Showing posts with label fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fantasy. Show all posts

Saturday, February 1, 2014

A Weird Way to Write a Book Series

  In the many years to come, as I work on one book in the series after the other, you may notice some color coding in my writing log blogs. Kind of like how Christopher Paolini's The Inheritance Cycle is color-coded: Blue is important in his first book, as it introduces Saphira. Red is important in the second, as it introduces Thorn. And so on.
  So, there's color-coding. What else? Add elemental powers, dragons, elves, other creatures and peoples, powers controlled by the mind rather than by spells, a lot of outer space, and you get... this. As of right now, I have some clues lying in the design of my Twitter (Jennifer Cocoa Fulk > @Jennifer_Fulk). Blue and red, black and white, space, dragon, planets.... All are clues of what I'm writing.
  Now, combining of what you now know, you have: Elements, dragons, elves, powers, space, blue, red, black, white, planets.
  Unfortunately, I still need to write the first two books. Why'd I do that?
  Well... long story. Worth reading.


  Never knew what to be when grew up.
  Watched a lot of Animal Planet at ages 9 - 12+.
  Talked to aunt (living with) about being a veterinarian.
  Was told that there were risks involved (including bites & losing patients), as well as need for being good in school.
  Was very stupid in school (age 12, was bad at everything, had bad spelling & grammar, couldn't write in paragraphs, behind in math [still am mentally retarded in math], hated history [no longer now, thanks to an awesome high school history teacher who was - and still is - obsessed with Star Wars], etc.).
  Cried in bedroom and begged God in prayer to give me many big dreams and talents that would help me make up for my "past worthlessness".
  Month later had a dream that inspired me to "write it all down so I can remember it" because it was so cool and amazing and realistic that I began to feel like it was the real reality that had been there the whole time.
  Wrote it Feb - May of 2005 (12 1/2 - almost 13 years old), often skipping my homework (Concentration was bad and frustrating with an abusive aunt to be home-schooled by = Who would blame me?).
  Went back and read it (a bunch of lined notebook papers clumsily stapled together), shook my head at not being able to understand certain words and to read through the confusingly bad grammar I had, wishing I knew how to write in paragraphs.
  Gave myself the goal of "Since most authors are smart, I'll have to try my hardest to be as close to that as I can".
  By next year, was a lot better (How in the world did I do that????).
  In January of 2006, had another dream of the same characters, only with a lot of new characters, woke up and realized it was the second book calling out to me, so I started writing it.
  Got caught by my aunt, was told "never to write ever again".
  Was bummed for the rest of the school year, but still daydreamed and so planned out a bit more of the book, as well as a short series of daydreams on what I then decided would be the 3rd book (now recently and permanently trashed) (Ha! I just now recalled the original name of it! [lame!] Triple Trouble [fun to say fast, though]).
  In late August of that year, started daydreaming at night (there seriously needs to be a word for that) of what I deemed to be the 4th book (now the 3rd book, which I'm writing right now!), started writing it.
  In January of 2007, was about to get off Winter Vacation and go back to my home-school center I'd go to once a week, when my aunt discovered I was behind on my fantasy literature class (this was in 9th grade), even though my teacher discussed with me that she give me extra slack for having poor concentration (which I seriously couldn't help).
  My aunt pulled me completely out of the home school center, where I was to not have any human contact outside my aunt, my cousin, and my grandma for three years (which is NOT a good thing for ANYBODY to go through).
  Was depressed for a half year, before feeling like on the brink of insanity and realizing that it would have a negative impact on my future dreams in life, pulling myself out of it.
  Lived in my bedroom for the rest of the time until my aunt's abuse got worse and more strange (never physical), where I put together a plan on how to get out (not easy, but it involved my hospitalization).
  Told the nurses and doctors of what was going on, so I got to go live with my mom and sister again.
  In that event, I also lost all my writing, poetry, ideas, cassette tapes where I created extremely funny stories using radio recording and experimental voice-acting, songs I wrote, drawings and sketches, acrylic paintings, carved rocks, cool rock collections, a stuffed pink cat from when I was born and an identical one when I turned 7, games and game systems, and numerous other things. (For everything that was paper, including my [3rd book I'm rewriting right now], I knew she would do something with them and it would greatly distress me as to what she would be doing with it, part of my extensive escape plan was also throwing everything in the recycle bin the morning the recycle truck would come [the only reason why I was allowed outside was just to throw out my garbage and recycling every morning -- and yes, I WAS afraid of her chasing after me if I planned to run away to a neighbor's house for help, because she always was watching me]).
  After a few years of recuperating, started writing the 1st book again.
  Had to pay more attention to school (had to restart high school all over again after my aunt refused to give up my home school proof to the public school system, claiming that she didn't have it).
  Graduated and realized I had forgotten the password to the file of the 1st book.
  Decided that it'd be better anyway to make summaries of the 3rd, 4th, & 5th books anyway because it was all in my head after daydreaming nearly the entire series with the time I had spent locked in my bedroom (I didn't want to forget anything important).
  Aaaaaaaaand... I ended up writing the 3rd book (I have that bad habit of being lengthy in summaries and essays). I think I'm 3/4 of the way through writing the whole book, now.


