cathschaffstump | Entries tagged with creating

Feels like forever since I've posted any writing.

Right now, working on revamping Sister Night, Sister Moon, novella soon to be looking for a real home. Here's a piece from it that I don't think anyone but

sonyamsipes has seen. That includes my peeps from the way back in the day goody two shoes version. Yeah, these characters are the same in name only, and some of them not even that.

***

( Romantic Relationships Among Muses, by Muses )

Hope your weekends are respectively spiffy.

Catherine

frost_light, FYI, your book is on the top shelf of the New in Romance section at our local Barnes and Noble. Many, many hot sexy copies, one of which is sitting on my desk, in line behind three other stacked up books. A review will be forth coming. Congratulations, Jeaniene! ps: I too have short read hair. The name and the hair though, that's about where the resemblance ends. One of my parents WAS an emotional vampire, but you know, not really the same. :)

This writer is percolating, after having re-read Sister Night, Sister Moon. The obvious answer? Ted's gotta take Ariadne and run. Oh, and he can NEVER sleep again, not now that Xiao Ping is after him. Or, he's got to find a way to kill Xiao Ping. But until he does that, he can't sleep. Yeah. Oooooh, boy!

I'm going to let that stew tomorrow while I'm scrubbing the sink and reading about Baba Yaga, and see where that gets me.

Catherine

Well, that's 125 pages read! Only about 300 more to go!

I got rhythm!!! (I also have an embarrassing number of typos!)

Probably off until Thursday, unless I sneak in a little time before Wednesday's board meeting, or during the video I show in Bartleby tomorrow...

Catherine

Relevant Writer realization: Who has time to work on anything else but checking papers (English teacher) and writing (author)? Perhaps my best writerly advice to someone right now is this: If you want to go into education, and be a writer, choose a discipline that has multiple choice tests. You think you're doing yourself a favor by choosing a discipline near and dear to your hear. Choose again, and this time, choose more wisely. :D

Flippancy aside, while I wait for the coin of fate to flip, I've begun an outloud reading of the work. I tell my students constantly to read their papers out loud, and you know what? It is the best advice I can give them. Not only do you note things that are proofreading mistakes, but you also hear how your work will actually sound to others. Rhythm is important!

( No, what do you REALLY think? )

Meanwhile, I'm going to continue writing along my plan. Even though I'm not paid yet, I'm a writer, and I'll do what writers do: take some time to do some more polishing, and then get on to the next things.

Well, tonight is the night class, so I'd best do a couple of corrections I remembered while drifting off to sleep, and get down to some work at my other job.

Catherine

84,786 / 100,000
(84.8%)

Working my way through chapter 5. Almost recombed to my original spot in the rewrite.

Catherine

84,434 / 100,000
(84.4%)

Chapter 4 in good shape.

Now, a two day hiatus as I teach Tuesday night, and I go to a board meeting on Wednesday night. See you Thursday.

Catherine

83,850 / 100,000
(83.9%)

Yes, but it will begin to shrink later, I promise you that!

That's chapter 3 where I want it. The bad guys are better established. Now, when I rewrite chapter 4, I get to DO things with Enid.

More to come tomorrow. Scenes later this week? We'll see.

Catherine

First, the latest word count.

82,729 / 100,000
(82.7%)

Now, some word on my bad guy: this Labor Day weekend is going to be some serious notes and scenes about Isolde/Enid. Below, the scene that first introduces her, and some pain for Stephan's dad Atreus.

( Isolde's First Scene )

This weekend I'm going to be rewallpapering some key Isolde/Enid scenes. (I'll probably just refer to her as Enid Stewart after this, as that's how she'll be written. You may never get the whole Isolde surprise. This book may never seen the top of a slush pile...) I'll be taking notes, thinking things through.

I think you gotta do that for your bad guys as well. Make them live. This one has excellent reasons for doing what she's doing. She's mostly unloved and mistunderstood. Yadda, yadda.

Hope you all have a great holiday weekend, and if it's your proclivity, you get some writing done! I probably won't write again until Sunday.

Catherine

These mean things mostly to fans of the story so far, but here are a few presents.

***

Context: Professor Borgia teaches Errol and Stephan about demon binding. (from Chapter 2, so this is a really sharp scene.)

( A Professorial Moment )

***

Context: Errol tells Milo, Moira, and Amanda they are corners in a ceremonial demon banishment. (from Chapter 6, so it'll get sharpened.)

( The Four Corners Conversation )

***

Context: Shari Pitch wants to attend demon banishment. Errol says no.(from Chapter 6, so it'll get sharpened.)

( Errol dresses down Shari )

Happy snippets!

Revised about 3/4 of the original Chapter 7: Esme's Trial.

