What book is everyone writing right now?

[Skeptic Ginger]

Thanks for the musings... I definitely feel that it has become unwieldy and that's a lot of my problem is poor organisation, I guess that's where I'm looking for help...

I think some of my original categorisation has become too limiting, without sufficient branching to keep things organised, and no way of incorporating small notes. That perhaps is where Scrivener is handy.

My main reluctance to use Scrivener was that a project is for a specific book, but these notes are more general (some of them), and some really have nothing to do with the current project at all. I'm wondering if I don't create a second Scrivener "notes" project that's totally separate from the book project, although then of course it takes away the benefit of being able to work on the book while accessing the notes.

Aye!

I thought I had it set up fairly well in the beginning with about 11 major categories and sub categories below those, but I think my problem is these were populated by more comprehensive documents, rather than really designed for small notes and musings.

So I started a separate general notebook where I'd put thoughts from any and all categories, but of course now that's my main source of notes, it's enormous, and totally unsorted!

I think maybe the way is moving it all into Scrivener because then I can break off those individual notebook notes into their relevant categories and put a one line comment about a religion's deity right next to a comprehensive detailed document about a different deity, all under the mythology category.

Seems to me you can make a novel called "Notes" or "Comprehensive World", however you want to organize things. As for working on two files at once, can't you split your computer screen and have two files open side by side at the same time?

I'm not familiar enough with Scrivener so I still use it with Word at the same time. It's easier for me to do some things with Scrivener and some with Word.

 

[gumboot]

Seems to me you can make a novel called "Notes" or "Comprehensive World", however you want to organize things. As for working on two files at once, can't you split your computer screen and have two files open side by side at the same time?

I'm not familiar enough with Scrivener so I still use it with Word at the same time. It's easier for me to do some things with Scrivener and some with Word.

It's not a stupid suggestion. I'm starting to thing buying a second monitor might be a wise investment.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

It's not a stupid suggestion. I'm starting to thing buying a second monitor might be a wise investment.

So you can't split your screen?

Maybe it's time for a new PC?

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

BTW, I thought after I bought my too-large screen Mac it was a mistake but now I like the room on the screen.

 

[gumboot]

So you can't split your screen?

Maybe it's time for a new PC?

I can, but it won't be enough space. I'd rather have two screens.

 

[catsmate]

Albee agency

FYI, I don't know if anyone has dealt with them but John Scalzi's posted about fraudulent testimonials being used by an outfit called the Albee agency:
The Albee Agency Using Testimonials From Authors the Authors Did Not Give

More on this agency on the Writer Beware blog.

 

[Tiktaalik]

I can, but it won't be enough space. I'd rather have two screens.

Docking station for laptop + flatscreen monitor from old desktop works for me.

And you can copy files from one Scrivener project to another, so if you want, you can move/copy some of the notes files to whichever project you're working on in the future & have them available. In fact, you can copypasta from a Word document, etc., into a folder on Scrivener, too.

 

[gumboot]

Docking station for laptop + flatscreen monitor from old desktop works for me.

And you can copy files from one Scrivener project to another, so if you want, you can move/copy some of the notes files to whichever project you're working on in the future & have them available. In fact, you can copypasta from a Word document, etc., into a folder on Scrivener, too.

I think great minds must think alike, I had the same thought. For now I think I'll just leave my research notes in the current project, and migrate them across to other projects as appropriate.

For what it's worth I finished importing my enormous "notebook" and have sorted it broadly by cultures, and sorted one of those cultures into categories and it seems to be working, though very tedious. Worth it though, I think... I need to get all this info in before I can make meaningful progress with any more rewrites I think.

 

[thines]

Postal history

I'm 95% done with a book on the history of the post office in my home town of Hanover, NH with an emphasis on the philatelic and political aspects of the post office in a small northern New England town in the 19th Century. And funny stories - like when the postmaster robbed his own post office and got caught because he faked a robbery by "highwaymen" but screwed up and smashed the glass in the basement door so it fell OUTSIDE to door rather than inside. I do not expect to retire in luxury on the proceeds of this book!

