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Posts Tagged ‘panster’

Launch day approaching-The Prudential Light

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The book is edited.

The proofing changes are taken up.

Just waiting on a few little bits to complete the package.

Launch date is December 16, 2025.

My second novel of the year. A good year for the Cry Havoc Series indeed.

I have been looking at the blurb and I think I need to expand on it. However, I just need some brain space. But first I have to find my brain.

Blurb

Aunt Prudence Wainwright, famously daunting dragon lady of the Hardcastle family, has set herself to writing her memoirs. There will be plenty in these pages to astonish her relations: adventures, abandonment, heartbreak, secret loves and dangers and the family’s magical gifts running through her veins. But with new children, marriage proposals, battles with rogue magicians, and the very past she is recalling bursting back into her life in startling ways, how will she ever find the time to finish them!

Here is the series link.

A few words on writing the book now that it’s packed up, nearly ready to launch.

If you read the book you will see in the author notes that I found this book challenging. You might think this is funny given I have written over 20 books now of various lengths and have been writing since 2000. But every book/story has its own challenges–it’s own problems to solve. If you are panster you do that issue wrangling on the run. If you’re a plotter/planner you do it at the planning stage.

I’m definitely in the panster category and until I’ve written the first draft I don’t know if the story is going to work. A short recap on my story writing for this book. I went off to Singapore to stay for 4-5 weeks with a side trip to China. I walked in the pool everyday, went back upstairs to write. I thought The Prudential Light was going to be a novella of say 30,000 words and 30,000 words was my goal for the month. I drafted over 50,000 words while in Singapore. You see, while in the pool, Aunt Prudence, Mr Chen and even Jemima came to have a word in my ear and the story grew from there. However, there were problems.

The structure of the novel became a bit complex. 1864ish timeline and a 1836-1841 timeline, with some other little bits between, usually Prudence mulling stuff over and some bits of research to add validity. (Note The Prudential Light can also be called historical fantasy).

Meanwhile, I developed a hole in my macular, had to have eye surgery and recover from that. Thanks to excellent beta readers and the amazing editor, Brianne Collins, the story got ironed out from the chaos that was.

During the process though I seriously doubted my ability to write; I felt cognitively challenged and thought my writing career was over.

A bit overwrought wouldn’t you say?

Matthew (partner) thought it was due to me writing a more complicated story, rather than me sinking into my dotage!

The good news is I feel fine now. I have started a new project, The Gentleman Magician and the head wheels and turning nicely. The Gentleman Magician is meant to be a novella but I won’t know that until I’ve done the draft. While I am nearly 10,000 words in, I know I have to give it a punch in the jaw to get the story going. Luckily I have some ideas in mind. I’ll also be covering some of the magic system that Edward Huntington uses: his strengths and weaknesses, methods etc. I may have a bit of thinking to do over the Christmas break.

As for other stories in the Cry Havoc series. I have The Lady and the Magician in my back brain. That’s the story of Wilbur Hardcastle and Elinor, Jemima’s parents and will be a novella (I promise!) And after some prodding from my sister-in-law a Cyr Havoc Book Five featuring Milly and Jemima, not title yet. I have to do a bit of research into English faerie first.

Given tight timeframes, the ebook will be up on the 16th but the print version may be a bit after that. I have to get the cover flats done, upload and so on.

Cheers

Donna

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More NaNoWriMo progress

Posted in A writer's life, Annoying advice, Australian author, Dark fantasy, Dragon fantasy, Dragon Wine, fantasy, NaNoWriMo, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on November 22, 2017| 1 Comment »

I don’t know what it is about my writing process, but I work so much better when I have a good run at something, rather than a bits and pieces approach. I guess it comes from the fact that I am either a half-arsed panster or a half-arsed planner and I’m pretty good once I hit my creative stride. (note a panster is someone who writes from the seat of their pants with little planning. A planner is someone who plans their novels out, chapter by chapter, scene by scene). I do a little planning, but not detail planning.

When I had a full time job, writing retreats for at least two weeks really worked for me. I could get a whole bunch of story down and then finesse it during the year. Now that I don’t have the day job (although I do study the Phd most days), I can’t afford to do a retreat in the same way as before. Also, well physical restrictions with RSI and spine problems, which I hate more than anything.

However, NaNoWriMo works for me. NaNoWriMo for those who don’t know is the National Novel Writing in a Month thing that’s been around for ages. It happens in November and the objective is to write a novel of 50,000 words. Most novels are longer than that though and there is an incentive to write more, say 60,000. It is possible to do more if the writer has the chops for it.

As previously mentioned, I am working on Skyfire, Dragon Wine Part 5 and I’m pleased to report it is going great guns. Not readable at this stage as it is a draft, but I’m at over 40,000 words. Picture me happy dancing. Not quite half way with the draft I think but well on the way to meeting the NaNoWriMo target of 50,000 words. I hope I can keep this up until the draft is done and that it gets done before Christmas because then I’m going to roll on to Moonfall, Dragon Wine Part 6. I didn’t think I’d get to these books until later in 2018. Keep sending me positive vibes so I can get then out in the first part of 2018.

I’m not trying to jinx myself here but finishing another series is a major achievement and I can feel the end point there. That’s not to say that I don’t have ideas for more books. I do. But there is a resting point there at the end of the narrative.

I am also working on the PhD novel and to own the truth I haven’t touched it for a few weeks owing to a technical difficulty. But today I spoke with my PhD supervisor and he suggested a few approaches to me. He hasn’t read the thing. It really is a technical things…like how do I do this to get this effect? I think his suggestion is pretty cool. Well one of them. He had more than one, so I’m now itching to get back to work and try that. For this reason I’m sneaking out off campus early today so I can get back to it. The latest version is on my home computer.

I did my NaNoWriMo writing this morning. I try for an hour in the morning and if I have the will another half an hour before bed. Yesterday, because I was home all morning as the plumber was there I wrote 5000 words. Today was more like 3000 words.

So there you go. For fans of the Dragon Wine series, there is progress. For writers out there maybe some inspiration and for my fellow NaNoWriMo peeps, you can do it.

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