NickNoWriQuart - Failure Broadcast

After a few weeks of admin-linking to work elsewhere, a full on-this-website blog post this time - although not a super-long one as I'm going to talk about something I failed to achieve and I don't think dwelling on it for thousands of words is super healthy.

Between that paragraph and the title, regular readers may guess where I'm going - my one-thousand-words-a-day-for-three-months word count challenge did not reach its final goal. To be precise, it wound down a week or so back at around 66k, but due to real-life busywork, writing blogs for other sites and the huge amount of comic-based TV I'm trying to follow, I haven't got round to posting about it for a while.

Still, after going to the trouble of announcing the challenge was happening, I shouldn't gloss over my non-success. Pretty annoying that I chugged along fine for two months on my own and then died off just as everyone else joined in for NaNoWriMo, I must say.

Anyway. Where did it all go wrong?

Plan Vs Reality Vs Words Vs Plan

A lot of my problems can be summed up with this post I wrote in June, which is nice as it saves me typing all that out now. Turns out, planning a new novel in a whole new world is harder work than planning another nice comfy Hobson & Choi book.

My plan didn't entirely fall apart, which is nice - my words were going in the direction I planned, but the way they got there and the circumstances under which the story took place changed so much that I couldn't really keep going. Or rather, I could, but I'd be writing stuff I knew I'd end up deleting and much as I sometimes enjoy the NaNoWriMo forge-ahead-no-matter-what approach, I also don't like knowing beyond all doubt that I'm wasting my own time.

Plus, in terms of progress along my book plan, I'd written sixty-six thousand words to cover plot that should've taken about forty thousand max. So, even if I did my planned ninety-one thousand by the end of this month, I'd never have a full first draft as I barely covered half the story. Not to mention, I don't see much point in writing a new major part if I know huge chunks of the foundations will be removed, but haven't yet decided which ones.

So I've started bashing together a better, more coherent draft of the early chapters, re-using existing material for most of it, but stitched together differently. We'll see. As with all these word count challenges, best to focus on the fact I achieved something. Even if a huge chunk of my 66k gets cut, it all went toward figuring out the world.

...Vs Reality Vs Plans Vs Leeds...

Also unhelpful, I admit, that just as I started wobbling on how to progress the novel, I became incredibly busy all the time so momentum died. I was in the day job a lot, many birthday parties came along, I went to Leeds for Thought Bubble - which was fun, by the way. Saw loads of comics, feel like I want to write some more of them soon.

No idea how that fits in with the novel writing, no. Will try and keep bolting together my better draft.

To be honest, it is with some confusion that I stagger towards the end of 2016. At least I know to start editing H&C4 in early January, that's a pleasing constant. Everything else is in a state of weird flux.

And that's a current writing update, for anyone interested. If you're doing NaNoWriMo, good luck to you - you've just passed halfway, that's gotta feel good. And if you've attempted and failed NaNo, ah well. Stick with me and focus on the fact you wrote something. There could be gold in there somewhere.

Nine Worlds 2015 - Ten Highlights, One Bookpile

Nine Worlds! It came! I went! Did that sound weird?

Anyway. This weekend just gone was the third annual Nine Worlds convention at Heathrow, an event that is such a geekfest, it is called that on Twitter. This is a single con attempting to devote at least some programming to as many difference aspects of geek-beloved media as possible, all the while remaining as diverse, inclusive and people-friendly as possible.

If you think that's a huge and challenging remit, you'd be right. I went to the con last year as well, how did the 2015 effort stack up? What were the best panels this year? Did I manage to take a photo of anything other than the view from my hotel? Well, as you can see on the right, I've certainly equalled that, at least.

Nick returns from the digital wilderness to find... - Hobson & Choi update! Sandman! Spectre! Comics on eBay! OTHER!

As threatened in my last blog post with that podcast appended, it's been a very quiet month in Content terms, as I have been moving house from Walthamstow to Lewisham, into a charming fourth floor flat where myself and my self-publishing empire will hopefully be very happy together.