Figured out where to add new scenes in that chapter. Rediscovered some luverly emotional bits that make me feel pretty good about my writing. I'll post the first Sara and Errol scene in its revised form, as well as the Errol gives Shari what for scene. Good stuff.

Added old material through the immediate chapter after Errol's Trial.

Broke the word meter:

81,505 / 80,000
(101.9%)

So, now we're going to shoot for 100K, and see if we can make it:

81,505 / 100,000
(81.5%)

Successfully completed the

novel_in_90 challenge, where I only had to come up with 67.5 K. Um...I'm still not getting a good sense of a stopping point, darned it. I'm going to need some help with this, dearest readers, when it's time.

Bryon's reading 40 pages tonight. I feel like I really put in a good evening's worth. Now, to become something vaguely plantlike and watch the scary Iowa skies at the same time...

Catherine

47,512 / 80,000
(59.4%)

This is pretty challenging after a long day of work, but I'm doing it.

Catherine

I have edited chapters 5 and 6 of Substance. Not too much increase in word count, but I had about sixty pages of revision that I was trying to call chapter 5 and that didn't fly.

So, here's the count. No writing tonight, as it's Tuesdays and that'll be teaching for the next 10 weeks, but each night other than that, we're on it.

47,305 / 80,000
(59.1%)

Catherine

47,113 / 80,000
(58.9%)

Revision can be painstaking, but at least there's more.

Here's something I always like to do with my students: show them the awe inspiring power of revision. This is that same scene from yesterday, only new and improved.

( Alchemy and You )

Don't expect anything until next week. Another 3 days of convention, this time with many presentations. See you Monday.

Catherine

46,335 / 80,000
(57.9%)

New stuff! New scenes!

( Do you want a peek? )

Catherine

45,863 / 80,000
(57.3%)

I spent most of last night sharpening up rewrites and adding some new clarifications. Today will be a foray into new material in chapter five.

So, nothing to see here but the business of writing. :)

Catherine

45,542 / 80,000
(56.9%)

Vacation, so it's not much, but it's something. We'll get right back in the saddle with some regularity most likely Sunday or Monday.

Catherine

Today received a rejection from Strangehorizons.com for the junior auxiliary story.

Two out there still!

One being worked on in the pipeline.

Substance progresses. Persistance is key.

Catherine

Now we're cooking with gas! We're 18 pages in, and it's good stuff.

44,892 / 80,000
(56.1%)

I'll write some more after work today.

Catherine

So, I think I'm working too hard on the scenery at the moment, and that's diverting me from the story. I think that all the work that I did on Friday was necessary for me to get things fixed in my head, but what it essentially means is that most of it will be cut out, excised, and smaller pieces of it will be integrated into the actual plot, rather than description that stands out on its own.

Some writers are more minimalist than others. I think description should exist on the page, but it should never feel like it's an obvious insertion to get the word count going on. If the reader doesn't feel it's necessary, why should you go off on a water color painting riff?

Bottom line? I needed to do the writing I did on Friday to get some things around in my head. And now, I need to get rid of about 2/3 of it, and return to our usually scheduled programming.

I'm going on several small vacations, but will be taking the laptop along and trying to get some work done on planes and in hotel rooms. I'm also hoping to get in some writer education. Yeah, sure. At San Diego Comics Con. Yeah, it could happen! You skeptics! All of you!

Um...I am teaching a characterization workshop at Prophecy, so that's all well and good. Yes, I do teach for money. Day jobs are important to writers, I think, for a variety of reason. Mostly so's you don't starve or get evicted. ;)

Catherine

After Prophecy, academic work begins again, full time. Writing will be number one extra curricular activity, next to Weight Watchers and fitness. I want Substance circulating sooner rather than later, and I want to get started on some faerie stories for

minoukatze to illustrate.

In short, I begin my career of having two jobs, as full time as I can make them.

Not just another word for procrastination, yesterday was an incubation day. I sat down to write, and instead I felt a churning at the back of my head that usually is my sign to take the day and work on something else creative while other things suss themselves out.

So, yesterday I sewed (a lot!) and let things stew. After I'm done on the computer today, I'll write a little bit, see where yesterday got me to.

Do any of you do this?

Catherine

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
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Dr. Catherine Schaff-Stump

Writer Tamago

Sister Night, Sister Moon

Plottity Plot Plot Plot

The Oral Experience

Reading Aloud

Chapter 5 and Counting

Chugging...

Chapter 3

The Bad Guy

Snippets from Out of Context

Substance Big Time Night!

Tapping Away

Chapters 5 and 6

Behold! The Power of Revision!

Writing, writing over the balmy main...

Back from Vacation

(no subject)

Another Rejection

Chapter 5

False Start?

Incubation

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March 2017

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