I'm a little over halfway through transcribing chapter 5 into the computer, but I've come across a pretty major consistency issue that I am having to deal with before moving on. Basically, I've been referring to the tournament as taking place over two days throughout the novel so far, but as I've been re-reading chapter 5 - which was initially written to be a short story in the same world with the same characters - I've come to realize that everything there was written around a one-day contest, with morning and afternoon sessions. The changes themselves aren't huge, but it meant that I had to fill in the evening of the first day with some more happenings. So, here I am, writing about a royal ball (once again, something alluded to in previous chapters), and having fun getting into the inner workings of an 18-year old dealing with his first major social event, fully in sight of enemies both known and suspected, and the woman he loves. Now, I must go channel my Grade 12 prom - back in a few days with another update...

Current Word Count:

57,735/150,000

Chapters:

5/15 + Prologue

Pages:

183

I had to put the exclamation mark there, because I managed to get through finally - 59 pages later, all told. I've already done the extensive posting thing earlier today, so here's the meat of the thing:

Current Word Count:

52,867/150,000

Chapters:

4/15 + Prologue complete

Current Page:

168

I'll be collating Chapter 5 tomorrow most likely, and getting to work on those pages left for entry there - it should take a considerably shorter amount of time than Chapter 4. Now, bed.

I'm spending the day up at SFU, as Sue has begun a new position here and I can use the quiet to get a bunch of work done on the novel. Oddly, it seems that I now get more done here in my office than I ever get done at home, although it was completely the opposite when I first began graduate school. I guess my careful cultivation of anti-social behaviors has finally alienated all of my friends up here - or it could be the fact that it's semester break, and I'm the only one in my office...

Still working on Chapter 4, although I now have it down to about 15 pages left, which is a relief. I'm hoping to finish it up today, which means that I can finally add in the 15 or so pages of Chapter 5 I have typed, and then get going on the rest of that chapter. Of course, the remainder is written in tight, messy crab-hand, so it might take a bit longer than transcribing the large, flowing (but still messy) writing in my large journal has taken. We'll see. So here's the "Rithmatic" part of my post...

Current Word Count:

47,887/150,000

Chapters:

4/15 plus Prologue

Current Page: 153

I've also read a couple of books this week (well, two and half). I finally finished up The Space Opera Renaissance, which is an excellent anthology, although a little uneven through the first half. It is, however, a monster, coming in at 941 pages of small type on large pages - took me the better part of two weeks to get through it. Since then (Thursday), I've read Robert J. Sawyer's excellent Rollback, a near future examination of alien communications via SETI on the surface, which is actually an examination of inter-generational relations on a very human level - great stuff, and Jo Walton's Farthing, which as an alternate history take on a murder conspiracy in post-WWII England - an England which made peace with Hitler in 1941 and is tending toward fascism itself. A cover blurb compares it to Fatherland, and I'd have to agree, although with a heavy dose of Agatha Christie in the mix - a very cozy little mystery with huge implications, and an implicit critique of current political tendencies in the West. Both highly recommended - I've actually just placed an order for Walton's follow-up, Ha'Penny, and I'm hoping it arrives as soon as I've finished reading Cory Doctorow's newest, Little Brother, which is released tomorrow - more on it soon.

Working up on the hill today, and I've got a bit more added on. I've had to rewrite several sections, as I changed the nature of an event that occurs in Chapter 3, initiating something of a trickle-down effect on all that comes after...but it's important for some foreshadowing of events I'll be adding in Chapter 11, so.... Currently up to 148 pages typed in, and word count us up as well.

Word Count:

46,006/150,000

Chapters:

4/15 (still)

Working more on Chapter 4 today, and I have about three thousand more words done so far. I'll be working on it on and off through the day, so hopefully another update later.

Word Count:

43,479/150,000

Chapters:

4/15

Over a month and no new postings. Seems as though 2008 isn't the Year of Regular Blogging(tm)...or is it? The last month has been crazy for a number of reasons, not least of which has been the end of semester rush of papers, exams, etc. I'll be teaching again this summer (Early Modern English, so Shakespeare, Donne, and their ilk - metaphysics, geniuses (genii?), madmen and women all). Should be a blast.

The novel progresses...very slowly. Once my last batch of marking is done early this week, I'll be getting back in the saddle and at least taking it through the end of Chapter Five in the next two weeks. My ogre hungers, and I'd best not keep her waiting overlong.