   I feel guilty for writing the 3rd book first, even though I've had support from people I've mentioned this to. They've all said it sounds like a great idea. One distant cousin of mine (IQ of 160) was totally for it, saying that it's like how Star Wars was written.
   But I'm starting in the MIDDLE of this series. Doesn't that sound crazy to you? Let me know what you think.


Unrelated:
Here's a random picture of me making funny face selfies (I do it just for fun, to make myself laugh away my boredom, and because I'm weird) as my cat, Sweetie, happens to yawn at just the right moment:



Friday, November 1, 2013

August 2013

August. I had a church bike trip for a whole week. Then I kinda' got lazy afterwards and took a bigger break from writing. Then I got sick of doing practically nothing, so I picked it up again. Ahh, the sound of those lovely keys clacking as the story continues....

Difference from
Yesterday's Writing ||| Words     ||| Date  ||| Time Stopped |||  Day
_________________________________________________________________
                                96,746        Aug 1       1:33 AM              35
4,292                         101,038 :)     20          3:27 AM              36
2,095 (-2,197)               103,133       (20)         8:?? PM              (36)
1,669 (-426)                 104,802         21          3:39 AM              37
1,228 (-441)                 106,030         23          4:24 AM              38
3,037 (1,809)                109,067        24           5:22 AM              39             4,470 (+1,433)               113,537        25           5:14 AM              40
3,036 (1,434)                116,573        26           4:3? AM              41
1,387 (1,649)                117,951        27           4:56 AM              42
1,693 (+306)                 119,644        28           4:32 AM              43
701 (-992)                    120,345       (28)          6:12 PM             (43)           1,937 (+1,236)               122,282        29           4:17 AM              44
528 (-1,409)                  122,810        30           4:55 AM              45
1,747 (+1,219)               124,557        31           4:28 AM              46                                                                                          

By the way. The bike trip was amazing. If you ever have the chance to go on a bike trip, GO. It'll be the best journey of your life. Just be sure you have someone with you who knows how to repair bikes well. Saved a great many folks (including me). 

Back to my writing: I was so happy to have reached over 100,000 words. But that wasn't enough. (I have the story laid out in my head, and it wasn't even half-way through!) It feels great to accomplish something that isn't even finished, yet. :)


Friday, October 11, 2013

July 2013

  July. The month of realization.
  Yeah. It took me almost two weeks to really step back and think about it, but maybe that's because I had the story on my mind? *(Meet a writer, you're meeting a daydreamer!)
  *most of the time
  Oh, yeah. One more thing? My family's so loud and obnoxious (mom and sis), that I write at night.
  Late at night. So late, it's morning.

 # of words 
wrote each day, 
(diff. from day 
before)                     |||        Words          |||   Date     |||     Time Stopped    |||    Day
_______________________________________________________________________
                                  |||           ???             |||      1st     |||            ???              |||  11
                                  |||      31,325            |||      2nd    |||            ???              |||  12
                                  |||           ???             |||      3rd     |||           ???              |||  13
                                  |||          ???              |||      5th     |||            ???             |||  14
                                  |||          ???              |||     6th       |||           ???             |||  15
                                  |||          ???              |||     7th       |||           ???             |||  16
                                  |||      40,366            |||     8th       |||       6:05 AM         |||  17
868                             |||      41,234            |||     9th       |||       6:05 AM         |||  18
1,126 (+258)                |||      42,360            |||     10th     |||       5:45 AM         |||  19
10,025 (+8,899)           |||      52,385            |||     13th     |||       6:10 AM         |||  20
14,067 (+4,042)           |||      66,452            |||      ???     |||           ???              |||  21
5,342 (-8,725)              |||      71,794            |||     19th    |||        5:10 AM        |||  22
1,457 (-3,885)              |||      73,251            |||     20th    |||            ???             |||  23
1,151 (-306)                 |||      74,402            |||     21st    |||        5:00 AM        |||  24
1,451 (+300)                |||      75,853            |||     22nd   |||        4:40 AM        |||  25
                                  |||         ???               |||    23rd    |||        3:30 AM        |||  26
                                  |||      78,911            |||    24th     |||        5:30 AM        |||  27
3,870                          |||      82,781            |||     25th    |||        1:53 AM        |||  28
1,421 (-2,449)              |||      84,202            |||     26th    |||        5:36 AM        |||  29
2,641 (+1,220)             |||      86,843            |||     27th    |||        3:40 AM        |||  30
1,625 (-1,016)              |||      88,458            |||     28th    |||        2:30 AM        |||  31
505 (-1,120)                 |||      88,973            |||   (28th)    |||        10:?? PM       |||  (31)
2,216 (+1,711)             |||      91,189            |||     29th    |||        3:55 AM        |||  32
2,101 (-115)                 |||      93,290            |||     30th    |||        4:35 AM        |||  33
                                  |||         ???               |||      31st   |||            ???             |||  34

