WIP Wednesday: Week 21

Days Worked On: ALL THE DAYS.
Morale: Mostly irritated . . . which occasional bouts of optimism that were quickly crushed beneath the irritation again.
Total Word Count: 99,467 (+870 from last week)

What I Worked On: Chapter 8. I talked with CPs, I worked on the corkboard timeline thing, and I wrote about ten different openings for the chapter. The conclusion I've come to? It's time to re-work chapter 6-3 (which comes before 8 chronologically).

Thoughts: I have a public service announcement: when having problems with a certain section of your story, it may help to re-read the chapter that comes before the one you're working on. Seriously. Don't skim it. READ IT. Because then you might notice something that you'd forgotten about that may possibly fix all of the problems you've been agonizing over for the last two weeks. *head desk*

Writing Song of the Week: Because I talk about music enough that it deserves its own section. This week featuring Florence + the Machine's new single, "Breath of Life." It's the theme for Snow White and the Huntsman and not only is the song gorgeous, but it's gotten me super psyched for the movie. Just watch this music video:

WIP Wednesday: Week 20?!

Days Left to Deadline: -64

Days Worked On: Two-ish. Though there's been a lot of angst spread out over other days.
Morale: Miserable . . . then I realized it was week 20 . . . and it got worse. >_> Maybe I should stop numbering these things.
Total Word Count: 98,597 (+222 from last week)

What I Worked On: So . . . ugh, here's the deal: I deleted a scene from the original draft because it made for a better chapter break, but in doing so, I lost some important information (ie: setting and character introductions). So I've been struggling to get all of those vital bits back into place without info-dumping. This was what last week's cork board timeline was all about.

Thoughts: I've written this post three different times about three different things . . . and most of them were whiny. So this is me not whining. This week sucked writing-wise, but I've finally turned to my wonderful CP for some help, and I'm sure she'll be able to lend an unbiased eye.

Good to be a geek

Well, I went to see The Avengers this past weekend. It was wonderful beyond words . . . but instead of boring you guys with endless rambling about how marvelous it was (the pretty people and the explosions and the one-liners and the helicarrier and all the things), I'm just gonna tell you to go see it.

SO GO SEE IT.

Also, a geek-tastic music video. Because this is the start of a promising summer for superheroes. *thumbs up*

*
So have any of you see The Avengers yet? If not, do you have plans to? It is, after all, a great combination of action and drama and humor and badassery . . . and yes. Go see it. Ahem. If not The Avengers, what's your geeky movie/hobby/whatever of choice? Tell me in the comments!

*Oh, and the Hank Green cover, for all of you Nerdfighters. :)

WIP "Wednesday": Week 19

Days Left to Deadline: -59

Days Worked On: Good question. Three or four? Or two? Or something?
Morale: A little frustrated, but not horrible.
Total Word Count: 98,375 (+191 from last week)

What I Worked On: Research. All I did this week was research. FOREVER.

I also made a shiny cork board timeline thing:

I know. It's sexy.

Don't mind the blank notecards. Stuff does happen on those days. Really.

Thoughts: So I've been researching a bunch of random crap that may or may not even appear in this book. It's important--don't get me wrong--but it's a hidden kind of importance. Which is frustrating.

Anyway, I've been trying to figure out how long certain events should take, which equals lots of research about airships, freighter ships, and tanks . . . specifically their speeds. Yes, I now know the fastest tank in WWII (the M3 Stuart at 36mph, since technically the M18 Hellcat isn't a tank), have discovered that tanks and freighter ships move about about the same mileage, and can tell you how air currents effect airships. Thrilling, I know.

Oh, and if you know anything about driving tanks off-road (specifically in sand and how that effects speed), I'd love if you gave me a heads up. Because that information is scarce.

2012 April Book Roundup

*dun dun dun dun* It's time for April's Book Roundup! *cheers* A quick primer: At the beginning of each month I do a quick review the books I read the month prior. But instead of letting myself get too wordy, each book gets a Twitter-length summary and a Twitter-length review. Genres are listed at the beginning of the reviews and my absolute favorites of the month are marked with a star (★).

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness

YA Sci-fi--Chaos Walking #3. Now that humanity is at war with the Spackle again, Todd and Viola must make the right decisions in they ever want peace again. § THESE BOOKS. I've never read something so frustrating and so wonderful at the same time. However, best fictional horses EVER and yay 1017 POV! ★

Hourglass by Myra McEntire
YA Paranormal Romance--Emerson is plagued by phantoms of the past, which isn't all that great until her brother calls in the Hourglass organization. Enter le hot boy. § Emerson's voice is a fabulous combination of snark and charm. Loved it. However, the soap opera romance kinda overwhelmed the actual plot.

