Goals for 2014

It's been a while since I posted here. More than a while actually - probably a couple of years. I tried, at one point or another, to start a new blog, but that didn't grab my attention, so I decided to come back to this one.

So - Goals for 2014. This will be a big year for me - last year of university, first year I won't actually have to work to support myself and pay my rent (scholorship ftw. Finally). I'll also be on placement a lot more, so that means more time in the back of the ambulance, more experiances, more life. More death, probably.

I'm currently halfway through a contemporary fantasy, so I want to finish that within the next month or so. My first drafts are almost always fast, because I am, at heart, a Pantser (ie, I make shit up as I go along), so that shouldn't be too difficult. I also think the thing will be fixable, which is a marked improvement on previous attempts at novelling.

I know enough about structure now that I won't be literally re-creating the story from scratch in the second draft.

All these factors combine to mean two things: I will have spare time on my hands for the first time in ages, and I will have to use it wisely. I need to find an actual job at the end of this year - not a supermarket one, but I'll have to be presentable as a paramedic. That makes me wary. I'm 22, I'll be 23 when I start applying for work - older than some of my cohort, but young in the scheme of things. Age matters for something, I think, in professions like this, so I'll have to show experiance through experiances rather than just time spent on this planet.

That equals voluteering, hopefully in something related to healthcare. My scholorship is tied up in tutoring for the university, so that will keep me busy too.

This year I also want to have an actual go at starting a writing career instead of just writing. I've been just writing since I was 13. I've completed 7 books, not counting total revisions. I think I need to actually start looking at what to do with all this.

To that end, I've devised a plan, of sorts. Whether it'll hold is another matter entirely, but here it is:

The first draft of a book, and a readable, "as good as I can make it" version of the same book every four months. So two months for the first draft, two months for the "ignore it till you forget it" bit and the general revision and editing.

Two short stories a month. Find a beta, a permanant beta, and make these as good as I can. Create a list of magazines, and send the lovelies out on a roster. If I have 24 stories in circulation by the end of 2014, one of two things will happen - either I'll be published, or I'll have learnt enough to be published the year after. Either is a win.

Beta someone's story now, with the goal of having them beta my own novel later in the year. I have time now, being on summer break, so I should build up brownie points rather than trying to cram beta-ing into semester time.

So, in summation, at the end of the year I want: A job, in my actually profession. At least one story published. Two novel length stories finished and ready for shopping.

This list is quite wishful, and I'm not sure if it'll get done, but worst comes to worst, I'll just disappoint myself. And I get over disappointment quite quickly, so I don't see any harm in it.

Happy New Year all.  :)

Plotting and Hunting Down Research

Or basically, the realisation that I might actually have to do some pre-emptive planning.

Now, me, I'm not a planner. I quite like coming up with characters mid book - it keeps me interested (the books that I have planned out have generally been abysmal failures). But generally, I write things that are set in worlds that I make up. So I don't have to know too much to actually start writing them. And what I do need to know, I can ask professor google as I go along.

A crime book, however, is different. There's red herrings, plot twists, clues, psychological actions... if I don't do some pre-planning before I start, I'll end up with 10 drafts. And I've quite gotten used to the idea of doing under five drafts. I've even started to think I might be able to aim reasonably for three drafts before I send it off to beta readers.

So, I'm actually going to have to plan things out. And given that this story involves the police, fraud crime, and the AFP (Australia's version of the FBI), I actually need to think about more than the plot. Plausibility and accuracy are actually entering into the equation. Previously, it was more a matter of making the world rational, coherent and consistent (which was quite a struggle at times in itself).

But this is based in the real world. Not alternate reality, not fantasy, not science fiction. The only stuff I've written in the real world before have been short literary pieces. And the first story that chooses to poke its head up in our realm is a novel which requires me to know a lot of the in an outs of police work.

Amazing what you can find out from the AFP annual report though :D

If there's silence around here, it'll be because I'm suddenly busy again. I've got editing, research, and now a new beta project :D Middle grade fiction. I really did enjoy betaing it last time, so hopefully it'll be good as it was last time :D

Enjoy all~

Sian

Fixing Things

Beta's are wonderful people. They truely are. But sometimes, they say something and you feel like hitting your head against a wall.
Often, you feel that way because they're right. For example, Beta A had trouble believing that my characters would be as perceptive as they are. Point taken. They probably wouldn't. I can fix that.
With beta B, I think we may differ in writing styles. But that is good. It's still headbanging, but I look at what she points out, weigh it up, and go in again.
Beta C doesn't really like my main character (something I've tried to fix). But she likes my writing. So does Beta A.
However, being me, I won't be happy unless I get some type of perfection :D

So yes. This is basically a post saying I will do it. And how I will do it.

Beta A reads everything first. I will fix that plot thing by this weekend.

I'm hoping to have fixed the characters thing with changes to my first chapter, and some of the others. I've also removed characters.

I will fix chapter 1 by next Wednesday. What beta B suggested changing was largely editorial stuff - not that much to do with the plot. Which is good.

I will finish reading through Beta A and B's work by tomorrow, and send them off their chapters. On Thursday afternoon, I will do that plot fixing. On Friday after noon, I will plan my other story out more, and attempt to write something else. Maybe see if I can do a short story (surely I can at least finish one without turning it into the start of a book.)
Saturday - probably more plot fixing
Sunday - More of the same. If I'm finished by then, then I will go over my Beta's chapters.
Monday - fix that first chapter.

After that, it depends on the feedback I get. *sigh* will probably have to find one last person to look through this all. After I've looked through it.

