drupagliassotti @ January 25, 2010 # No Comment Yet
I can revise a novel over and over and over again on-screen, and it never makes any difference. When I finally print it out, around revision two or three, and go over it on paper, I invariably see dozens of places on each page where I can tighten prose, fix dialog, and clarify points. I’m [...]
drupagliassotti @ January 1, 2010 # No Comment Yet
Happy 2010, everybody! This was the evening (pre-fireworks) view from our balcony at the suite at the Grand Californian, next to Disney’s California Adventures, where I spent New Year’s Eve with some college/gaming friends and their kids. Now I am sitting in bed waiting for said friends to rouse and/or for the Rose Parade to [...]
drupagliassotti @ December 30, 2009 # No Comment Yet
Well, I just finished the second major revision, and I think the manuscript is ready to be seen now. It’s running 143,732 words, however; 23,932 words longer than the first. Gulp. Happy holidays to everybody! It’s time for me to push myself away from the keyboard for the rest of the year….
drupagliassotti @ November 8, 2009 # No Comment Yet
For the first time in many years, I’ve decided to sit out National Novel Writing Month. My apologies to anyone who was hoping to keep up on my progress this year! I love NaNoWriMo — in fact, both of my novels, Clockwork Heart and An Agreement with Hell, were originally NaNovels, and the CH [...]
drupagliassotti @ August 16, 2009 # One Comment
Whew! After what has essentially been a week glued in front of my laptop, I have finally finished the first draft of a Clockwork Heart sequel. I still have plenty of work to do on it, of course. Right now the story is lumpy and awkward and dangling some loose ends, but the hardest part [...]
drupagliassotti @ August 7, 2009 # One Comment
You know what I don’t like? I don’t like character incompetence driving a scene. I mean, okay, if it’s a cringe comedy about a complete klutz, that’s one thing, but in general, I think it’s a sign of weak plotting. Which is why I’m struggling really, really hard to figure out how to write this [...]
drupagliassotti @ August 3, 2009 # No Comment Yet
Well, I haven’t gotten CH2 quite where I’d hoped to get it over the weekend; earlier today I deleted a few hundred words that I wrote on Sunday and wrote a few hundred new words to replace them. The characters were trying to decide what to do next, and the dialog was becoming too wishy-washy. [...]
drupagliassotti @ August 1, 2009 # One Comment
Today’s writing-related research question was whether shooting somebody at close range would cause blood sprayback on the shooter. Fortunately, that’s an easy one for me to get answered; my father’s retired military, a member of NRA, and a range officer. He’s taught me and my nephew how to shoot, and I’ve consulted him on a [...]
drupagliassotti @ July 31, 2009 # 2 Comments
I managed to convey my characters to their destination yesterday, thanks to the wonders of the web, although they’ve yet to slip out to look around. Honestly, how did writers manage before all the information in the world was at their fingertips? A little research on variable-gauge axles and rail gauge changing facilities gave me [...]
drupagliassotti @ July 30, 2009 # 2 Comments
Last weekend I managed to put in another 10K on my Clockwork Heart sequel, although some of it was hard-won. I was having trouble with the fact that locomotives need to stop periodically to replenish their coal and water — and a stop was going to give my characters a very good chance of escaping, [...]