when I saw draft 5, I started to despair of ever catching up to your progress. Anyway, I think it's a good decision. I've really just been skim-reading draft 3 and 4 and can spot improvements over previous version but draft 5 I will really bite in next week (cool down period again cos I skimmed draft 4 yesterday at work while the codes run)

6. Re: Weekly progress log

   #6

   8/08/2015
   Me- I'm under my set word count for this week but at least I've ripped into actual writing.
   Axle- proclaiming intentions of starting his 2nd story
   The rest- no news

7. Re: Weekly progress log

   #7

   I put up a second version of the story.  The second version only has changes to section 3&5.  This second version has seen where Baya states specifically what happened to her in the past and why she has more than a grudge against the Bailiffs.  I was also hoping to show how emotionally handicap the main character is in the new scene, because Baya when shares her history with him he just runs away.
   
   I also moved Baya's calling out of the main character's flaws to the last section, because perhaps his realization of how damaged and handicapped he really is should be the climax of the story in addition to his reconnection with Baya and the destruction of the shapeshifter army.

8. Re: Weekly progress log

   #8

   There was such a flurry of activity when this was first mentioned.  Now it has been about six weeks. 
   
   Ah well, my  first story is written and awaiting review, there are two versions, that differ only in where in the story the two main characters have their chief emotional conflict.  This is not a very conventional story.  The "hero" is not heroic and there is not much action.
   
   I wrote the Parna story that Moon requested.  This also came out very unconventional (still straight forward prose and storytelling, nothing weird like verse or breaking the 4th wall or anything) , the story is about a sandwich and all the action is between the lines double speak stuff.
   
   To this end, I am trying to write a more conventional story, a fantasy murder mystery story based on Strolen content.  I put the first scene of the story up on the google drive.
   
   Moon should have written 1000 words by now if she was following her pace. So that should be fairly developed at this point.
   
   Still not other contribution to Scras's eBook idea.
   

9. Re: Weekly progress log

   #9

   Don't lose faith. Stories never get old. If you and Moon are the sole authors of the first set of books, think of all the cash you will raking in!!!!
   
   Thanks for keeping up on this. I am out till after Sept 14 and then I will be back. Will help source art, I definitely want to read (if not throw in some editing advice to be ignored) and be part of the first annual inaugural bicentennial release!!

10. Re: Weekly progress log

    #10

    According to the pace I set, I should have written far more by now but I didn't. Nevertheless, I had gone past the 1000 word mark but not much beyond that. I'm still "stuck" on scene 1. I'm not really stuck but just feeling a combo of lethargy plus a feeling like some of the content is still stewing in the nebulous of my mind.
    
    I've also been slacking off on reading up on Axle's revised story and the new story (new stories now).

11. Re: Weekly progress log

    #11

    Post what you got, maybe somebody can suggest a solution. It is no fun if I am the only one playing.

12. Re: Weekly progress log

    #12

    Okay, original plan was to post after I got scene 1 done. I'm not really prideful but just shy of showing people unfinished products. With section 1, main problem was really that I had somehow written down unforeseen content that I'm quite pleased with and then I seem to get a bout of perfectionism hitting me. Tues and Wed are my working days but my supervisor is away on conference and I have the whole office to myself so I'll see whether I could sneak in some writing time while codes run but otherwise can't set back to work until Thurs.
    
    I didn't write at all today cos Monday's usually when I'm otherwise occupied in other leisurely pursuits but I started reading your v5 D1 again and got up to end of section 2. So far so good, I think they are both improvements from v4.

13. Re: Weekly progress log

    #13

    I posted up the brainstorming for the 2nd story that I would be writing for the epub. Of course, I'm taking a short break as I said before rather than getting straight back in again. Just want to put sth up there for myself so that I don't find excuses of I'm uninspired etc.

14. Re: Weekly progress log

    #14

    Ok axle invired me to play in this sandbox. I thought about it for 1/2 a day(a VERY long time at Aramax speed) and decided I'm in I've got two short stories and a poem in mind. They will all be fairly short so I will not be hogging the bandwidth.I ask that ,once I'm on the drive,refrain from taking a look at any of them until I'm ready to unvail.One will be about prostitution but will be no worse than PG-13(I'm not writing porn) All will fit in a more or less typical fantasy setting.