The point of this post: I will do these things. I will fix things. Each time a beta comes up with a problem, an answer comes fairly naturally to me. Things have not fallen apart yet. I must breathe.

Off to read my beta's chapters. Wish me luck for the week ahead.

Practicalities

Well, here we are. After a couple of hours of procrastination, I finally rewrote what I needed to, and have one last section to tackle. Admittedly, it’s a big one, but I should be done with it by tomorrow.
And then that's it. No more continuity errors, no more decisions that don't make sense. Kira's meeting with Marik is still slightly coincidental, but nowhere as near as coincidental as it was last time.
So I have a complete and utter manuscript, with only one small coincidence, and the rest of it relying on the decisions of the characters, even if at times we can't see them making the decisions.
Four drafts, each one written from scratch, and finally the thing makes sense.
And then we come to the practical side of things. I want to sell this. If I can't, so be it, but I want to try. If it doesn't work, then I'll just move on to the next book "Varrick" and if that doesn't work, onto "NKFH". Eventually something will work. Even if it's ten books into the future, something will work.
But a certain amount of coldness is needed if I'm ever going to get this thing published. There are certain actions that have to be taken.
1. I have to read the entire things through on the computer, from start to finish, and not any irregularities
2. I have to print the entire thing out double space, with no overlapping chapters. Then I have to put them in plastic pockets, pick a chapter at random, and edit my little heart out
3. I'm going to make the series four books, not five. It will mean getting rid of some subplots, but it'll be a hell of lot easier to sell: this is the first in a four book series.
4. Plan out the other four books
5. Write a synopsis and query letter.
6. Put the entire thing away/get others to look at it.
7. Write something else
8. Edit my little heart out all over again.
9. Send it out.
10. Hope and pray
Should be fun… yay. Sarcasm intended. :P

Varrick Plan

Well, I finished plans for one book. The Sci-fi one that I was talking about earlier. It's very brief, not much in the way of how things are going to go or how anyone is going to solve a problem, but it's better than what I started with. It has a start, a middle and an end. It's going to be rather long. I also have a faint and not very happy feeling that after I write it once, I will have to add a heap of detail and thoughts. Then I get to edit and cut things out.
Going to take a while, I think.
This is good though. It's nice to think about something else other than: The Manda, and Varrick had a nice way of coming into my head. No plot, but characters pretty much full formed.
I also realised something else. A lot is going to happen, but the overarching story won't have any hidden mechanisms behind it - no grand conspiracies or anything like that.
However, I have characters that all have substantial things to hide, which should provide more than enough in the way of plot variation.
Now, I just get to write the thing. And edit my way through The Manda. I split it into four sections today - I plan on editing the four sections, one a week, and then send it round to whoever will look at it, and ask them to comment on where they think it's weird.
Then, I might as well send it to someone who, if they're insane enough, will publish it. One can only hope.
I have been slightly more productive, but I keep twaddling off to uselessly browse the internet or sleep, or do something else. I like the fact that I have two things going on at the moment. If I line edit for more than an hour, I start screaming. Being able to switch to the more creative side of things will be nice.
Tomorrow, before I go out, I will write. Some would argue that I should be studying Chinese, but I get a fair amount of study out of it simply by living here. And Chinese is not my favourite language in the world. It's just a language of necessity.
So, I plan to do something productive with my remaining two and a half weeks. Must concentrate...

Plans, plans, plans

Well. I get home in three weeks. Kind of weird, actually. My parents probably think I've forgotten about them, simply because there isn't that much to write emails about, and I keep thinking "well, I'll see them in 3 weeks."
I will write to them tommorow. That's plan number 1
Plan number two - stop swearing. It's a habit that is easy to pick up when no one understands you.
And then what to do with the next six months.
If I don't force myself, I will just waste all that time.
I have people reading: The Manda. I will get more people to read it.
Then I have tow other books. One is Sci-fi, pure and simple, but more the sort of Sci-fi I like than what my father reads, which involves lots of figthing and spaceships.
My book still involves a fair amount of fighting and spaceships, but focases on the relationship between three key people. That's what I'm most interested in. The fighting plays a large part in that, so I'm going to have to figure out how to write a space battle. Good luck to me. Hugo award winners, here I come.
Then there is another book. This one won't be plotted, not in the way the scifi one has already been. I'm not even sure how it's going to go.
All I have at the moment is a aborigional girl of 18 meeting a white australian boy by the sides of the river. What happened to get them there - has something to do with a book. His brother is somehow going to be involved with the girl. She doesn't even have a name yet.
I can write this book from the boys perspective. I would fall flat on my face from the girls perspectibve. As it is, I'm going to have enough trouble getting her right.
Something tells me I have to get her right. And the boy. I make him a stereotype and the whole point of it all will be lost.
Weird, isn't it, that I can go from young adult speculative to something that is firmly sci-fi, to something that has no magic, and what seems already to be a lot of themes.
That's what I want to do, in the next six months. I want to edit and finsh the Manda, so I can send it to someone. I want to write my sci-fi book (after reading a ton of sci-fi fiction. Not that I haven't before, but being 18, it's been decidely more young then what I'm aiming for)
And I want to finish the research for this book. at the moment all I have is a scene. I hope something grows from that, because I really want it to.
Motivation is what I lack. That or structure. So I have to do two things - come up with a structure, and then get motivation.
Sound simple. I will obviously also work. Not as much as I did previously - 40 hrs was too much when I was working at a nothing job. I admire those who put in the hours for their family's - maybe one day I'll do similar. But not while I have other options. 30 hrs sounds good, especially for a checkout chick job.
Please let this work. I want to achive something this year - something more than : I went to china.
Please