I have Scrivener - the writing software I like to use - open, and a document with a few hundred words is sitting in there waiting to be added to. I have a story idea - which I'm currently referring to as Lesbian Vampire Highlander, until a title emerges - that not only works but manges to draw new ideas, characters and scenes into it every time I think about it.
In short, I seem to be writing again. I'm using the idea of doing 100,000 words in 100 days as a motivator, even if I'm not officially signed up to that challenge, and the plan is to do at least 1000 words a day on that story until it's finished, as well as writing other things as well. If things are going well, expect to see more posts here as well - starting the day with a bit of non-fictional writing is good for me to clear out my head and kick-start the creative circuits - and it's a good place to report on my progress.
On that note, I missed target yesterday and only produced 585 words. But as it was New Year's Day and I had a bunch of other commitments to deal with, I wasn't expecting to write anything, so that's almost a bonus.
Wednesday, 2 January 2013
Saturday, 29 December 2012
100,000 words
I have a new idea for a story. More importantly, I have an idea for the character at the heart of that story and can already feel her like a real person in my mind. Stories - especially erotic ones - usually need good characters in them to come alive, and I'm already sparking lots of ideas from this one.
Which is leading me to take the plunge and try something new in 2013. A friend of mine has told me of a challenge for writers based on doing 100,000 words in 100 days. As I mentioed before, I've done NaNoWriMo in previous years - with non-erotic stories - and this is a variant on the same idea, requiring less average daily output, but over a longer period. I've done 1000 words a day for long periods before, so I'm hoping that this, and the new idea, will get me back into gear and writing properly again.
Wish me luck!
Which is leading me to take the plunge and try something new in 2013. A friend of mine has told me of a challenge for writers based on doing 100,000 words in 100 days. As I mentioed before, I've done NaNoWriMo in previous years - with non-erotic stories - and this is a variant on the same idea, requiring less average daily output, but over a longer period. I've done 1000 words a day for long periods before, so I'm hoping that this, and the new idea, will get me back into gear and writing properly again.
Wish me luck!
Thursday, 20 December 2012
Writer's block
There was a time earlier this year when stories and associated creativity were pouring out of me. Everywhere I looked seemed to be giving me ideas for new stories, and I was jotting them down and getting all the pieces of them together in my head.
That's part of the way I write. The kernel of a story comes along, and slowly lots of other parts then agglomerate around it. I can hear the characters talking, see little flashes of their world and how it all fits together, work out the direction of the story, even the ending. It's what Stephen King called 'the hole in the page' in Misery - that glimpse through into another world that you've created and brought to life.
But for some reason, during this year that's stopped happening as much as it did. Characters I thought I knew well are just falling flat on the page, and their worlds just aren't taking shape the way they used to. That's why there haven't been many entries here and my Twitter feed's just been full of plugs for stuff I've already written - there's nothing new appearing right now.
I've been trying to write, but nothing's coming. I've done NaNoWriMo several times and completed it every time until this year, when my inspiration just deserted me and a story that I thought was going to fly merely sputtered and refused to take off. Characters that had been living and thriving in my head not long before turned to ciphers on the page, stuck in a torpor and letting plot happen to them, not doing anything for themselves.
The ideas are still there, and the characters still floating around so hopefully I'll get out of this hole sometime soon and get creating again. I just need to keep writing through this, and at some point, I'll be struggling away and everything will click again, all will spark into life and the hole in the page (or the screen) will open up.
Until then, I hope you're free of blocks and your characters come alive - and the block I've got now doesn't affect the things I've written before!
That's part of the way I write. The kernel of a story comes along, and slowly lots of other parts then agglomerate around it. I can hear the characters talking, see little flashes of their world and how it all fits together, work out the direction of the story, even the ending. It's what Stephen King called 'the hole in the page' in Misery - that glimpse through into another world that you've created and brought to life.
But for some reason, during this year that's stopped happening as much as it did. Characters I thought I knew well are just falling flat on the page, and their worlds just aren't taking shape the way they used to. That's why there haven't been many entries here and my Twitter feed's just been full of plugs for stuff I've already written - there's nothing new appearing right now.
I've been trying to write, but nothing's coming. I've done NaNoWriMo several times and completed it every time until this year, when my inspiration just deserted me and a story that I thought was going to fly merely sputtered and refused to take off. Characters that had been living and thriving in my head not long before turned to ciphers on the page, stuck in a torpor and letting plot happen to them, not doing anything for themselves.
The ideas are still there, and the characters still floating around so hopefully I'll get out of this hole sometime soon and get creating again. I just need to keep writing through this, and at some point, I'll be struggling away and everything will click again, all will spark into life and the hole in the page (or the screen) will open up.
Until then, I hope you're free of blocks and your characters come alive - and the block I've got now doesn't affect the things I've written before!
Sunday, 4 November 2012
Almost Chance now available on Amazon Prime
Yes, I've taken the plunge and made Almost Chance available to Amazon Prime subscribers, so you can read it for free! You can buy it from the links on the right, and if you do read it, please leave a review.
Friday, 27 July 2012
A new free story: Emma's Favourite Place
Just to let you know I've got a new short story up at Literotica, called Emma's Favourite Place. Hope you like it, and if you do please give it some comments and good votes. You can see all my Literotica submissions here if you're looking.
It was just a quikc piece and a chance to try out an idea I had, so it's not a straightforward 'X meets Y and they have sex' story, but it's always good to do things differently, just to see the reaction it gets.
It was just a quikc piece and a chance to try out an idea I had, so it's not a straightforward 'X meets Y and they have sex' story, but it's always good to do things differently, just to see the reaction it gets.
Monday, 16 July 2012
A new story for free
I've been a bad blogger, haven't I? Nothing here for so long, but to make up for it, I now have a new story that you can read for free. It's called 'When There's An R In The Month' and you can read it on Literotica or at the Nifty Archive.
I hope you enjoy it, and I'd love to hear your comments. It's a simple tale of an encounter between two women - Rose and Shauna - and is just vanilla sex, no kink or anything else involved. I wrote it for the Smut By The Sea anthology, but it wasn't accepted, so thought I should set it free into the world for you all to see, rather than letting it skulk unread on the hard drive.
I hope you enjoy it, and I'd love to hear your comments. It's a simple tale of an encounter between two women - Rose and Shauna - and is just vanilla sex, no kink or anything else involved. I wrote it for the Smut By The Sea anthology, but it wasn't accepted, so thought I should set it free into the world for you all to see, rather than letting it skulk unread on the hard drive.
Friday, 1 June 2012
Another story completed
I've just sent in my submission for the Smut By The Sea compilation which has been a fun little story to write. It's quite a simple story, but those can be the hardest to write as it's about trying to find a balance between the utter minimalism of 'X met Y, and then they had sex' and something that gets so obsessed with detail that you can't see the sex for the body parts. I think I've struck the balance, and managed to give the characters in it some depth and some reasons for their getting together, but we'll have to wait and see what the editors think.
And as I came to the end of that one, I had another idea for another compilation that's coming up soon. It'll be interesting to write, as it feels like it should be in first person, and the lead character's got a very distinctive voice, but if I get it right, that's what'll make the story go well.
And as I came to the end of that one, I had another idea for another compilation that's coming up soon. It'll be interesting to write, as it feels like it should be in first person, and the lead character's got a very distinctive voice, but if I get it right, that's what'll make the story go well.
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