Thesis Diary Update 14
Week 7-13 Sept (4 of 16 to Deadline)
Hello and welcome to the Thesis diary… I mean these are all I’ve been putting up on the website of late. I’m a little sorry for that. I am not currently running games during the pandemic, so I have no gaming posts to put up. Though I am playing… so maybe I could do a couple of entries talking about transitioning gaming from meeting at peoples’ houses to online? Is there any interest in me talking about my gaming experiences again?
Once I start running games again, I will definitely post the storyline posts again. I’m actually about to get into a Shadowrun game, that will happening every other week or on again, off again… so I might be able to do a journal for that game. As it means I will only have to a post 1 or 2 a month.
But you’re not here for me to talk about other things, you’re here for word counts, accountability, and progress.
Word Goals: (5500 per week for 16 weeks)
Week four to deadline, and my last week off of school. And we knocked it out of the park. Now in my last post, I said that I was going to try and do 5500 words on labor day. Then I was going to write every single day of the week. None of that happened. I hit a bit of blockage on Monday, and I also stopped to paint. The painting just took a lot out of me and caused my hands to really cramp up.
Excuses aside, I did manage to write 4 days last week, and we got a total word count of 8,034. It would have been higher, but I only put a couple hours in on Sunday (yesterday). I had plans to go to my mother’s for dinner. Those plans fell through, but since I was away from the keyboard…. I decided to read and relax for the rest of my Sunday (and also to get more painting done).
The WIP is now sitting at a total of 91,919 words, I’m still aiming for 150,000 as the end goal. I’m well past the half way point and its starting to feel great. Momentum is building.
What’s Happening in the Story?
So, this word count was mostly chapter 20 and the beginning of chapter 21.
Chapter 20 was Slater’s POV as he and his companions are being marched to fight for the mantis in their long running war. We discover that the subterranean world underneath the Ashlands is vast. Also, that the Mantis have been fighting and aggressive expansionist war against the Ashen, which are the Ashland’s version of dwarves. (I might have already talked about this last week).
Craft wise, this chapter has some foreshadowing of important events tied into the character of Nemo, and also includes more world-building on the Ashen, the mantis, the crystal elves, psionics, and the fact that old world magic works differently in this place.
Chapter 21
Chapter 21 switches POV back to Caitlynn. Let me pause for a second and say that somehow Caitlynn’s pov is becoming my favorite. Or if not my favorite, it is the easiest for me to get into and run away with. The words come easier and before I know it, I’m 20 pages into one of her chapters.
I realized going into this chapter that I needed to take care and keep my timelines matched up so that events happen in the proper order. To that end, the first half of this chapter is devoted to covering two weeks of time in a rapid way. It also finally has a huge clue in to what Caitlynn and her country know about the Ashlands and why she’s here (I should point out that she has an OPEN reason to be here and then a SECRET reason to be here. And her companions only partially knew the OPEN reason. IN this chapter she firmly establishes her cover story).
This cover story also happens to be a huge reveal of some of the details about the history of the world, and covers a lot of world building as well. As it is written right now, it’s a lecture broken up with audience heckles. I’m a little worried that it might come across as boring.
Thankfully the second half of the chapter is a delve back into tension, horror, and action.
Which segues nicely…
What does week 5 look like:
First, the last half of chap 21 and probably the beginning of 22 should fill my 5500-word goal. The rest of chap. 21 is going to be arrival at an ancient ruined city, and basic archaeology on it, but will end with creepy moments and opening the side of a step pyramid.
Chap. 22 is even MORE exciting. We switch back to Prince Rune and his Marines. After getting supplies and spending time getting a better map etc. He is going to travel to the forbidden oasis and hunt down the Imperial criminals who have set themselves up as warlords. Between the end of chap 21 and the last half of 22 we should see a huge ramp up of action… and looking ahead the NEXT chapter is also going to see a lot of action. Every single POV is heading into danger at the same time.
It’s going to be a lot of cliffhanger jumps as we swap POVs and they each battle through very different enemies. I’m getting to the fun stuff now.
Rest of the Week:
Besides the excitement of the next 4-6 chapters of the novel, I’m also back in class as of this posting. Luckily the first week of classes is relatively easy, and this term I am only taking one class instead of my normal 2.
As stated in earlier diary posts, from now until the end of the year it is only thesis classes and novel writing for me. I have to read a chapter of a book, do a couple posts, and then bid for my finals deadlines. I’m again going to try and push myself to write more than just four times. I really want to get in writing on every day.
What else is going on?
I mentioned that I loved Tokusatsu in my previous posts. I have been steadily working my way through both Kamen Rider Build and the Original first Kamen Rider Series. This is my second time through the original series, so I’m not paying as much attention as I should, but the song is still stuck in my head.
I am also working through the early Ultraman Series, and I’m about half way thru Ultraseven, and might be trying to finish that tonight. I know that older toku is really aimed at kids, while more modern is more teens and twenties. But I can’t help but love the heck out of it.
I also recently started watching anime again. Despite the fact that I gave up on it many years back because there were tropes and characters, I hated that showed up a LOT. I will admit that sometime I have my patience tested with anime, but I have watched a bunch that was mostly enjoyable. Did I already mentioned them a few updates back? I don’t go back and reread my posts, so if I repeat myself, I apologize. I recently watched the first series of Seven Deadly Sins, 1st S of Blue Exorcist, 1st S Hunter X Hunter, and first 3 S of Bleach.
All were good. I have some complaints with each of them, seven deadly sins was the least annoying and most enjoyable of them all. The rest all had moments that made me stop and start a different series before coming back to finish the season.
And Finally…
Here is where I put up my goals for next week… usually… but you kind of already know them… but anyway…
Week 5 of 16 to deadline. Goal is 5500 words. Chap 21 finished, and Chap 22 started. Also bid on my finals dates, get in my posts, read 20+ comics, and start working on my gaming notebook again. Also, start a journal for the new game that’s about to start.
Thank you all again for reading, again if there are suggestions… please let me know. Do you want me to talk more about the movies/tv/books I read during the week? Do you want more details about the chapters? Do I need to update the Ashlands page? (probably).
See you all next week!