As traditionally happens whenever anyone moves house in the modern world, this was accompanied by an annoying gap in internet access. We only got online yesterday, and I must admit, I'd forgotten how amazing the world wide web can be.

So, here are a few things I have seen, experienced and planned during my month away. Some have already been mentioned on Twitter, but most I couldn't be bothered to tweet because my only Twitter access was my four-year old phone and loading the app is a chore.

2014 - A Writrospective

Because it's a retrospective about my writing, you see? So it's a writrospective! Even if you don't care about me or my work, surely it was worth clicking on the blog post just for that pun? See diagram for more details.

Anyway. I have more or less reached the point where all my free time is booked for the remainder of the year. Might squeeze in an hour or two somewhere, but I doubt any more substantial writing work will happen before 2015 hits.

So I thought I'd take this chance, late on a Thursday night, to look back on what I did/achieved this year, in and around writing, and whether it met my lofty goals from twelve months ago. Don't worry, it won't be pure self-congratulation - I missed almost all of those goals, but not completely.

SERIAL KILLER - Hobson & Choi webserial conclusion contemplation

As you’ve hopefully struggled to miss if you follow my various web presences in the last few days, the last chapter of the Hobson & Choi webserial on JukePop debuted on the site, bringing the whole 1.75 years of its life to a close.

The story of Hobson and Choi themselves will continue in the self-published book editions, the second of which comes out in January. However, future cases will be written in longer chapters, entirely with the books in mind. I thought the loss of week-to-week serialisation from my life warranted a few words.

Pros And Cons Of Reading Your Writing Out Loud (or Why I Was Talking To Myself, Honest)

From eleven o'clock yesterday morning until seven in the evening, I sat at my desk alone, reading out the first sixty percent of my current nearly-finished work in progress. (The second book of the Hobson & Choi series, since you asked.)

For a couple of years now, the read-out-loud has been the final step of any work before I show it to other people. I vocalise the entire text to an empty house. If you don't do this, I'm not going to tell you it's essential (because different strokes for different folks and I would never tell you how to stroke yourself), but if you've never even tried it, here's how it works for me.

Novels By Numbers - How I Killed My Precise Book Structure

My novel - the urban fantasy one I am currently editing after intensive beta reading - has a very strict structure. Three parts (because I love the three act structure), each containing seven chapters (because... I'm not actually sure). I laid it out like that when I started, and have stuck to it ever since.

In my last edit, a few conclusive plot developments got pushed off the end of the final chapter - Chapter Twenty-One, obviously - and I put them in an epilogue. Because this preserves my precious structure.

I've continued this game of sevens all the way to the fourth draft, and frankly I think I deserve a medal. Or at least a giant seven-shaped cake. You can probably find one in shops under Birthday Cakes For Seven Year Olds.

Still, all good things are determined to come to an end, and I don't think I can sustain this shape any longer. I've planned out my new final third and am adding some major new sections to the book, important new bits, cool stuff, all thanks to good suggestions from my excellent beta people. But I don't think I can do it within the seven/seven/seven framework - not without writing chapters that are also ten/twelve thousand word novellas, at least.

So, with a heavy heart and a grim smile, maybe ever a cinematic single tear, I am waving goodbye to the sevens. I will miss them, but anything that makes the book better is probably worth it. And I still have sevens in the first and second third.

And, ditching the faux-eulogy tone for a second, let's be honest: if an editor, agent, publisher or similar entity says I need to add extra chapters to the book anywhere, further messing up the sevens, I'll definitely  do it as long as I agree it'll improve the story. Hardly seems practical to get over-attached to these things. Not as if the chapter-counts are story relevant, it just worked out that way.

And it least it gave me something to work within while I got the book written. Let's not be ungrateful.

I'm glad I wrote this blog post, it was therapeutic.

Work After Work - A Work Update Working 2014 Over With Work

Due to the combined impact of my book coming out, my first ever trip to a convention and the heat and humidity fucking with my motivation, I have not done one of these ramble-about-my-process blog posts for a while.

I miss them, I have a few minutes spare, I've recently changed my writing routine a little and solidified my future plans, so let's talk about that. Why would you work after work? Is it because you like work, or at least need to work on your work? What is work? What is my work? How is your work?