I just realized that I promised an excerpt from Chapter Three a couple of weeks back, so we'll begin with that. This is a little domestic scene, wherein we're introduced to the Lady Suomi (placeholder name at the moment, which I'll likely change down the road), and her lady-in-waiting Sarah:

“He’s coming, Sarah! I told you he would.”
A slight, brown-haired girl glanced up from her needlepoint and looked with a hint of annoyance at the tall blonde girl, face flushed red with excitement, that had spoken. “I declare, Mistress Suomi, it simply won’t do to let a man affect you so. He hasn’t even a title, or lands.”
“Titles and lands are trifles next true love, Sarah dear. And please do stop this ‘Mistress’ nonsense – there are no courtiers about to impress.”
Sarah dropped her pretence of annoyance, allowing a smile to dimple her ample cheeks. “So when is he to arrive?”
“Within the week. I received this in the post today.” She held up an unsealed letter. “He’s coming with a small entourage…”
Sarah focused on her needlepoint anew, but a tension in her shoulders belied her sudden interest in this piece of intelligence.
“Do you want me to read it to you?”
“As you wish, Suomi. I can stitch and listen at the same time. A lady-in-waiting’s work is never done.”
“Oh bosh. You do that for your own enjoyment. I swear, were you to show some pieces on market days, you could earn a little coin on the side.”
“I haven’t the time, love, and you know it. There’s always a birthday or a wedding that’s a wanting my handiwork, and I’ve no patience left to turn a hobby into employ. Now, if the daughter of a certain Duke were to take an interest in anything other than boys…”
"There’s only one, and you know it you wicked girl. And besides, he’s a man now, eighteen years this summer.”
Sarah laughed. “Lass, that same logic would make you a woman one week past, but do you feel any different? No, it isn’t age but experience makes you grow. We have a cosy life here, all things considered, and not much opportunity to grow out of girlhood – not that I’m asking for hardships to come a visiting.”

Not quite so exciting as the fight in Chapter Two, but I'm trying to work on characterizations just as much as action sequences. Let me know what you think, if you have an opinion.

Writing went well today, almost five thousand words and I got about half-way through Chapter Four. I had forgotten how enormous this chapter is - I still have thirty-eight pages to go! For now, here's the updated word count, sitting at 130 typed pages:

40,186/150,000

Chapters:

4/15

More updates over the weekend, as visits to Chilliwack and marking papers allow.

The last couple of weeks have not been terribly productive on a number of levels, not least of which was the continued transcription of the novel. I've made a promise to my ogre that I'll deliver chapter four (at the least) tomorrow, so I'm settling in for a marathon session today. I've written a wee bit in the interim (updated word count below), but I'm looking to set a one day record. I'll update again this evening to see how it went.

Current word count:

35,711/150,000

And as things are starting to come together, I'm going to add another counter with all the graphical glitz and gosh-wow factor of my word counter.

Current Chapter:

4/15 (Prologue and Appendix A completed)

Pretty snazzy, huh?

Done and handed into the mighty ogress. On a side note, she had a gorgeous little pug in at work today. Now, some of you may be questioning my use of "gorgeous" and "pug" in the same context, but I think the snuffly little bug-eyed things are so butt-ugly they pass right through and back to beautiful again. In an ugly sort of way.

A few more words to add to the count:

33220/100000

Of course you can add two more to that if you include "Chapter Four". But we're not going to do that. Again, I find myself thinking that the word count is way off. Fact is, I'm approximately one fifth of the way through, so realistically I'm looking at about 150,000 words. Grrr. Let's try that again:

33220/150000

Hmm. Doesn't look quite so impressive like that. How about:

33222/150000

There. That'll do for now. I'll be putting an excerpt up from Chapter Three sometime in the next week, as well as transcribing Chapter Four for next Monday. Until then, good reading to you!

It's been a while since my last update, and that's largely due to the fact that I wasn't doing a heck of a lot of writing over the past two weeks (damn you Civilization 4, damn you to hell!). I do, however, have a writing ogre to please, and she got out the big stick this week. As a result, I'm a little over halfway through chapter three as of today, and I have a revised word count:

30256/100000

Not too bad, although a bit behind where I wanted to be - my own fault, and Sid Meier's of course. More to come later in the week/weekend, with an excerpt of something a little different from the last one.

The snow started falling fairly early today, and I was in hopes of a snowday tomorrow as the novel is coming along really well at the moment. Unfortunately, it stopped before evening, so I suspect the school will be open tomorrow.

The word count belies the fact that I was working on the book most of the day. Basically, I rewrote the entire battle scene at the end of chapter two, as the original manuscript felt a bit flat to me. Even Sue seems to like the changes, sitting rapt through several pages of stuff she wouldn't normally be interested in. In any case, the current word count is:

21924/100000

I'm beginning to think that my estimate of 100000 words final is a wee bit off. I'm still in chapter two at this point, and my arc as intended should extend over fifteen longish chapters total, plus the prologue. I'm likely looking at about 450 pages typed once done, which is more like 140000 words. So the dilemma is this - do I change the expected total now, or pretend that I'm already 1/5th of the way through? It seems so much more...accomplished...than saying 1/7th. Ah me. I guess what I'll do is wait until I get to the end of chapter five, approximately a third of the way through, and reevaluate word totals at that point.

