Writing Wednesdays

I said yesterday that I would talk about a new project today. Its also an old one too. Its a novel that I started during NaNoWriMo, that National Novel Writing Month back in 2008. I have pulled the manuscript out many times, sometimes thinking I really want to finish and rewrite it. Sometimes I think its just garbage and not worth the time and other times there are some elements that I really love. They don't want to let go of me. Sarah read what I wrote and marked it up pretty good with her red pen. It needs a lot of work. The time she told me it was probably a trilogy I got really frustrated because I just wanted to take one of my November novels and finish it.  This is turning out to be a bigger project than I intended. So once more I put it aside.  Sometimes there are projects that you are just supposed to do and I think for me this is one of them.

I've always been pretty transparent on this blog. I show my successes and failures. I share the entire journey in the hopes that by my example another person will have the courage to follow their own inclinations. I don't claim to be a good writer or really to know anything about what I am doing but I do  know how to share.  I think that in putting a public face on this it makes me more accountable.  So here is my plan. I am going to share what my work in progress is about, what kinds of things I am doing on a weekly basis to move me towards my goal.  You can come along for the ride or just skip my Wednesdays posts.

The working title for my novel is The Raven Story. My main character is a woman named Zia who grows up in a Native American type culture.  She travels with a wolf named Kael that she communicates with telepathically. She 'll be on a journey searching for her father whom, she feels holds the secret to her existence and several other mysteries. The Ravens are a race of people she will encounter.  I have a pinterest board with some images for inspiration.  You can see it here.

I have been reading other fantasy's to become familiar with how other authors are doing this.  The latest being The Seven realms series by Cinda Williams Chima  To be a good writer you really need to be reading a lot of books in your genre, so I am trying to do that.


My first draft has several areas I want to work on first: strengthening my main character, creating a more in depth culture for her to come from. So that means research.  This week I am reading the Little Wolf Medicine's book on the Wolf.   I am hoping for some factoids to flesh out my wolf character a little more. I will also be reading Nail Your Novel : why writers abandon books and how you can draft, fix and finish with confidence. I am sure it will be helpful. To help me with my character development I will be using Characters and Viewpoint, from the Write Great Fiction Series.


I'll report in next week on how this all went.