Nick Vs Nine Worlds - Convention Conclusions

This weekend just gone, I was at the Nine Worlds convention in Heathrow. Regular and well-behaved blog readers will have read my pre-game post last week, in which I revealed that this is my first convention, despite having wallowed in nerdy interests from the age of about ten.

So, how did it go? Well, I didn't achieve my goal of taking interesting photographs, for sure. To my right is the view from our hotel window, which was one of only two pictures captured during the con. For the second photo, as well as opinion of the actual event, continue reading...

All You Can Eat Media - Nick vs Netflix, Man vs Marvel Unlimited

In the last few weeks since my birthday, I've catapulted myself hard into the world of unlimited on-demand media. Yes, I already had things like BBC iPlayer, 4OD and American equivalents, but this was the next level: Netflix for TV and the Marvel Unlimited service for comics.

After years of only watching carefully selected shows and targeted media, going back to having a wide range of stuff I might like available and choosing from it has been a strange experience. It's like when I was young and I used to read TV guides and consider watching new stuff.

Only with comics too, which is where the comparison breaks down.

Anyway, after two months in the new world of everything-you-could-ever-want rampant consumption, here are the observations I've made.

How many drafts? Definitely more than zero...

Today, after considerable striving, I finished one of the many readthroughs I am doing on The Novel. This was one part of a raft of edits, which together constitute a third draft - more details on those here if you're interested - and I'm hopefully within a week or two of finishing the whole damn lot. After that, I may let some other people read it.

The whole draft-counting system is a very personal thing really - you'd think the criteria for a first, second and third draft would be easy to define, but in reality you might as well ask a writer to define the concept of being. In fact, that might be quicker. (But I would say that, I have a Philosophy degree.)

In general, I'll use whatever approach works for me at the time. One numbering idiosyncrasy I've never quite found a use for, though, is Draft Zero.

Hobson & Choi Self-Publishing Attempt - An Early Update

Like most of my big announcements, this one was somewhat buried in various podcasts and the London Book Fair blog post a month ago, so here it is up top: I am planning Hobson & Choi self-published editions, collecting the series storyline-by-storyline, with proper covers, editing, extra material and general joy.

The first of these should be out in the summer, for both e-readers and paper-readers. The second... hopefully by the end of the year, but that could end up being optimistic.

So, as I embark on this adventure, I thought I'd blog about it a little. These will be on an irregular basis rather than every week, as there won't always be anything to report. And yes, it is taking a fuckton of willpower to not call this Self-Pub Update #1 and start numbering them, but I've only just made myself stop doing that with the writing blogs. Must be strong.

Anyway. How's it going with the self-publishing, Nick?

I AM NOT A NUMBER (but my novel editing progress is and I can't stop looking at it)

This week, threatened as recently as last week, I launched into the third draft of my constantly-in-progress novel. This is the phase where I trawl through the entire text of the book, picking at individual words and trying to get it to the stage where I'm willing to share it with my elite team of beta readers.

ASIDE: If you want to join said elite team, email me and volunteer, or contact me using any other method available to you. All viable humans considered, especially those able to read a book in 1-2 months and provide feedback more detailed than "Yeah, it was okay." Beta reading likely to commence in early-to-mid June.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I launched into the editing process, and quickly settled on a method. For more details on said method and its implications for my location, read on...

Is it me or is there a COMPLETED SECOND draft in here? (WriteBlog #24)

Unfortunately, the pun in the title doesn't really work, as that kind of draft is spelt draught. But enough self-sabotage.

This week, on Wednesday to be precise, I completed the second draft of the novel I've been blogging about for ages. So yeah, hit my self-imposed deadline of the end of April by about six hours, go team. Now, this doesn't mean it's time to show it to publishing professionals, or indeed other humans at all, but it is a major chunk of work finished, and I'm going to number it as second draft anyway, simply because it gives me a feeling of progress.

So what exactly do I mean by second draft? And what's next if not showing it to others? Time now for a little pause-and-take-stock in the editing process.

