Writing Report Week 5 – Eden

I don’t know why it happens, but in the middle of the week I seem to lag and lose focus with my writing. Thursday is the worst offender of this and it made me feel like I could not write that much today. What allowed me to do my work was that I received the first two physical copies of my book, Sea Spray, today. The feeling of having something I created in my hands drove me to create more and prove that I did not produce my first book by fluke.

Thursday March 1 Writing Report (Previous Report)

Word Target: 2,500

Words Written: 2,506

• Overview

Eden is one of my trickier novels to write. It is not hard in the fundamentals of it as it follows a very linear formula in story terms but the difficulty lies in making the world unique and appealing to an audience.

A key part of the world of Eden is that it takes place in the not so distant future on Planet Earth. As it is the pseudo-sequel to Crow, I do take several liberties in what I write, but I try to stay faithful to real life. The story starts in a nondescript office in Bethesda, Maryland. I chose the location as it provides easy access to Washington, DC where the first action takes place.

From the moment that the action begins, the novel moves toward the North Eastern United States of America and I intend to reach New York City by the middle of the novel, at which point I will have caught up to where the Screenplay I am adapting this novel from starts.

The main draw of the world is the presence of the synonymous corporation of Crow, Crow Enterprises. I leave information about the company very vague as I intend to build them up as the split antagonist of the novel.

• What I Did Today

The focus for today was about starting to build the backstory of the major characters in the novel. I introduced the group they travel with, though in an obvious twist, they will die in the end as they are not mentioned in the screenplay I wrote. It seems a shame to doom them by adaptation, but they will serve key roles inside the course of the first acts of Eden.

• The Best Sample From Today

Today’s best sample comes from Karlie and provides a good insight into the background of the relationship between her and Ryan as well as starting to distinguish her voice.

“I also make things fun. Right. We’ve been together for six years now, is it? It’s hard to know after the first year. Shit, I realize that sounds very obnoxious of me and like I am bored of my girlfriend, but the opposite is true. Every day she gives me a reason to get up. We met in the strangest way though. We met online through one of the many dating sites. I was doing it as a sort of joke to try to appease my friends and family. They would pester me about a significant other. Every time I got together with family, I seemed to have a different partner. So I decided to see if I could find someone online. I never expected to. No offence, sweetheart, but it’s true. Ah yes, it was Valentine’s Day of 2019 that she sent me a message. It was a clichéd piece of drivel, but I could tell right away that she was worth the time. We started talking that night,” Karlie paused and smiled at me

The way that I envision Karlie does not show itself in an overt fashion in this sequence, but I want to show her as kind of naïve but also competent in what she says. She is definitely a tricky character to write as she is not a focus character and so does not represent any part of me.

I guess that is why I find non-focus characters hard to write. People tell me to write what I know, but that is not the case. I got some valuable information in the last year of my Writing Degree and that was “Know What You Write.” I took that advice to heart and what I learned is now showing through Karlie. I write her as someone I would like to be with, as perverse as that sounds.

• How Productive I Felt I Was

While I went on a tangent to what I proposed I would write last week, I feel what I did this week better suits the flow and pace of Eden. Any time I can prove I can get past my pacing issues, I always write much more effective pieces and can spend more time helping the reader learn about the characters without feeling I bore them.

It is always tricky to be productive with Eden due to the day it falls on. Thursday is right in the middle of my week and it is comparable to most people’s Mondays. I have to push myself to write and meet my demanded word goal, but that harshness on myself makes my brain really work and produces some good quality work. I can see my work improving every week, which is a main part of the Writing Challenge.

• What I Intend To Write Next Week

Next week I will give a first glimpse at the antagonists of the novel which I intended to do this week. I feel confident about giving myself another week to finalise their rough appearances. The work I have this week also opens up what I can do and gets the novel away from the feel of it being a three person snore fest. I will try to hype myself up to write next Thursday and I will keep you updated on if I am successful with that endeavour.