Whew!

[cairistiona]

All done with the Death of Dulgath beta except for filling out a last feedback survey. This beta went really fast for me this time, I think because this book is firmly back in the 'modern' world of Royce & Hadrian, so not as much worldbuilding to keep track of like there was with Rhune, which takes place in the same world, but thousands of years earlier. That one had 98% new names and characters and places to learn and that's always something that slows me down while I try to learn them all. Dulgath was like putting on comfy old shoes and strolling through familiar woods, even if it was a new path.

Of course, I can't really say much about it because of spoilers (even if I did, it might change by the time the final version of the book comes out), but suffice to say this was a great read, even in the beta-draft version. It'll fit in perfectly with the 8 other Riyria books (I say 8 because the first three--Theft of Swords, Rise of Empire, and Heir of Novron--are actually omnibus volumes of 2 books each). It's another good gap-filling prequel that stands in good company with The Crown Tower and The Rose and The Thorn.

It's the eve of Labor Day weekend here in the US and my sister is coming down, so I'll be busy and probably not on LJ much until Tuesday, so I'm just going to wait until then to restart Aragorn-a-Day. I've missed our Ranger!

Any time I do beta work, whether for a fanfiction or for Michael, it gives me the itch to get back to my own writing. I still want to continue with Bowen Rushlight's story, though the muse is still annoyingly hiding from me on that front. I also have another Bucky Barnes Breathe, Focus WIP in the works. Chapter 1 is all but finished, but before I can finish chapter 2, I need to untangle a story structure issue. The story in my head looks cool, but figuring out how to organize it in a readable fashion is proving to be not as cool. Ugh, logistics and POV. Whyyyyyy are they so hard??? Am I the only one with that problem? Discussion time! How do you guys do your plotting? Seat of the pants or outline or a combo of both?

Comments

[suzll.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear that the book was a good read!! And oooof I feel you with beta'ing and the itch to get back to writing--it's a big reason why I enjoy doing it so much.

Re: logistics--I usually fly by the seat of my pants in plotting , which sometimes works in my favor, but....well, you know better than anyone that my longer fics tend to hit a major snag/roadblock about 2/3 of the way in and then wind up getting indefinitely shelved :/. Sometimes I wonder if this would be solved by outlining....

Enjoy the long weekend!

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

well, you know better than anyone that my longer fics tend to hit a major snag/roadblock about 2/3 of the way in and then wind up getting indefinitely shelved :/. Sometimes I wonder if this would be solved by outlining....

Yes, we share each other's pain, although I tend to get stuck about halfway through, so you at least get a third farther along. LOL

Outlining would be so helpful but I have the darnedest time figuring out how to make one and then actually FOLLOW it. *sigh*

[mrowe.livejournal.com]

Yay on the proofread:-)

Plotting: I usually have the first chapter(s) fairly detailed when I start on a longer fic, and a good idea of where I want the fic to end up. How I actually get there... well:

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Great graphic! Mine would be more of a red dot at the beginning followed by a lot of purple squiggling and MAYBE a faint pinkish dot at the end...