Fighting The Skeleton Army - Fleshing out NaNoWriMo writing (WriteBlog #23)

This week, I came within 1.5 chapters of finishing the second draft of the novel! But this isn't quite the victory lap blog post yet, I'll get to that next week. This week, after editing 5.5 chapters worth of NaNoWriMo work (I wrote the last seven chapters during NaNo 2013), I finally worked out the real difference between this and better, more carefully written first draft material.

No, it wasn't the terrible spelling and barely comprehensible sentences, those would've happened anyway.

The Trouble With All That (WriteBlog #22)

Since last week's London Book Fair adventures, I've returned to my normal life and tried to live the lessons, y'know? I've emailed a couple of people, spoken about things, set wheels in motion, and then... well, at some point I had to sit down and do some writing again.

And honestly, it almost felt a bit dull compared to all the faffing around checking my book options and seeing pretty colours. Not to mention, there are so many things to be done on the vague self-pub checklist, there's always some other task I could/should be doing.

London Book Fair 2014 - "Eventual self-published author Nick Bryan goes to seminars, eats crisps!"

I normally have a writing update in this slot on the blog, but I haven't done much work this week, as I went off to London Book Fair 2014 in Earl's Court. So, I thought I'd write about the experience from my perspective as an internet-using nearly-maybe-self-published author, on the off-chance it helps someone else or satisfies some curiosity.

(Although for anyone who is here for the writing updates: I got another short comic story pitch accepted by the nice chaps at GrayHaven Comics, so things are progressing.)

Anyway, for one week only, let's move the adventure outside my room. I went to London Book Fair and what did I learn?

2048 - Ideally this would be my review score... (WriteBlog #20)

When last we met, I was having some massive writing days, but also worrying that I was maiming my ability to function in a basic human way. I was also developing a growing addiction to 2048, the stupid tile-matching number puzzle which has managed to somehow bypass my usual instinctive avoidance of timesink phone games.

Not content with pouring hours into the Doctor Who version on my computer, I have now downloaded the actual app for my phone. It has not improved matters. But anyway, this isn't meant to be a weekly blog where I moan about my latest procrastination discovery (although that by far one of the biggest challenges I face in my authorial life, sadly) - how's the actual work going, Nick?

30

Today is my thirtieth birthday, as you probably already know if you follow me on social media, we're friends in real life or spoke to me for any length of time in the last month. To mark this occasion, here's a short blog post, including a picture of my amazing cake. If you find this overly self-indulgent, don't worry, my new Walking Dead review is up today as well.

So, well done me. Three decades and still alive. After a Philosophy degree (yes, I have a Philosophy degree - ask about the meaning of life now!), so many novels I've lost count, some therapy, some houseshares, some drinks, a whole lot of fuckin' TV reviews, fifty-nine Hobson & Choi chapters, thirty H&C Podcasts, nineteenWriteBlogs and the realisation I enjoy numbering my projects far too much, here I am.

I'm pretty sure this is the most together I've been in my life since I hit self-awareness at around 16, which is terrifying and reassuring at the same time. The writing is finally coming together, after I stopped attempting literary fiction about the human condition and just embraced my love of blowing shit up and telling jokes about shit.

Happily, avoided too much moping about being old by realising that my younger self wasn't as good as the current one, so I'll accept the shortening of my life in order to not be such a pain. Which sounds like a dilemma from a science-fiction novel, now I think about it. "This injection will make you less of a dick, but also shave ten years off your life... will you accept it?"

Yeah. Alright then. Probably won't write that novel though, it sounds terrible.

Novel Editing - Snake eats itself, then spits self back out and says "Yick!" (WriteBlog #19)

I started these WriteBlogs back in October, mostly as a way of creating imagined mass peer-pressure and encouraging me to finish my damn novel edits. Since then, they've gone through a range of topics, including thoughts on comics writing and moaning about my near-misses with writer's block.

Well, this week we came full circle, as I got back into the novel edits hard, and ended up working on the very chapters I was blogging about when I first started the whole cycle. And then... well, I deleted a lot of them. This writing shit is brutal.