#WIPMarathon June Update

It's time for another #WIPMarathon update, hosted by the lovely Ifeoma Dennis!

Last report wordcount: YA post-apocalyptic Book 3 was at 38K, and I'd written 5K of the new fantasy project.

Current report wordcount: I finished my draft at 68K (some of those words were from the original draft)! I then did the first continuity check on Books 2 and 3.

I also finished the rough outlines for my fantasy series and reached 40K of the first book.

WIP issues this month: The usual Inner Editor woes. I think I should just accept that my first drafts are not Shakespearean by any stretch of the imagination. My natural writing style is passive voice + excessive use of "that" "this" "it" "thing" "something" and other words which inevitably lead to me having to rewrite 60% of my sentences in revision... and non-writer readers probably don't even notice. *headdesk*

Also, switching tenses from first person present to third person past (and then back to first person past when editing my Alliance novella). Not confusing at all! :P

Four things I learned this month in writing:

• I've been watching Brandon Sanderson's Write About Dragons lectures, and picking up some tips. I'm glad I'm not the only writer who does one revision as soon as I finish a draft, to fix the immediate issues that have been bugging me (and that I've made a note of as I go along) rather than shelving it. I do put the draft away to get some distance later, but by the time I get to the end, I've often forgotten the details of the beginning...
• I've also found it really helpful to keep note of what happens in each chapter as I'm drafting, especially where it deviates from the outline. This helped SO MUCH with the first edit of my YA post-apocalyptic series, because I could immediately see where the plot holes were. I'm experimenting with this in my latest draft, also noting down what information is revealed and when, to hopefully stop the inevitable flood of continuity errors which always ruin my day when editing.
• Related: I really need to make proper notes when I introduce a new element into my draft which isn't in the outline. About 50% of my issues when editing come from this...
• ...and the other 50% come from agonising over advice that often isn't relevant. Like the "cut 10% of your draft" rule - I'm sure it works for people who write too-long drafts, but I usually add words in revision, not cut them out. (Except for passive voice/crutch words.) So I'm trying to selectively apply writing advice!

What distracted me this month when writing: Shiny new ideas and new worlds. :P Of course, once I'd finally found the balance between drafting one project and planning another, I got a sudden impulse to write a space opera/urban fantasy mashup.:P So I gave in for a bit and did some planning. And then I got another idea for a different epic fantasy series the other day. Two ideas in a month is pretty unusual for me! I get so few decent ideas, it's always best to at least get some notes down so I have something to come back to later.

Also, Nemesis came out. :)

Goal for next month: Write more of this draft! I'd like to finish it, but I'm judging the Writer Pitch contest, mentoring, freelancing and going to YA Lit Con for the full weekend, so I'm not going to have as much writing time in July!

Last 200 words: 

I feel mean posting something from a book that probably won't be published until at least 2016/2017, but I can't post from my post-apocalyptic because of all the spoilers. To give some context, this is the first in a fantasy trilogy. I'm having fun writing these characters. ;)

Shaking off the surprise, Zelle waited for the wind to die down enough for her to let go of the door and jump-scramble awkwardly onto Tawny’s furred back. I must be mad! she thought. At least when Tawny leaped forward, it became clear the stranger was a real, solid human being, and not some conjuration of the mountain’s magic. And surprisingly young, not that it was easy to tell with snowflakes swirling around them both in a frenetic dervish. His dark-red hair almost reached his shoulders, the only patch of colour against the snow, and his eyes were wide as they took in her, and the beast-like form of Tawny.

She supposed she couldn’t blame him for stumbling back in alarm.

“Wait!” She jumped down from Tawny’s back and held up her hands, though the claw-shaped stick probably didn’t help.

The young man recovered himself, scrambling to his feet.

“You’re going to let me in, witch,” he said.

“Witch?” Zelle said.

Another gust of wind sent the young stranger staggering forward, pitching against the snowdrift just in front of Zelle. Despite the walking-stick he leaned on, he looked hardly capable of supporting himself on his own feet.

“There’s something I need to find,” he said, his voice barely audible over the howling wind. “A book.”

Zelle stared at him. “You just climbed to the top of the most impassable mountain in the Range through a storm, to an outpost for the biggest library on the continent. I should bloody well hope you were looking for a book, if not certain death.”

No response from the young man. He appeared to have passed out.

“Well, that’s just bloody outstanding.”