25,600 words into Dance of Desolation now! So exciting that I'm finally over halfway to my goal for my first draft: 50,000 words. The plot is still taking shape, I have no clue where it's really going or what the end is yet, but I fully expect to find out as I get closer. Makes editing a pain...adding in clues to plot twists in the beginning so that the ending isn't entirely out of left field, but it's the way it works for me right now!
Also, reached 2,000+ followers on Twitter! In less than 4 weeks! https://twitter.com/Jen_W_95 I hope that this helps bring my novels and artwork more into the public view, but regardless, it's exciting too.
0 Comments
Up to 23,000 words in Dance of Desolation! I feel that with every novel I write, the process gets more and more streamlined, and thus quicker. It took me years to finish my first, and after that was finally done, only 1 year from start to finish for my 2nd. My third was only about 7 months to finish the first draft and shelve for editing later.
This is my fourth novel and I’ve only been working on it for 1 month since the 25th, and gained 13,000 words from the 10,000 (not even coherent plot but just ideas) I started with. It’s so encouraging, but I’m certainly not infallible. I do keep falling prey to the issues I think every writer, novice or professional, succumb to. Writer’s block, procrastination, issues with voice (either author or character voice), wanting to edit before the first draft is done or not wanting to edit once it is, and just general difficulties! So excited to edit The Last Immortal, though, and add a 3rd book to my ‘published’ pile. Been pretty busy lately! Amidst my continuing writing of Dance of Desolation, I have created a banner that displays my current 2 novels published and 1 coming.
I've also updated my About the Author page in all of my books to reflect those 2 novels, and will update it again once The Last Immortal is done editing (still have a bit less than 5 months before I start that). I'd normally update on Friday, but gotta share these! Dance of Desolation is really starting to take shape. I was stuck at about 18,000 words; this was where my vague outline (I had the idea for the story a year ago, wrote down all of the ideas about the magic of the story, which is where my inspiration mostly came from, but no solid plotline) ended and I didn't know where the story was going to go! When I get to that point, I usually get stuck for a few days before just opening the document and writing...I don't know in what direction, but once I get a few hundred words out, I usually find that something's happened that gives me an idea, so I write about that, which leads to another idea, and so on. SO! Now I'm at 19,700 words and will be at 20,500 by the end of today, meeting my goal for my weekly word count. Writer's block is never a pleasant thing, so it's great to have moved past this current block for now. Since I only have ideas for the current events in the novel, though, I expect to get stuck again. Such is a writer's life! ~ In other news, my Twitter account--which I've been making sure to keep active, following and posting--has been getting more and more followers (a bit over 1,400 now!!) and has been helping with views here, on my art site, and likes on my FB pages. I hope to continue to garner interest for my books and my art! :) The current WIP novel, tentatively now called 'Dance of Desolation', is at 17,000 words! I started with a vague idea and lots of ramblings of just under 10,000 words. Now not only is it almost doubled, it's actually a lot more cohesive, makes sense, and the direction of the story is really beginning to show itself!
This novel is set in the same world, a hundred or so years later, than the events of Dreamscape, and incorporates an entirely different--and very complex--magic system, as well as 'animal' companions of the magicworkers that have far more intelligence and powers--and influence on the world--than anyone yet knows. At my current rate, it should reach the length of a first draft and be shelved at the same time I bring The Last Immortal first draft out for editing! I completed the book cover for The Last Immortal, and found the genre it should be classified as: dystopian fantasy.
Looking forward to reading through it again near the end of the year, beginning the grueling editing process, and finally publishing it! I'm now at 13,000 words into my fourth novel (with the third shelved as a first draft, at 47,500, ready to be edited in September)! It's starting to take shape, though there's still a LOT of the plot to figure out, let alone a synopsis and cover. I expect it to be finished (as in a first draft completed, not close to publication yet) by the end of this year.
In other news, I've been concentrating a lot more on promotion and marketing, both of my writing and my artwork. I now have quite a few social media profiles that I keep regularly updated: Artwork: https://www.facebook.com/jenna.artwork ky306.deviantart.com https://twitter.com/Jen_W_95 https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennawhittaker Writing: jennawhittaker-author.weebly.com https://www.facebook.com/jennawhittakerauthor https://www.tumblr.com/blog/jenna-whittaker https://twitter.com/Jen_W_95 https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennawhittaker |
AuthorJenna Whittaker is a fantasy and science fiction author who is on the long journey to be published! Archives
November 2017
Categories |