D'oril. Beginning the Journey

D'oril.  Beginning the Journey

Monday, January 7, 2008

New Beginnings

2008. The year two thousand and zero eight. Ummm. I think someone has skipped a bit in the calendar thingie, seems like only a couple of years ago we were stressing about Y2K, then 9-11. 2008 seems like the future! Where's my jetson flying car and personal robot valet!

So what to do with a new year? For me, I plan to finish this first novel. Yep. I've set myself up with a deadline, of sorts. One year to finish the first draft, then start revising and revising. It's up to you, dear reader (s?) to remind me from time to time to keep at it. Yes, I have my own self motivation, but having some of you ask me once in a while, "how's the novel going?", or ask for an excerpt to mull over (I"ll even take constructive criticism, so long as you provide plenty of tissues when I fall apart over self-doubt). And maybe the occasional encouraging word (best served up with a hot cup of coffee and a pat on the back).

Ah, but what a deadline do I have to face? First, the rough draft. A lot of writing books and articles suggest it can be done in a couple of months, so long as you don't keep revising and revising as you go. (others suggest doing just that, but...) For me, I think a reasonable draft deadline is end of April. Thats 3 1/2 months from now, to take what I've worked on so far (some 9000 words plus a fairly detailed outline) from idea to ugly realization. Then, the revisions. How long to revise? Yeesh, I have no idea. depends on how ugly. I do know that I'll have to go through several types of revisions. Grammatical, structural, check for inconsistancies, plot and scene revision, and so on. It's best to do each one seperately. Or so I'm told.....

So.... A deadline for a novel. Step one, first draft, of Imperfect hope. And to intrigue my few readers, an excerpt from mid novel, part of the story fragment that developed into the plot that is Imperfect hope... (be gentle, it's rough draft still)

. Redwynn kept her eyes closed against the bright light that bathed the room from corner to corner. Her breathing slowed as the warrior-questors thoughts ran free, remembering. Sunsets. The green forested glens of home. Laughter in the Inn of the Stumbling Friar, as well as the comforting warmth of a blazing hearth in the greatroom, boots steaming by the fire after a long trek through the D'oril winter. Memories of battles, alone and with her friends during many years of campaigning. She watched herself in sword-dance, body and sword moving in a deadly ballet freshly remembered. Pride as she and her shield mate stood shoulder to shoulder at Shattered Pass as wave after wave of barbarians came at them. Then her mind was flooded with memories of a parting. Her shield-mate, gravely wounded in mind and spirit, sent to his home where he could heal, while Redwynn returned to the south seeking vengeance on his attacker. But the shadows they had fought together overwhelmed Redwynn when she had come alone for her revenge. Cursed by a remorseless foe, she had returned home to the abbey, unable to return to Randir's side as she had promised. Now she spent her days and nights locked in a cell, honored as a hero, yet chained at her own request to protect those whom she had spent most of her life defending from shadows that now raged within her soul. Unnoticed, a lone tear slipped from a closed eyelid to fall on the table.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

A small pup tugs open the door to the room. Nothing abnormal about that. The stout man comes in with only a short comment. "Getting chilly out."

Best have her dress warmly for her travels back to the light.

Jim Corwith said...

Merrick skritches the pup behind its ears, and is rewarded with a lick and a gentle nip. "Yah. You gonna winter at the Inn again, Wulluff? Last time, you and your visitors near emptied my larder. I'll have to hire that hunter fellow again iffen you're staying." The grizzled innkeeper grinned for a moment before disappearing back into the kitchen...