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OWW is my online critiquing workshop, for those on my FL that aren't familiar with it. Anyway, they have the editors choice thing going on. From the newsletter: "The Editors' Choices are chosen from the submissions from the previous month that show the most potential or otherwise earn the admiration of our Resident Editors. Submissions in four categories--science fiction chapters, fantasy chapters, horror, and short stories -- receive a detailed review, meant to be educational for others as well as the author."

Anyway, I always thought, someday I'll be good enough to get picked. That would be really cool. That was like, 8 years ago. And now I finally got picked.

Oddly enough, the chapter that got picked was not one of the ones I'm most proud of. It's one of those in the middle of laying down a new setting, when nothing really unbelievably suspenseful is happening. But that's just as well, since I could really use some good advice on how to make that section of the story work. I'm really excited about getting a review from an actual author/editor who will be able to tell me what I'm doing wrong and not just, "this doesn't work for me."

But the review doesn't come out till the next newsletter, on june 20th! I feel like I'm gonna explode.

This comes on the heels of the annoying realization that in order to introduce Justin's brother Nick earlier in the story like I want to and have it come off smoothly and not like I added him into all those scenes later, I'm going to have to rewrite practically all of chapters 2 through 10 from scratch. And I don't feel like doing it right now. I have chapter 21 to type out and 22 to finish (I've amalgamated two chapters and renamed the chapters after them.) And things are going on paper decently fast at the moment, so I think I'll just wait till things slow down again before I go back and do any rewrites.

I'm pretty much done chapter 20, but it slowly turned into chapter 20 and 21 when I went to add in the character development bit. The problem is as I was writing that, they decided they needed to go ahead and get married, and I thought, well, that should happen earlier, so they get to have some time together and all. I mean, glossed over "and two years passed blessedly uneventfully" time together, but it needs to be there. I never wanted this to happen as a last moment before we rush off to battle when anything could happen sort of thing.

I suppose I'll just send it out without that scene, and add it in... ugh, no, it needs to go in now.

I got to sitting down to write chapter 17, and I realized I hadn't ended chapter 16 the way I'd planned. Not really sure how that happened. In any case, the last two and a half pages are being rewritten.

I have another 25 minutes at work, and everybody's gone home, because the work till midnight, and I work till one, because I have class till three thirty and can't get to work until four thirty.I'm too tired to write now.

I have been asked about the final battle of timekeeper book one. There will indeed be a final battle, hopefully spectacular, and I hope to possibly spend more than one chapter on it to do it proper justice. The premise for the final battle should be fairly clear within a page of the next chapter.

So many ideas for book two, though. Making one change to book one: Justin plays the guitar. Ok, not a change, more of an addition, but it'll be added eventually. It has no significance in book one, but will in book two.

I've been thinking of the ending of book one though, mainly about what I need to happen, and just how many people I have to kill to accomplish that, and I realized, you know, that's such a limiting attitude! I shouldn't be thinking about how many people I have to kill. I should be figuring how many people can I kill? As long as I have a main character to carry on to book two, all's fair game. It's a pity only that I can't think of a good reason to stage the final battle in a populated area.

I should come up with a teaser sort of thing you might read off the back cover of book two to throw to all my Beta Readers once Book one is finished and I expect a wait of a month between that and chapter one of book two...

Hehe.

Nathan figures I'm not sneaky enough to throw red herrings into the story. But they're there, oh yes, they're there. And it's terribly amusing to watch my beta readers catch them and hold onto them for dear life. And then be completely convinced that they're correct when I can't stop giggling about it. It's all, ha, I got it, you thought you were so clever...oh.

For example, Matthew and the Skip were just enough of a mystery to draw attention away from another secret that comes out later. Not so obvious that the readers saw it and moved on, ambiguous enough that they wondered, and figured, and then ha, I was right! But by then the heat was off what else I was hiding.

