How Goes the Carving?

Ah, yes, the million-dollar question. That glorious ambition you set for yourself, Farjag? That write-every-night-till-it's-done thingy? That will-not-get-distracted-by-plot-bunnies idea? How's it going for you?

Quite well, actually. All things considered, very well.

Every night? Not exactly. But not distracted? Quite! Work is proceeding steadily forward!

I am currently on page 13, which may not seem like a lot, but it's the furthest I've at the deepest I've been working. If that makes no sense, don't worry. Maybe this will.

My furthest point of editing is page 28. And that was a fairly skimming editing to start with. It was only as I got further in the story that I realized how drastic some of the changes need to be.

For instance, the name of this land, Quartorlen, was one of the last names I created when drawing the map. It was the only place name at the time not formed of two actual words. (Flamehope, Thunderfell, etc.) I then went on to name the land of the shieldsfell similarly, calling it Dyrmlen. When I came up with the differing title system for the shieldsfell, I used the suffix -len as the basis. Patrollen, Magelen.

You see the problem yet? The land of the freeborn is named in the same vein as the names of the invaders.

Despair.... must rename single most used word in the book, must go back and retcon every single blog post, must wipe memories of all readers....

Light bulb! Quartorlen is named so because of the invaders. Think about it.

You and I come, as conquerors, to an island inhabited by a rustic, barbaric people, who divide land into so many tiny parts that it becomes impossible to tell where one begins and the next ends! One island should have one name! Additionally, if there no longer exists a homeland for the natives to fight for, they will not longer wish to fight! So, we shall name this place of provinces... Quartorlen, for when aligned with our compass, it can divided nearly into quarters along the cardinal points. There, problem solved!

Except for the fact that the folk of the four provinces, of Thunderfell, Flamehope, Deepdale and Whitefall, will never forget their own homelands. And the fact that Quartorlen combined is too big an empire to rule over as a united whole. The distances are too far, the landscapes too vast, and the shieldsfell army too small to effectively enforce their rule. And in the far reaches of the four provinces, freeborn wait.

The name of Quartorlen will live on far after the shieldsfell have been banished and many generations have come and gone. But it will be the name of the alliance of the four provinces, a reminder that they must never again refuse to come to the aid of another province, or they will all fall, one by one as they did in the Blood-Invasion.

That was a long for instance. :) But it shows the depth of what I need to do, and what I've already begun to do. Just in writing this, I realized as to why the Blood-Invasion was so successful in the first place. See that part one paragraph up about the provinces standing separately and not together? I hadn't even considered that before.

See, these blog posts aren't just for you readers, they're for me too. :) Long bits of mulling where I can run off my mouth and not get called boring for it.

Cause if you did think I was boring, you wouldn't finish the post and comment on it! Ha, ha I'm genius!

Have a wonderful day ya'll!

P.S. If anyone somehow manages to get the reference in the title, do let me know!

To Rewrite that which is Written

'Tis a strange feeling, completely rewriting the sentences that I've been reading every time I've opened up Freeborn for the past three years.

Before:

The captain of a solitary sea-post on the northern shore of Whitefall looked out across the bay, the dark water lit only by the rays of both moons. It was a quiet night, so still that the captain could hear the waves slapping against the ice crust at the base of the stone tower.

After:

The smooth stone of the solitary sea-post on the northern shore of Whitefall glimmered cold under the rays of both moons. The captain who stood atop its walls looked across the dark bay, peering out to where the water met the night sky. It was a quiet night, so still the captain could hear the waves slapping against the ice crust at the base of the tower.

This particular portion, and the small snippet directly after, I had actually written well in advance of November 2010, though I edited them to fit the world I had created. Still, they had remained mainly intact until last Monday, when I began the challenge I had set myself. 

Maybe they're better for the change, maybe they're worse, but they definitely needed a change, if only to help me break still more the antiquated 'matter-of-fact' voice that still sometimes creeps in whenever I'm having trouble writing. 

Most of it comes of from the extreme amount of description I was trying to put into my first stories; I had to tell what the walls were made of, what color they were, and how they felt when the hero brushed his hand against them. Then do the same with the door, and the room beyond, and the courtyard beyond.... etc, ad nauseum.

Now that I've arrived at the pinnacle of writing, of course, such things no longer trouble me. :)

No, every sentence is a fight. A fight to shape black marks on white paper into the multi-colored, 3D landscape, characters, and stories that fill my head. A fight to make the rhythm of each sentence and the sound of each word match the song that is the story. A fight to sing poetry into prose, day into night, and text into images so sharp and clear they will stay with you forever.

