Friday, February 1

Oops, I Did It Again....

Okay, aside from having Britney on the brain (hazard of putting iTunes on shuffle)... I am more so referring to that story I mentioned in my last post.  Over the past three-ish years that I've been attempting to write original fiction (as opposed to fanfiction) I have started about half a dozen stories--gotten farther with some than others--but I have yet to FINISH one.  The first one I ever started that I got far enough to even believe I might finish is the story I referenced in my last post.  It's the closest of any of them to being complete.  I also started writing a prequel to it, as a way to get the main character's backstory concrete in my mind, and ended up actually really loving THAT story, too.  So, I've got the two of them, and with the prequel, it's filling in the middle and the other one rewriting the early middle and then the very very end.  Even though I've started other stories since the two of them, I always go back to them both.  Open up the Word documents from time to time, add a bit, edit a bit, put them away again.  For the past few weeks I have been working exclusively on the newest of my stories, the one I started for NaNoWriMo in November, but I made the mistake of TALKING about Andie, and now I just had to dust her off and start to polish her up again.

I added a pretty decent chunk (okay, for me that means maybe a thousand+ words in a night) last night and read through and surface edited what I have written for the prequel.  I started looking at the other one, but I have a bunch of stuff written by hand for it somewhere that is MIA and until I can find it, I want to hold off on that one.  But now my brain is back in Andie-mode, and I want to keep working on her story while it is.  Part of me doesn't think these books will ever make it past my own laptop screen--how many people actually publish the first novel they ever write?  Haven't I heard you usually have to write a few before you really start to hit your stride?  Or some such thing.  But the other part of me thinks that this story has been some of my strongest writing.  Clearly, this is an issue for future Kas to debate once both stories are complete... and in the meantime, I may just give Andie the attention she is demanding.  I'm still working out some world creation details for the NaNo story (magical limitations and whatnot) so maybe this will give me an opportunity to let those ideas bounce around in my brain while still actively writing as well.

[[ In other news... I was unexpectedly offered a new job today!  I had been in training for the boring, very part-time, pays next-to-nothing job that I took because I was desperate, but a family friend owns a business to which I had stopped by and given my resume a few weeks ago, but didn't think they had any openings for me.  Lo and behold, something in guest service opened up, and I am officially guest service, and probably part-time hostess, too!!  It's a pretty cool place, bowling alley with FULL restaurant AND bar, rentable space & lanes for private parties, etc. and I'm excited!!  I have high hopes that this is a good change for me.  ]]

4 comments:

  1. Hello there Kas! I saw your comment on my re-introduction blog post and I was so glad to see someone else who understood the PAIN of trying to write original stories after the allure of fanfiction!

    You and I need to buddy up and push each other into finishing something of our own creation! Of course, only if you're willing!

    (I also notice you're new around these parts, so welcome to the Blog-o-sphere!)

    Sarah

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  2. Hey, Kas!

    Congratulations on the new job! Now, here's what I think: (not that I'm a genius)Maybe you just have to force yourself to stick to only one story at a time. I bet if you do this, you'll make huge progress. I know lots of people work on several projects at once, which is cool, but to me, seems distracting. And for what it's worth, my very first and only completed novel was picked up by a publisher, so it can be done. I've got tons to learn, but I know anything is possible as long as you keep pushing forward. I faced lots of rejections, did too many rewrites, and most of the time my hopes got up only to be slammed to the ground. It took me 4 years to get here, but I learned lots of good lessons along the way. Lol, sorry for the lengthy comment. I just know you can do this!!! Keep going!!! And don't listen to anyone who says you can't achieve your dreams!!! :)

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  3. ...congrats on the new job! A word of advice from a fellow storyteller...throw the fanfare aside and write original fiction, for that's the stuff from the heart ;)

    El

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  4. Hey Sarah! Thanks! Yeah, definitely. : ]

    Celeste--Thanks! It's good to hear it can be done. Thanks for the encouragement! As for forcing myself to stick to one... I'd be willing to try, but I've always found that my easily distracted brain works better if I change it up from time to time. If I hit a dead end with one, I can work on a different one and not waste time just trying to figure out where to go next. Then by the time I'm ready to return to the first one I may have figured out the issue.

    Elliot--Thank you also! And as for fanfiction vs. original... I pretty much gave up (with sadness) my fanfiction when the site I was posting it on was shut down a while back. So, it's been all original since then!

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