Wither by Lauren DeStephano
YA Post Apocalyptic--Chemical Garden #1. After genetic experiments ruined the future of humanity, Rhine is kidnapped and wed off to repopulate the world. She is displeased. § Such a pleasant surprise! ALL of the characters are well-developed, if not likable, and the atmosphere was hauntingly beautiful and creepy. ★

Fever by Lauren DeStephano
YA Post Apocalyptic--Chemical Garden #2. Rhine and Gabriel have finally gotten away from the mansion, but freedom might not be worth it in this a world like this. § Haha, the physical world here makes no sense at all, but the prose and narration are so delightfully luscious/feverish that I don't care.

Corsets & Clockwork: 14 Steampunk Romances edited by Trisha Telep
YA Steampunk Anthology--The title says it all: a short story anthology that brings together the quirkiness of steampunk and the delight of young romance. *thumbs up* § I'm not so sure that most of the stories in this anthology count as steampunk, but they all have romance. All my kudos to "Tick, Tick, Boom."

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
YA Fiction--Cullen thinks he's got life figured out, but when an extinct woodpecker is rediscovered and his brother goes missing, everything falls apart. § Everything in this book starts off mellow, but ends up somewhere meaningful. Loved how all of the characters felt real and a little disastrous.

On superhero storyline reboots

There's something that the comic book industry has that isn't really prevalent anywhere. And no, I'm not talking about the superheroes. Comics books aren't afraid to break continuity and start over. Which I find pretty interesting.

You don't even have to read comic books to know what I'm talking about, just see Batman. Remember all the silly movies from the nineties and how Christopher Nolan took that material and made it dark and gritty for the newer movies? Better yet, did you know that there are plans for yet another Batman reboot in the future? And what about the new Spiderman that's coming out this summer? Or the two different Hulk movies?

And that's only the movies. If you start looking into the cartoon franchises and the source material itself, you'll notice that this is a trend. Comic books are all about rebooting the same characters and the same ideas, but giving them twists.

Which is fun, in a different sort of way. If you had a history with comics and watched the first season of Young Justice, you knew everyone's darkest secrets before they became an issue. You understood why certain characters were paired off and you knew what the future held for some of them. But that anticipation wasn't bad--it was awesome because not everything was the same.

Now, the reasons these reboots exist is for money. The idea is to keep an interested audience without losing what got them interested in the first place. But I guess what I'm wondering is, why don't we ever see this outside of comic book stories? I'm sure that everyone would jump on an alternate universe re-telling of Harry Potter. So why don't writers or filmmakers or video game producers reboot their stories? The profit is there, there are talented writers who would love to play with previous franchises, and the possibilities are infinite.

So what do you guys think? Would you love to see a reboot of your favorite book or tv show, or is that what fanfiction is for? Would you be willing to take your characters from your own writing and create new stories for them? And what about superheroes--why do these reboots work for them, but not anyone else? Tell me what you think in the comments.

Things I write with

I talk about the software and computer-based goodies I use to write quite often. *cough*ALL THE TIME*cough* So I figured it was time to address some of the physical things.

1. The steampunk headphones
   Music plays a HUGE part in making my brain happy while writing. I struggle without it. And as a person who used to be a big fan of earbuds (so small, so portable!), let me tell you, these monster headphones changed my life. Let me tell you why:
• Earbuds hurt after a while--big happy headphones do not
• The sound quality is like singing angels
• People are theoretically less likely to talk to you if you look irritated about having to take the large headphones off to hear them speak
• On a similar note, putting them on is a little like blocking out the world and all of its delightful distractions
• Holy crap are these things are so comfortable they deserve two bullet points 
• If you're like me, the headphones become something of a tradition--wearing them means it's time to get writing
• Did I mention the steampunk aesthetic?


2. Smiley face computer
   I don't know about you guys, but I find it incredibly difficult to write with paper. Seriously. I think faster than I write, so writing by hand always turns into an exercise of frustration. On the other hand, I'm a super fast typer (we're talking like 70+ WPM people). Also, Scrivener can have my babies.


3. Notebook
   I know, I know. I just said that I don't like to write by hand, which is totally true. Then why do I need a notebook? When I get particularly stuck (and I'm talking REALLY, REALLY stuck), I like to brainstorm/free write by hand. There's just something about getting all of my messy ideas down by hand that actualizes them.


4. Crappy pen
   This is an important one. I love crappy BIC pens. They don't bleed through the pages, they's about the cheapest writing implement you can find, and despite everyone's whining, the ink flow is actually pretty decent. Also, if I lose my pen, there's no writerly drama about my perfect pen.

Okay, so most of that was pretty clean cut. I'm lacking the highlighters and the colored pens and the post-it notes and all of that good stuff . . . but in my defense, I'm a pretty green writer. I do most of my editing on the computer screen. HOWEVER, I will be whipping all of that crap out when I get to the line-edits stage. Maybe I'll do another post then, eh?

So what items do you guys need in order to write? Do you function on a level that's even more barebones than my own? Or are you a nightmare color-coding and wite-out? Tell me in the comments