If I can touch your imagination just a little, and give you the necessary ingredients, then you can conjure a spell of your own that will take you far away to the little world called Quartorlen, where the colors are deeper, the folk are simpler, and there is always a song or tale to be heard. 

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:7-9 (ESV)

A Challenge

Well, it's time to face the music.

I haven't been writing.

And this is a writing blog.

So... no blogging has happened. (Revelation!)

But what has happened is in the past. And all I can do is decide what to do with the time given me.

There will be a day when I give up, a day of unfinished stories, blotted ink, and deleted files, when the work of years comes crashing down. But it is not this day!

This day, I write!

Here's the idea: I'm going to go back to the beginning. Back to November 2010, when my writing changed from the standard 'masterpiece-of-an-amateur-writer-that-he's-been-working-on-forever' to something... different. I fell in love with writing all over again. I actually wrote something worth reading. And my writing has never been the same since.

So that's where I'll go, to Freeborn and Freegiven, and give it the edit it deserves. Now, the plan is to continue on to the next book I wrote, and so on until I've caught up with myself, but of course there'll be a break for this year's NaNoWriMo, and some other plot bunny will catch my attention... But that's the plan.

But even the most well-thought out plan can fail without a drive to complete it. And so many resolutions and goals have failed because there was nothing pushing from behind. So, here's the clinch.

Every week I must edit/write at least one full chapter, and have to show proof here. That's where you all come in. Your job is to keep me accountable; keep pushing me onward.

Sound clear enough? Good. Now let's see if I can do this. :)

What now?

So... now that finals are over... and summer is here... I must decide...

What should I work on for writing?


And this is where I need your help, dear readers. Since I have multiple novels/stories underway (all in various stages of completion), I am at a loss as to which project to focus my attentions on. My options are thus:

Freeborn and Freegiven: Deep in the land of shieldsfell-ruled Quartorlen, the last of the freeborn must conquer their fears and journey into the heart of enemy territory to break the invader's hold on both their country and their countryfolk once and for all.

Stats: NaNo 2010 Novel
Genre: Fantasy
Word Count: 51,342
Project: Rewrite

Feather and Fang: Twenty-two years after the events of Freeborn and Freegiven, the freeborn of Quartorlen have split into factions, each vying for supremacy in the vacuum of power left when the shieldsfell withdrew their forces. When an assassin from one faction and a bounty hunter from the other are trapped together in the deadliest place in Quartorlen, they must work together or perish. And if they make it out alive, they will bring information that could change the face of the war.

Stats: Sequel to Freeborn
Genre: Fantasy
Word Count: 18,319
Project: Finish

The Truth/Trust Hole: In the heartland of a country much like ours, there is an arena. An arena where criminals with special abilities work out their life sentences fighting robots for public sport. These Games attract citizens of all ages, races, and walks of life, all come to see their favorite fighters cheat death again and again against a pitiless enemy. But when a young boy named Alen is thrown into the Hole, by chance, it would seem, everything begins to change.

Stats: NaNo 2011 Novel
Genre: Sci-Fi
Word Count: 52,973
Project: Rewrite

Deep Red/Crimson Streak: Somewhere in the Cluster an out-of-work headhunter sets out on a mission to find the greatest commodity in the markets of the Core: something he has heard is called 'Hope'. But when he enlists the help of a young boy who can apparently see the past and future, things go in a direction he wasn't planning.

Stats: Short Story
Genre: Sci-Fi
Word Count: 3,272
Project: Finish


What do you think? All of them have a lot of potential as far as ease of completion goes (unlike the other dozen or so which I could have listed), all of them get me excited when I think about them... so I'm in a pickle!

Help me out, and give me your opinions! And rest assured, one day I'll get to all of them, I just need to know which one to work on first.

Thanks in advance!
Farjag

Beautiful People- March

The time has come once again...
To unlock the mysteries of one man...
To reveal that which no one knew before...
To...


Ok, not really.


But it's Beautiful People time! As always, thanks to Miss Sky and Miss Penn for the questions!


But who, exactly, is the man of the hour? Well, seeing as I'm editing Freeborn and Freegiven, and he's my namesake, and he's one of my most favorite characters, it's Farjag! (No, not me. :) )


Quick bit of background; Farjag Tiger-claw is a freeborn who lives in hiding deep within the Tanglethorn, plying his trade as a blacksmith. 


1. If your character could be played by any actor, who would it be?
Wow, I'd never thought about that. *Goes into deep thought* ......... 