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Depends, some history makes for very popular reading. One of my favorite books is "Tough Trip Through Paradise". I was fascinated by a small bit of this one person's life.

Interesting note: Glancing at the Wiki entry I see there was a controversy about this book. That's interesting too.

See also

Faked Memoir? or Tall Tale? Online Article in Montana Pioneer magazine. The article's author read Garcia's original handwritten manuscripts and came to doubt Garcia's memoir. Discusses the man Andrew Garcia and the editing of his written manuscripts into a story with a strong element of love. He talks about the possibility that Garcia lied about the women in his life. He also talks about the quest for Garcia's Native American children and wives and brings up disturbing questions about what might really have happened to Garcia's first wife.

I had no idea.

If I recall in the story the indian wife was killed by a Crow Indian (don't quote me, I read the book a long time ago). So maybe the "what really happened" was Garcia killed her.


Aha, I was close. It was a Blackfeet who was the killer:

Much of Tough Trip examines the travels of Garcia and his Nez Perce wife, In-who-lise, whom Garcia met, married, and buried (after she was killed by Blackfeet Indians) in the relatively short time span of 1878 to 1879 that the book examines. Doug believes that when the original unedited manuscript was given up by the family in 1960, their connection to the past and the history of Montana was also lost.

Nice to know at least a few memory cells still function.

 

[Beanbag]

It's not a stupid suggestion. I'm starting to thing buying a second monitor might be a wise investment.

--MOST-- of my desktop machines are dual-monitor, except for my "entertainment" computer, which is hooked up to a 46" HDTV, so it really doesn't matter for that one.

Personally, I think it would be great if somebody made a laptop that had a second monitor that could flip out, accordian-style, from behind the first monitor.

Two monitors spoils you rotten. I started with my video editing console, and as I started upgrading the monitors and video cards on my other machines, I'd get two identical monitors and a dual video card for each. LOVE having the extra real estate to park windows I need to refer back to. And for editing video, especially when you need the playback monitor, waveform monitor, effects panel, and timeline open, you pretty much GOTTA have at least two.

Beanbag

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I've made a couple more huge breakthroughs. I had an idea session with my son and it was so useful. He has incredible insight. He gave me a perspective I hadn't thought of that is exactly perfect for the story and I rewrote a couple scenes with big changes and great results.

And, I was having trouble with story structure. You read so many things that say don't do this, don't do that. Anyway, I had these backstory scenes of the protag as a younger girl. I've finally worked them into the story in a way I'm happy with. I made one scene a prologue. It makes perfect sense. The protag is only 10 in the scene and in the body of the story she's 17. But I didn't want to leave it out. Anyway, it definitely works as a prologue.

Then I had single events that worked with the protag as an 11 yr old, a 12 yr old and a 13 yr old. So for those I found ties from the body of the story to the things I wanted to say in each scene. The scenes now definitely work well as flashbacks. I don't care how many writer's advice pieces I read that say don't use flashbacks, they definitely work in my story.

 

[Beanbag]

I've been deliberately avoiding doing any writing for the past couple of months (other than revising a few passages in work done previously). I find that taking a breather from writing anything "new" sorta forces the issue to where SOMETHING literary simply HAS to claw its way out of me.

And it's worked! Though not for any of my novels. I revisited an unfinished screenplay I'd put aside about nine months ago because there were problems in the proposed storyline that would make it excessively long (screenplays pretty much HAVE to be somewhere between 90-120 pages in length). While re-reading it during my Friday lunch break at work, I realized the problems were caused by my having fallen in love with a couple of scenes I had blocked out in outline form, and was having to "stretch" the rest of the screenplay to accommodate them. Mind you, they're BEAUTIFUL stuff, some of the best material I've ever dreamed up, but now with the advantage of distance and time, I realize they really aren't necessary and can be remorselessly excised and dropped in the waste basket. I'm now free to complete the last forty pages and cover all the plot twists and complications I need for the boffo finish. Since this is a four-day weekend for me, and the next weekend as well, there's a REAL good chance I'll have the first-and-a-half draft completed by the new year.