15. Re: Weekly progress log

    #15

    That's cool. You can put stuff on the behind the scenes folder if you don't want feedback yet, Aramax. We are rules-light at the moment but being an organisation freak, I sort of categorised things into folders. We have a brainstorming folder and a behind the scenes folder and a Writer Resources folder. And then everything else not in a folder are drafts of stories actively seeking feedback.

16. Re: Weekly progress log

    #16

    We could use poems...
    
    Where is Poisonalchemist???

17. Re: Weekly progress log

    #17

    It's not real progress on my story but I just uploaded 2 more documents into the Writer Resources folder for characterisation and plotting.

18. Re: Weekly progress log

    #18

    First draft of poem, One Arrow is up, ready for HARSH  critics!

19. Re: Weekly progress log

    #19

    Editing for the ePub will be a little different than here. The strolen designed the citadel to place of judgement and ranks. We will let the other readers decide if your poem is bad or good.  Moon and I tend to focus on how we can help each communicate our ideas more clearly.

20. Re: Weekly progress log

    #20

    I hope you guys like it, I've already got another idea for a poem and could adapt the one short story to poem form(the one about the dragon) I think it might work better as a poem.I REALLY enjoyed dredging up the memories associated with One Arrow . I havent written poetry in prob 25 years and forgot how much I enjoyed working with them.

21. Re: Weekly progress log

    #21

    Read, liked it, and have little else to say.  You told story briefly and with drama and feeling. Thank you so much for giving us that.

22. Re: Weekly progress log

    #22

    Cool, Thanx!

23. Re: Weekly progress log

    #23

    
    We could use poems...
    
    Where is Poisonalchemist???
    

    
    Aramax's Work Pile
    
    First off based on axle's like of my first poem, I think I'm going to get more into that>
    1) One Arrow is pretty much done, I have a question about the formating, If I should make the stanzas more uniform
    2)My Empiress, A love /action poem based on the love of my life(wife) and my metaphoric struggles in life,probably going to do this next as I think I can bring a lot of emotional struggle to it.
    3)37 Seconds- Gotta decide if I go poem or short story before I work on this. Based on a Comic book I wrote years ago that got a great reaction from Image Comics, about a Dragon trying to fight/stay awake
    4) The Lady down the Hall-a DARK fantasy tale of whores and whore chasing, slight sexual content but not too much
    Thoughts?

24. Re: Weekly progress log

    #24

    We can discuss this in the draft of your poem, since everything digital feel free to play around with it as much as you like

25. Re: Weekly progress log

    #25

    Ok then I'm gonna go with looking at Arrow in a week or so and look at it with fresh eyes,,also like some other opinions on format n such, but my first inclination is to leave it be.We'll see how a feel a few days from now

26. Re: Weekly progress log

    #26

    Two more short poems, The Vision and Flowers and Dances

27. Re: Weekly progress log

    #27

    Great, what ever you put up is in, nobody is going to change them, they go as you want them

28. Re: Weekly progress log

    #28

    Cranked out another one, the old Man,
    Muse revisited now "a little blood"
    'The Dreamer"

29. Re: Weekly progress log

    #29

    Great, now we have one prolific short story writer and one prolific poetry writer. I haven't really written this week but I've catching up on reading Axle and Aramax's work. We shall see whether tmr I could get back into writing and update my story on the Google drive.

30. Re: Weekly progress log

    #30

    It will come

31. Re: Weekly progress log

    #31

    You guys are going to need a FULL TIME editor to put on me if my day keeps up like this, nothing to do wifes away and the ideas keep coming, I think I'm up to five so far! I PROMISE. This creative streak will end (prob soon) and we all can catch our breaths.Sorry I'm hogging the band width but the muse keeps RIDING ME!

32. Re: Weekly progress log

    #32

    
    Great, what ever you put up is in, nobody is going to change them, they go as you want them
    

    
    I don't like this. Not one bit.I have very high hopes for this project and am in 105%. I don't want my inferior work to drag this down, nor do I want anybody elses.Based on my current out put,I'm eventually going to flood the bandwidth. It CAN'T all be gold(like I think it is,lol). We need to put HIGH standards in place. We need to have somebody telll me "THIS IS CRAP!" Others are going to need this too.We can put everything in if thats what you guys really want but thats my two cents.
    