An hour later: Well, I based a lot of Farjag off my own personality and appearance, so I have a hard time imagining him as someone else. It's rather funny, because I could totally have given an actor for any other character, but I can't quite find someone for Farjag... because then I'd be finding someone to play me!

2. Does your character have a specific theme song?
Definitely. "Stand My Ground" by Within Temptation sums up his journey as a character in ways mere words could never do. 

3. What’s their worst childhood memory?
Well, I know next to nothing about his childhood. However, a few years before Freeborn begins he, his best friend  Dorben, and Dorben's sister, Nitiren, tried to infiltrate the shieldsfell outpost in Deepdale. But something went wrong and Dorben was killed. Nitiren blamed Farjag, and now hates him, while Farjag lives with the burden of something he didn't do.

4. If your character had a superpower, what would it be?
Oh, come on, isn't turning into a tiger at will enough? :) 

5. If your character crashed on an island with a bunch of other people, how would your character help the group survive?
Well, being an outlaw means surviving on your own skills as a hunter, cook, sewer, blacksmith, carpenter... in other words, Farjag can do a bit of everything. Which would make him a valuable asset on any desert isle.

6. Are they married? If not, do they someday wish to be?
Farjag is unmarried at the beginning of Freeborn, but sometime during the book he meets someone he already knew. Someone who he will propose to at the very end of the book. Someone I mentioned three questions above. :)

7. What is a cause they would die for?
Quartorlen's freedom. See, all four freeborn set out on their quest fully expecting to never return.

Then will five arise, hope and honor-driven

Four freeborn, and one freegiven 

Together they will seek out that which is hidden

 Together find that which was written

 The ancient power, savior to the lands 

Bane to the dark, and to the wielding hands 

The Darkstone, cold and hard 

Talisman against all that is evil and marred.

8. Would they rather die fighting valiantly, or quietly at home?
See, Farjag's answer to this changes from the beginning of the book to the end. At first, he'd like nothing better than to live out his days hiding in the woods, away from the grip of the shieldsfell, away from the agony of his people. At least, that's what he tells himself. But when he is literally forced onto this quest, he begins to realize that he's been hiding from more than shieldsfell soldiers. He's been hiding from himself. And so, by the end of the book, Farjag is ready to die fighting valiantly. 

9. If someone walked up to them and told them they were the child of the prophecy, would they believe them?
He'd give them the raised eyebrow, then tell them to go find his backup. :P

10. Do they prefer the country or the city?
Cities mean shieldsfell patrols, jails, stone walls, locked gates, reward posters for him... I should think the choice is obvious. 


Well, that's BP for this month! Hope you enjoy reading about Farjag as much as I have writing about him!

The Ghostreader Speaks

Way back when... well, in January at least, I decided to edit instead of rewrite Freeborn and Freegiven. And immediately proceeded to do nothing about it. Which is understandable, considering I was just starting a new semester of college and writing two other books. But now college has settled into a steady routine (Three cheers for only one class!), I've laid one of those books aside until I can do the proper research (Grudem's Systematic Theology, anyone?), and Feather and Fang's plot is sufficiently intertwined with that of Freeborn to enable me, nay, require me, to actually begin editing my first true novel.
Now, as most of you readers (who also happen to be writers) are probably keenly aware, editing is a lengthy process involving multiple rereads, countless mark-ups, and almost always several other editors who assist the author with a fresh set of eyes. And while I fall back on these tried and true methods soon, I think I've discovered a method that will allow me to edit mostly on my own.

The trick? Get someone to read it to me.

But, wait... you just said you were going to edit it alone...

I am! The reader I speak of is a ghost, or rather, a Ghostreader. This nifty program (for Macs only, I'm afraid), has some of the best computer voices I've ever heard. Basically, they doesn't sound like a computer. Period. Now, the actual program costs $40, but you can get a free demo for fifteen non-consecutive days (Which is a pretty sweet deal, if you ask me). But, enough of product placement, how exactly does this help me?

Well, first of all, having a British person read your own story back to you is simply awesome. And the best part is, she reads all the typos and doesn't read the words I forgot to put in! So now I can listen as I read, and catch all the mistakes my eyes gloss over or my brain fills in automatically. And second, I'm editing instead of reading, so things move a lot quicker. And not having to focus on picking out every single comma misplacement or missing word means I can pay attention to how the pacing flows, how dialogue moves, and any continuity errors.