Though I confess I feel a bit guilty, because this old screenplay returning to life gaves me an excuse to avoid working on my primo novel.

Beanbag

 

[gumboot]

Just bumping this to see how my fellow writers are going with their various projects. Skeptic Ginger, that's awesome to hear about your big breakthroughs. I utterly love it when that happens, it's the most amazing feeling when things just slot into place.

And I'm with you on the flashback rule thing; any literary tool is there to be used, and the key is using it properly, to serve the narrative. Anyone who claims a blanket rule about never using a particular literary tool doesn't know what they're talking about, I say.

Tiktaalik how's your current project going?

I'm am still just progressing along at a slow but steady pace. I decided recently to reduce my chapter size so I went and broke the 15 chapters of the first half into 27 chapters, and today I broke the chapters of the second half down into smaller chapters too. It does mean quite a bit of "clean up" work, but I think it's the right thing to do, and on reflection I think it works better than way.

Plus there's the added bonus of coming up with a whole bunch of new chapter names, and I do love that.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I'm still making satisfying progress. My writer's group continues to be incredibly useful. I've figured out it is dependent upon the members and somehow I've lucked out to find one of the most useful group members one could hope to find. I still don't want to do anything but write which isn't helping my business but it isn't causing major problems either. I've fallen in love with writing.

Now that I've worked out the major structure problem I was having, it's improved the story tremendously. The protag experiences X in the present and I insert a related Y flashback from the past and it's working perfectly. It's just what I wanted, parallels between her village life and the social strife in the city. I'm still envious of writers who have more colorful prose, but I'm working on that.

 

[Tiktaalik]

Just bumping this...Tiktaalik how's your current project going?...

Well, Book Three of the "Stolen" trilogy is waiting in the wings for the publisher to request it. They have first right of refusal, so there's not much I can do but wait (and remind them once in a while).

Meanwhile, I've completed another fantasy fic novel set in the present day and am fine-tuning it. Next I have to decide whether to seek a publisher or wing it through Createspace and KDP. Given the internal formatting the publisher came up with for the two "Stolen" books, doing it myself seems attractive. I did a better job through Createspace with the short story book I put out. But then I'd have to find an editor and cover art myself, too, so I'm not sure.

Sounds like everyone else is making good progress as well...perhaps 2013 will be the Year of the JREF Forums Authors...

 

[Polaris]

I'm on track to finishing my first draft by March, on schedule.

It's been interesting to say the least being in the mind of an apex predator.

 

[gumboot]

Well, Book Three of the "Stolen" trilogy is waiting in the wings for the publisher to request it. They have first right of refusal, so there's not much I can do but wait (and remind them once in a while).

I'm currently reading the second, so I might slow my pace a bit or I'll have to join Skeptic Ginger in the impatient waiting game...

Meanwhile, I've completed another fantasy fic novel set in the present day and am fine-tuning it. Next I have to decide whether to seek a publisher or wing it through Createspace and KDP. Given the internal formatting the publisher came up with for the two "Stolen" books, doing it myself seems attractive. I did a better job through Createspace with the short story book I put out. But then I'd have to find an editor and cover art myself, too, so I'm not sure.

I just noticed I'd missed your previous post where you outlined the premise of "Cornerstone". I love it. It's such a fantastic premise. Has the feel of a classic fairy tale to it. As soon as I read it I thought "I want to read this book!".

Sounds like everyone else is making good progress as well...perhaps 2013 will be the Year of the JREF Forums Authors...

Here's hoping! I wish I could be as confident as Polaris as far as schedule.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

My son's Real Short Fiction. He's very talented and I'm trying to get him to write more.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I'm currently reading the second, so I might slow my pace a bit or I'll have to join Skeptic Ginger in the impatient waiting game...

Yes, I am impatiently waiting.

Here's hoping! I wish I could be as confident as Polaris as far as schedule.

Even though I have the second whole book in my head, I put it on a back burner and am only working on the first book. Are you trying to finish one at a time?