What's Up Wednesday
What's Up Wednesday is a weekly meme started by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk where writers post about what's up by answering four questions. If you want to participate, you can click on either one of the links.
WHAT I'M READING
Shadow & Bone still. I stopped reading to focus on my writing for a bit. I realize that at this rate, it'll take a million years to get to Ruin & Rising but I'm not in any rush to get to the end. I don't think I'm ready to say goodbye to this series just yet.
WHAT I'M WRITING
I added 1K since Monday, which makes me really happy. This means that I have about 27K words in all. The idea that I'm so close to 30,000 excites me. I know that I am nowhere near finished with this story but I get one word closer to my goal each day and that's all that matters.
It's a little rough and it might change in the next draft but here's some of what I wrote:
We’ve been through so much together so it wasn’t fair for me to pretend like he hadn’t lost as much as I have or that he didn’t hate the queen just as much. But because Wynn was stronger than I was; because he could bury his pain and anger without the help of the sun gods or sangria, I forgot that deep down he was just like me. We both had a shred of darkness in us. He just was better at making his darkness look like light.
I also partially figured out how I wanted Unfair to end. It might change once I get to that point but it feels good to have a scene to work towards.
WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW
My main character. She's so different than I am and the things that she says/the choices that she makes always surprises me. I guess some people would say that I'm the one making up the things she's doing and saying but, sometimes, it just doesn't feel like that.
WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO
I stayed with a friend over the weekend. We've known each other since freshman year and it already feels like we've been friends for years. I guess it's true what they say about the people you meet in college being life-long friends? Well, anyways, I had blast. We had a few adventures that were worthy of a YA novel and we also went downtown to see the fireworks for the Fourth of July. Needless to say, once we got down there for the festivities, we didn't see the fireworks because we got distracted BUT I was able to take pictures. Okay, I only took two but they remind me of just how much I love my city. I have always wanted to write a novel set in Pittsburgh so I hope, one day, I get the chance.
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| Oops! That guy wasn't supposed to be there lol |
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We also went to go to see Deliver Us From Evil. We got to the theater late so we missed some of the movie but aside from drooling over Eric Bana and Edgar Ramirez we were surprised at how much we liked it, considering that our scary movie standards are pretty high. My friends and I will go see just about any horror flick. We went through just about every scary film on Netflix when we weren't studying or doing homework. Some of them were extremely corny, others were so disturbing that we couldn't sleep afterwards. Deliver Us From Evil was far from corny and it wasn't really disturbing but it was...scary. I may or may not have screamed a few times. So, if you're into films like that, I highly recommend it.
How's your week going so far?
11 comments
Congratulations on the writing. Nearly at 30k! Go, go, go!
REPLYGlad you had a great time with your friend. Have a fantastic week :)
Great job with the writing! One word at a time! :)
REPLYSounds like you've had some fun adventures! Hope you have a great week.
I think your attitude towards your writing is fantastic. :) Keep it up!
REPLYI think one of the reasons people who don't write sometimes think writers are a little odd is because we have this tendency to talk about our characters like real people, because to us they are! I know exactly what you mean, I've had characters in the past I've intended to write a certain way and then they touch the page and take over - it's bizarre!
Have a great week!
I'd also love to set some novels in Pittsburgh one of these days, considering it's my birth city, a place I'd love to move back to, and has such a rich history.
REPLYCongratulations on your writing progress. It's more important to slowly but surely accumulate a good story than to fanatically count words and feel a certain length must be accomplished by a certain point.
You love HORROR movies?! I can't even watch one second of the trailers without feeling scarred for life! haha, I'm a sissy pants.
REPLY1000 words since Monday is awesome, especially if they're words like the excerpt you shared! Your prose is lovely and I really enjoyed this look at your characters, especially that last sentence. Glad to hear you had a fun 4th of July weekend, and I hope you have a wonderful week! :)
REPLYUrk. Not into horror movies.
REPLYGreat job with your writing goals, and that's awesome that your character is inspiring you. That's the best and helps so much with the writing part too! Also, glad to hear Deliver Us From Evil was good/scary. I am a chicken & can't watch them unless it's bright day light & I'm not alone, but I'm always curious about what happens, haha. My sister loves them though, so she'll be keen to hear that this one was good.
REPLYYay for the Grisha series. Yes, the B&N edition has a special little Darkling prequel story in the back. I kind of want to reread the series to see what I'll pick up this time and to see if I like the 1st one more than I did my first go around. Anyway, enjoy!
That snippet is beautiful. I love the last line in particular. I know what you mean about not feeling like you're the one making up your character's actions. My characters surprise me all the time; half the fun of writing for me is not knowing everything that they're going to do.
REPLY@Miss Cole: Thank you! I'm so excited! It feels like I'm really close to reaching another milestone. :)
REPLY@Emma Adams: I did! Maybe I'll write them into a story one day. Thanks for stopping by!
@Jess: That is so true! It's part of the reason why I don't talk to my non-writer friends about what I write. I'm afraid they might think I was a little crazy or something but I think, if we didn't see our characters as real people, readers (or future readers) wouldn't be able to relate to them.
@Carrie-Anne: Fellow Pittsburgher! WOOT. But yeah, Pittsburgh is great. There are still a lot of places I haven't been too around the city but I hope one day I just get to go around with my camera and take pictures that will hopefully inspire a story one day.
@Jessie: I used to be the same way (and apart of me still is) but my friends got me out of being scared. I find that it's easier to watch horror movies when you have people to joke about them with. :)
@Erin: Thank you so much! It has been fun learning about my characters and I think that's what I'm going to mostly focus on this draft.
@Meredith: I would've said the same thing a few years ago because I am scared OF EVERYTHING but somehow horror films scare me less. I'm still scared out of my mind when I watch 90% of them but they're always fun to watch with friends.
@Krispy: It does help with the writing! I don't think I would be able to write this story if my characters weren't helping me along. I think Deliver Us From Evil was good to me because I wasn't expecting much from it. I saw the trailer maybe once months before it released and I like scary movies, so it just seemed like something I'd want to go see. I can't watch scary movies alone either. I remember I tried to watch the original Nightmare On Elm Street alone. In the dark. I don't know why I didn't think to put the light on but I was scared out of my mind. Needless to say I'm NEVER watching a scary film alone again. I'm excited about the Darkling prequel. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of R&R!
@Rachael: Thank you! And I agree that half the fun of writing is not knowing your characters' every move. I like to sit in the passenger seat every once and awhile and just let them drive me wherever they want to go.
I'm not normally into scary movies, but I might have to make an exception for Eric Bana. (The fact that he's a year younger than my dad isn't weird, right? RIGHT?)
REPLYGreat job making progress on your WIP!