Nice confusing title, no?

Though in reality, that's what it is.

This third part of Christine Smith's wrap-up is meant to be after the writing is completed. The truth of the matter is, my writing is STILL not completed. A lot of these questions are also answered in my NaNo wrap-up, so if there is any repeating, I humbly apologize.

BUT - since I participated in the other two link-ups parts, I figured I'd finish the series with a bang. Or a pop. Or a peep.


1. Firstly, how did writing this novel go all around?

Writing this November felt like being in a turtle race - a rather slipshod one at that. Both this writing session - and the one before it - was basically a poor attempt at catching scattered story scenes, pinning them to paper, and then trying to reorder them to fit together. I've only half-succeeded at the moment.....


2. Did it turn out like you expected or completely different? And how do you feel about the outcome?

I was hoping that my drafting would go a lot better than it has been going. Instead of the complete draft that I wanted, I got another collection of story scenes that are loosely tied together.

All in all, I'm not satisfied with how it's turned out so far and will be working hard to improve it.


3. What aspect of the story did you love writing about the most? (Characters, plot, setting, prose, etc.)

Writing character interactions is my favorite aspect of writing this particular novel. I'm not sure why the ordinary conversation holds so much appeal to me, but it does. Humor is also a favorite of mine as well. It is these little vignettes of daily life that make a book charming to me.




4. How about your least favorite part?

I could do without the frustration and the writer's block that I got for at least half of the days of November.

Really, those days killed my drafting and buried it besides.


5. What do you feel like needs the most work?

MY PLOT.

It's a terrible mess. There are so many loose ends that are being tied and untied all over the place. At the moment, I've got to deal with a rogue tribe of gypsies that decided to insert itself there....


6. How do you feel about your characters now that the novel is done? Who’s your favorite? Least favorite? Anyone surprise you? Give us all the details!

Well, it's NOT done, so I'm not sure I can answer this question fully. But as I have fallen more in love with my characters as I work with them.

My two favorite characters are my MC's, Ealdread and Janina. Their friendship and romance is growing deeper as my word count grows. Alvilda and Karsten are not too far behind them in my affections.

The two characters that I wish to throw off a cliff are some minor antagonists, namely King Osgeirr of Ravndal (another small kingdom of my land of Verden) and Orthothien Haisthilt, who is a Duventoliel citizen. Both of these characters are arrogant troublemakers....to say the least.   

Magda, my main antagonist, has actually surprised me the most during this writing session. Her anger and sneakiness reached a zenith towards the end of the plot. She has not been content with one act of sabotage against her sister, but has now committed at least three....



7. What’s your next plan of action with this novel?

The first step....is to finish drafting the silly thing. Right now it sits just under 30K, with only about a third of the plotline being actually in words.

After drafting is completed, this book will be on the track of being published - potentially as a debut novel. Of course, betas and editing will have to come first. The goal is to have this ready for the first beta-reading by May 2019.


8. If you could have your greatest dream realized for this novel, what would it be?

For it to be published, and to be hailed as a favorite fantasy read :)


9. Share a snippet of one of your most favorite scenes!

Grr, there are so many that I have shared already....but I think y'all will enjoy this one:


“Come, Alvilda! I need to practice my dance steps....I’m horribly out of practice!” Janina pleaded to her older sister who sat at the window with the last touches on her Maiden’s Gown.

“But there aren’t any musicians here! Now how do you expect to dance without a beat to dance to, pray?” Alvilda laughed.

“No matter! You keep a beat so wonderfully in your head. Now come, please??” Janina’s eyes widened childishly.

Alvilda sighed in mock reluctance. To tell the truth, she was feeling antsy herself and Janina so dearly loved to dance that she would be horribly disappointed if Alvilda didn’t oblige. So, she set aside the dress she was working on for Magda and shuffle-stepped over to her sister.

"Now, what dance do you need to work on?” Alvilda bounced back and forth between feet to limber up her stiff knees.

Janina was quick to answer. “Let us practice the rondovay first and then the setervise. Marchioness Lottia says that I’ve been rushing the tempo on both of those and I cannot allow myself to get ahead of my partner.”

Alvilda nodded. “A very good reason. Men aren’t quite as quick and light as us you know.” A mischievous twinkle dared to fall from the blue eyes. “Now, how does that song go again....” she trailed off as she fought to extract the melody from her head.

Counting in breathy tones, Alvilda began to tap out a tempo on the stone floor. She ran through a few steps to satisfy herself that it needn’t be changed and then grasped Janina’s hands.

“Okay, for the rondovay....remember to cross your arms under your partners and start off on the heel, not the ball as in the interlace dance. On three!”



10. Did you glean any new writing and/or life lessons from writing this novel?

Oh, quite a bit of them! Most of them were discussed in my NaNo wrap-up, so I won't repeat them here. But every single writing session brings forth a whole bucket load of lessons for me - which is great since I'm still learning.


I'm going to dash off now - Christmas is only FOUR DAYS AWAY!!! and I'm still not prepared.....

Scribbingly yours,

Catherine



P.S. The Super Secret Project is coming along nicely! I hope to publish it sometime after the 1st of the year :).