I have one who's going to be mad at about chapter 16 or 17. When they realise that for six chapters they've been gloating about figuring it out and they're wrong. :)

I think it's part of the fact that one idea doesn't make a novel. It might make a short story, but even a short story, I usually combine at least two ideas. You have to take a bunch of ideas and mix them together, or you just end up beating a dead horse trying to find something to write about that one idea that's not repetitive. And plus, if it's done well enough to keep their interest at all, the reader will be so focussed on that idea, that there's no way you can get them to miss the things that give stuff away. If you keep the story coming fast, keep it interesting, and have several possibilities for the readers to wonder about, you can drop hints here and there, right under the readers' noses, and they don't notice. Some do, but they'll be happy when they're proved right, and that's good. As long as it's not something painfully obvious, readers get great satisfaction out of figuring out a complicated plot.

I'm getting addicted to livejournal. I'm checking it like all the time.

Anyway, I got chapter eleven typed out, and by the next day there were two posts from friends that mention it. Now, I tend to have trouble telling how other people feel, being autistic, but things in writing get the point across to me better, and I'm forever watching for signs, so I figure if it was good enough to be mentioned that quickly, it must have been good.

So different from the lukewarm responses I'd get about my old story, that I worked on so long and scrapped about 7 months ago to start Timekeeper. Responses to that were like "yeah, that was pretty good, I enjoyed it." Compared to "You have to write more of that story, I read it all in one sitting!" And I was getting that when it was over 30 000 words long.

Chapter 12 should be along pretty soon, I might start working on typing it out at work tonight. It's the start of the chapters I wrote for Nano, so it will probably sound rushed, and I'll probably do a lot of editing, and adding stuff I forgot in. But it's a slow point in the story, and it's possibly just as well that Nano forced me to plow through those three chapters or I might have been working on them for months.

I've done bugger all for writing the last couple of days, but I sat down today and got 1000 words done.

It was inspired writing though. I think it should count for double word count. I can't wait till I've got that whole chapter typed out so people can read it. Little bit wierd and twisted, but since I was basing it on something I've researched; the shamanic death and rebirth, it had definite direction.

Well, I think it was good anyway. I'm not good at writing gore; some of my readers who are better at it might have some advice.

Current total: about 15 000 words.

I'm getting these ideas for expanding what I originally planned as the epilogue of Timekeeper. It might be enough for another book. And there's certainly potential for some grander climax than what I had planned for the original book. Very little has to change, and nothing I have planned will change up to a bit past the currently planned climax.

Damn, I was looking forward to having finished an entire story fairly soon. There will be a clear climax in Timekeeper, of course, but the ending would be clearly not the end. Hmm. The more I think about it, the more I realise these ideas are too good, to pass up. They also require too much setup to incorporate them into another story, even in the same world.

Yeah, I think that's it. Timekeeper's going to be a trilogy.

Was writing yesterday and a character showed up kind of out of nowhere. Don't know where they came from, but I had to think for a while; is this going to mess up the plot?

No, I finally concluded. And upon further reflection, I realised why that character was there. It was perfect, hehe.

In other news, I went dancing with Daria and Dan last night. (And I feel bad for not being up to it on friday, for Lee, But I got enough sleep on friday night to be up to it on saturday.) I had a good time. Probably the best time I've had at a club. There was no country music and no rap. And no smoking. All the things that spoil my night clubbing were not there. Just loud music and people in crazy costumes (three dressed as Cloud, Aeris, and Tifa from FFVII; they were awsome.) After exams, it was nice to just sink into the music. It's kind of purifying in a way. Will definitely go again.

Anyway, getting back to writing now.

Finally got chapter nine typed out. I don't know if some of my beta readers will be mad at me. Or if it will just suck, cause it's my first attempt at any real, involved action, combined with the Keeper Magic. It's so hard to guage when it's your own writing, but that's what beta readers are for.

I'm getting deeper and deeper into the plot now...