For instance, I'm currently editing a scene where Farjag is captured by a shieldsfell Containment patrol. Originally, they just came barging in, surrounded him, and immediately set about Containing him. But what I realized is; if he's one of the last freeborn still uncontained, then the shieldsfell aren't going to suspect that he still has the ability to alter. Their commander keeps sending them out on these patrols, but none of them really believe there are really any more freeborn out there who haven't been contained. Also, they way I portray the shieldsfell during the rest of the book didn't really match with how I was drawing them here. So I drew out the scene a little bit, got some banter between Farjag and Patrollen Slarx, and in general reworked the shieldsfell into a little more of the shape they appear at the end.

And it's way better. What about you? What methods do you use to edit your writing?

And the Answer is...

Unless a drastic and cataclysmic event that is currently totally unforeseen occurs...

I shall edit Freeborn and Freegiven.

It will require a good bit of work, and some deep digging in some places, but I think it is possible. As I've analyzed it over the past couple of days hours, I've realized what it really needs it a good haircut. There is a shaggy layer of unnecessary descriptions and explanations (at least in the beginning) that need to be peeled back. It's basically the traces of me wanting to tell the reader exactly what I see in my imagination. And while that is good, it often becomes overbearing. In Freeborn, it was all too easy to get bogged down in describing every little detail, because it was a fantasy; I was taking the reader somewhere they had never been before, and wanted to make sure they saw it exactly like I did. 

In Trust Hole, I got away from that (I think :P), mostly because describing every little detail didn't fit with the minimalist, dystopian world I had created. I described the key points of each location, and left the reader to fill in the gaps with their imaginations. 

So that's what needs doing on Freeborn. Consider:

Old-

Farjag picked the cooling hilt up with a pair of steel-forged tongs and swiftly placed them back in the glowing coals. The flickering flames lit up his distinctive features: dark brown eyes, short orange-brown hair, a determined look permanently chiseled into his face, and two thick angled black lines like tattoos under his cheekbones. He wore a leather apron over a loose white shirt and a tan muslin tunic, as well as dark brown breeches and knee-high boots. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, leaving his arms bare except for his hands, which were gloved in black leather. He was tall and rather lanky, but his bare arms showed an uncommon strength.

New-

Farjag picked the cooling hilt up with a pair of tongs and swiftly placed them back in the glowing coals. The flickering flames lit up his distinctive features: dark brown eyes, short orange-brown hair, a determined look permanently chiseled into his face, and two thick angled black lines like tattoos under his cheekbones. He wore a leather apron over his loose shirt and tunic, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His hands were gloved in thick leather to protect them from the hot metal he was working with. As a whole he was short but rather lanky, and his bare arms showed an uncommon strength.

Not much of a difference, but enough to make it count. So that's what I'm going to be spending my late night hours doing for the next couple weeks/months. Wish me luck!

Farjag

To Rewrite or Not...

That is the question...

I was reading through Freeborn and Freegiven the other day, editing typos and the like as I went, and occasionally changing the wording of something, or editing dialogue. And as I got deeper, and started to pay more attention, I realized there was a great deal lacking in the depth of prose I was using. In other words, it was too conversational. Even though I had avoided using boring words like "big" and kept away from run-on "then"'s, it was still severely lacking. This was a problem I had fixed on Feather and Fang during the last year, but I had written far less in that, and was still playing with the plot, so things were still in flux. To fix Freeborn would require a major overhaul. Not to mention there are still several plotholes and unoriginal situations that need attention.
So the question I am faced with is: "Do I edit, or rewrite?" Do I just keep on fixing what I have, or do I start over again, using the first as the skeleton to build on rather than the skin to reform?
One of my best friends and fellow writers has rewritten nearly every one of his major story ideas at least once or twice. I have seen him go through five iterations of a single plot idea, each different from the previous, until all that showed up in the final from the first was the premise. Characters changed, locations changed, plot arcs changed, climax and conclusion changed. And it was worth it. The final drafts are so much better than the first, though you couldn't have known that when you read the first.

So... should I rewrite? I honestly don't know yet. I am leaning more in that direction, since I had moderate success in rewriting Grey Warrior. (As much as could be expected with no plot line). My writing has improved greatly since then (as is obvious when comparing Freeborn and Trust Hole), and I have a solid plot, with several important additions I would be making if I was going to simply edit it.

What do ya'll think? Have you ever rewritten something completely? Or do you find extensive editing to be more up your alley? Leave a comment if you want to share, or hold a conversation with yourself! (It's helpful sometimes :) )

A yet undecided, Farjag