Now, for your reading pleasure, I'll post a short section of the current battle scene. Any comments are more than welcome!

"Trevan refocused as one man came in a little overzealously, neatly parrying his slashing blow with a swift outward turn of his knife. A quick riposte under the man’s ribcage, and he fell to the ground, the sword sliding out and raised to meet the next foe before Trevan could glance to check that the first was done. A wild slice from his right tore at Trevan’s shirt, drawing blood from his forearm. His heart pumping hard, he hardly noticed, his sword arm moving almost faster than could be seen to block the follow-up, flat of the sword coming down upon his head. A third man tried to grab him from his left as he parried, but was rewarded with a quick bite of Trevan’s knife and a welling wound on the breast above his sword arm, forcing him to drop his weapon and back out of the fray gritting his teeth. The man who had nicked him repositioned, trying to disarm Trevan by focusing on his right arm. The blows came once, twice, a third time, each one staggering Trevan a little. The man had a good three stones weight on the boy, and all of that lean hard muscle. Trevan took a fourth blow, his arm growing heavy and numb and the wound beginning to flow more freely. He fell to his knees. Time slowed. The clearing grew silent. Trevan was amazed at the amount of blood seeping into the ground all around him, turning the green grass a crimson red. He felt something jar his right side, and looked up to see that his arm still held his sword aloft, its fuller dripping more blood down onto the guard. He watched it drip, drip, drip onto his hand, and waited for the sixth and final blow."

Well, our Guitar Hero night got cancelled, unfortunately. This was due primarily to a backed-up main sewer line at the hosts' house, combined with a bit of snowfall that would have made the drive difficult and dangerous. No matter, we'll reschedule. I played the game a bit today, unlocking all of the songs for GHIII, and I beat Joey the Devil on my first try (mind you this was on medium difficulty). I've moved into hard, and even tried some expert. It'll take a bit, but if I want to be a "real" hero, I need to move my hand now and again.

The novel comes. Current word count:

20486/100000

Should hit the midway point of chapter three tomorrow, if I keep on pace.

18382/100000

Ten more handwritten pages to go...must sleep...

Chapter 2 still in process, word count:

17180/100000

I'm now in the midst of the longish song/ballad, which I promise I'll cut to about 3-4 stanzas in the narrative (I'll put the rest in an Appendix...wow, if I have an appendix, this must be, like, a real fantasy novel or something). Chapter 2 will be done today, and Chapter 3 over the weekend, although I do have a Guitar Hero party this Saturday.... Depending on imbibing and such, well, we'll see.

I'm a nerd. Not that I needed the affirmation/confirmation, but it was a fun little test. Enjoy the meme:

I've been typing on and off all day, and I've still some more to do in order to complete chapter 2. I came across a few areas that needed fleshing out, and they necessarily take more time than straight transcription, but I've completed close to 1000 words of original stuff today. Current word count:

15570/100000

...is coming along well, and should be finished up today. Basically getting Trevan et al most of the way to North Reach, with various and divers action, and a longish song sung en route.

Word Count:

13691/100000

No new title, though. I've been doing some work on plotting today, and I've come to realize that I'm not being nearly hard enough on poor Trevan. Oh, he's in for it now...
I can't say what happens without giving away a major plot point, but let's just say that something I mention in passing as flavour early on has now taken on a much more sinister meaning. Should be fun!

I say working title, because in the decade or so I've been toying with this project, several other authors and creative types have chosen to use my highly original name. Thus, the working status. And working I am. Jim has kindly sent me a link to a word count html plug-in, but I can't seem to get the code working, so for now I'll keep track of current typed word count against expected length. I have much of the book written longhand, and I suspect it's about halfway done at the moment (approximately 60000 words in). I'll give it a conservative estimate of 100000 words once complete, and work from there. So, without further ado, Steve's patented non-graphical word count:

12387/100000

(That's based upon what I have actually entered into the computer, as opposed to the ~60000 words I have total. As I type more, the word count will leap forward. When it gets really slow, you'll know I've finished transcribing...)

On another but related note, I now have a local writing ogre to bash me over the head with much-needed deadlines. Thank you Shelley! Ouch! Chapter 2 Monday, I promise!

Well, I've begun 2008 with a bang, what with changing my whole blog look and such. Okay, so that only took me about five minutes. Actually, I've been looking around for a livejournal word count plugin, due to my one and only resolution this new year - finish a damned novel (writing one, not reading - I got through that resolution already). Anyone know where I might find such a beast? I've found several that work with Wordpress and other blog programs, but none for livejournal per se. Of course, it might be that there is a way to plug in javascript here, but I really don't know how...I'll keep muddling about until someone tells me how far off-base I am, or how to get one set up.