    Oh and I'm not in ANY way , wanting to be that person,I'm a poor enuf judge of my own work,let alone anybody elses!
    Also ,I have not read anything else on the drive,so I'm not commenting on any of that

33. Re: Weekly progress log

    #33

    If anybody buys it they can tell you it is crap.
    
    But if you want you can set yourself a limit, something like, one poem or three poems for every story.  This way the ePub, should it ever happen, what have a very good mix of prose and poetry. It is very tough to write stuff though without feedback, affirmation or criticism. I get that.  Please be patient, hopefully the process will get more sophisticated. But why don't you think of this as test rocket. 

34. Re: Weekly progress log

    #34

    Ok, I'm happy with my part of the sandbox!

35. Re: Weekly progress log

    #35

    Yay, I finally finished the first scene today (industrial strike and other development worked in my favour such that I suddenly have a day off work). Nothing to really celebrate about given that I spent 2 weeks cranking out an additional 700 words but well, it's a start back to normality.

36. Re: Weekly progress log

    #36

    Cheka is now on board!
    
    I have decided on version 2 of my first story, so now working from draft 3 of version 2. Thanks for the help guys.  I would still like to make it a little shorter.

37. Re: Weekly progress log

    #37

    Bunch of edits, major changes to the old Man and The Mag. Beast,tweaked Faith. Title changes are mostly orgazational but The Night is now Fear

38. Re: Weekly progress log

    #38

    Would like 3rd set of Eyes on 'Faith", only one so far Moon and I disagree on(well in all fairness Moon does have nice things to say about it but it doesn't "speak ') I rather like it
    
    Thanx

39. Re: Weekly progress log

    #39

    Okay , story 1 is "done". It is about 2500 words longer than I wanted and paragraph snipping isn't going to fix that. I am okay with it being that long, but if we can cut a whole scene that might do it. Otherwise could drop all the narrators paranoid day dreams, but I wanted his own backlash against his paranoia to be one of the engines of his downfall.
    
    S1: Exposition: this is pretty short
    
    S2: narrators conversation with Warlord. This sets up the plot and characterizes the narrator.  Could drop the Apheal character all together and just gloss over the narrator's relationship with the barbarians and his knowledge of their ways. But again wanted the narrator to be running from an emotionally demanding situation here.
    
    S3: the narrator meets Baya. I shortened this a lot, but need it.
    
    S4: a summary of Baya and the narrators travels together before they reach the valley. I though I needed a buffer to make the latent bond between the two characters more believable. Could cut this though.
    
    S5: move back to real time while Baya and narrator set up camp and observe refugees. Could drop.
    
    S6: summary of interactions with refugees, need to keep this
    
    S7: Baya opens up to narrator, narrator again flees difficult situation
    
    S8:narrator joins refugees, helps young man enter the city and observed the power and position of the King's bailiffs: If dropped this I would need to unpack the bailiffs powers somewhere else, I hope this presents the refugees in a sympathetic light thus adding moral hazard to the character choice of whether to preform the ritual or not. I also like that the characters attempt at compassion backfires on him. The message here is that he was being compassionate for the wrong reasons.
    
    S9: character torturted, can't loose (I guess we could and just have the next scene being him stumbling through the market with his hands cut off
    
    S10: conclusion, need to keep in some form
    
    But I will keep it at length but if you are going to suggest some cuts this id how'd I'd break it up

40. Re: Weekly progress log

    #40

    Re editing Axle's story 1, my wont in proof-reading is to snipe down individual words/phrasings if word count ever needs to be cut (in this way, I successfully helped my friend cut down a 3500 essay into the acceptable range which is 2000+10%, we did end up cutting a paragraph but that's cos it became a two-liner in the end. But then that's an assignment so prose wasn't an issue there) but this is substantial work for me and plus I would be interfering with Axle's prose which I don't really want to do (not on large scale anyway).
    
    As for scene cutting as per Axle's suggestion, not sure whether I'm on board with that, will need to sleep on it.

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