Ghosts of the Lonely Shore

Here's a quick refresher course on my oh-so-interesting writing life - I had a major case of writer's block with my story Seaspear last summer and so decided to do Nano to get back into writing and set Seaspear aside for a nice long nap.

So now, I'm thinking about the plan I made my plan before Nano....  I will now set my Nano novel out of my mind, even though Section Two is unfinished, and use December and maybe even part of January to work on Seaspear again.

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The title of this post is a phrase from a poem I wrote in 8th grade, titled "Secrets of the Sea."  This is a lot how I felt about Seaspear last week when I picked up the first couple chapters and flipped through. It was as if I approached the loneliest shore - one I used to know but which now seemed foreign.  

Right now, poor old Ren and Grailyn and Lord Shiloh are painted in cracked plaster, ancient in my mind even though I still love them dearly.   

But I think that no matter how ghostly this shore seems, I will tread on it again and stir up the water once more.

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One thing that motivated me was a visit to California this past weekend.  It was my first time seeing the Pacific Ocean, and since the ocean plays a...um...large part in my story, that was pretty cool.  I took pictures and also some videos for the book trailer I'm planning to make.

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Some things I plan to try and do with this draft of Seaspear...

- Work on character voice.  I don't want all my POVs to sound the same.

- Not do anything with the spear itself that will be anticlimactic.

- Make Ren - my female MC - more involved with the action.  She must play a bigger part...somehow.

- Work on my bad guy's goodness.  Even though Lord Shiloh is bad, he had definite reasons for what he does.  (Vague reasons being for one, his love for his daughter, and for two, his love for his country.)  I just need this to be more obvious. 

That's all I have so far, but it will all (including the book trailer) have to wait until after exams week and finals week.  I only have two big finals left but they will require a good deal of studying.

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P.S.  As a side note, I've become somewhat of a celebrity in my On Course class because the professor found out about Torn Heart in a journal entry and she brought it up several weeks ago. 

I've made some money in that class so far.

Link of the Week: Month of the Novel Episodes These episodes are hilarious in the very best sort of way.  I laughed out loud (in real life) so hard that my sides almost burst. The episodes follow a fictional young writer through her first crazy Nano adventure and are complete with a rather indecisive jester, an ancestral sword, and even...balloon animals? 

'Til next week! Until then, I will be using this poem by Thomas Hovey as my inspiration:

Sea Gypsy

 I am fevered with the sunset,

I am fretful with the bay,

For the wander-thirst is on me

And my soul is in Cathay.

There 's a schooner in the offing,

With her topsails shot with fire

And my heart has gone aboard her

For the Islands of Desire.

I must forth again to-morrow!

With the sunset I must be

Hull down on the trail of rapture

In the wonder of the sea.