  Exciting, huh? That's only just the beginning.
  The question marks are annoying for me, too, but I was either not yet recording, or I was too tired to do anything else but plop into bed.
  Ha ha ha! Plop! Okay, I get how one of my friends finds that word funny. Plop!
  Uh, did I just type that in here?
  Oh, well. Awkward = awesome!
 

June 2013

  In the beginning of my writing this book (third in a series I'm not naming for secrecy/surprise), I wasn't really expecting myself to write on full-blast. But, later, I got excited that my writer's block was fully broken, so that's when I started recording how many words, etc. I did.
  Yeah. I'm writing the third book, even though I haven't [completely] written the first two. Long story on that one.
  Okay, to summarize my explanation: Once upon a time, I was daydreaming/planning the whole series. I got so excited about the 3rd book, I started writing it. Something bad happened, and all my writing became no more. Gone. Three years later, I decided to pick up my writing again. Then, when I started writing the first book, I realized out of fear that I might forget all that I planned out for the last three. So, as a result, I'm writing the third book now. My brain's weird - but hey. We all are in some way, aren't we? Whatever works.
  Now, without further ado, here's the log for the month of June:

Difference from
Yesterday's Writing  |||  Words  |||  Date ||| Time Stopped ||| Day
__________________________________________________
                                |||               |||  20th |||                       ||    1
                                |||               |||  21st  |||                      ||   2
                                ||| 27,988   |||  23rd  |||     1:40 AM    ||   3
                                |||               |||  24th   |||                     ||   4
                                |||               |||  25th   |||                     ||   5
                                ||| 30,260   |||  26th   |||     3:02 AM    ||  6
                                |||               |||  27th   |||                      ||   7
                                |||               |||  28th   |||                      ||   8
                                |||               |||  29th  |||                       ||   9
                                |||               |||  30th  |||                       ||  10

Very boring-looking, right? I totally didn't know what I was getting myself into - until July came....

Update August 2nd, 2015 at 11:16 PM:
Haha! I can't believe it!! I can not describe my joy at finding this!! I found an old paper where I wrote down two days where I had written, and, after looking through all the June months in both of my blogs (both books), I've confirmed these two recorded days to be in June 2013, G3:DF!

One side of the paper:

The other side of the paper:

I am so happy! *jumps around* Now, I can finally add something to this post.
Wait.... I WROTE ALMOST 28,000 WORDS IN ONLY THREE DAYS???
Okay, I've got to double check this....

  • Seemingly nothing is recorded June 2013, but it coincidentally has both a blank June 23rd and a blank June 26th recorded.
  • By the June 2014, I had written well over my 300,000 word mark. http://writinglog-g3df-jenniferfulk.blogspot.com/2014/06/june-2014.html  
  • After finishing this book, I see it even more unlikely to be another June in another year: For G4:O, I started writing in July, 2014. 
  • And finally: June 2015 was just two months ago from now. I had reached over 100,000 words by that time.
So, it's got to be it. I actually did write almost 28,000 words in only three days. And don't say I'd be wrong in the day I started or in the day I missed, either: I REMEMBER. 
That first day; the day I chose to write.... It was about a week after I graduated, after all the celebrations were over. I felt triumphant. Like I was the hero of my own story. 
You can not imagine what it is like to have to redo high school all over again, after a wicked woman refused to hand over my home school proof to the public school system just so she could make my life miserable. She was like that, always invading my rights as a human beings. Always using something against me. Well, I can say that she made my life miserable only because she was a miserable person, herself. All that was gone by the time I graduated. She always told me things that would turn a person into a mere object, using the same method a sicko would use while keeping women he's kidnapped in his basement. Hurtful things such as: "You're not going to make it out of high school. You're going to be flipping burgers at Wendy's or Burger King." 
Well, here I am living proof of all that she thought I wasn't going to be: I took an IQ test, which, after finding that my reading and writing skills were better than the average high school student's, it gave me credits. I earned more credits going to summer school. I earned even more credits by attending public high school for three years. And I finished with just enough credits a week before the deadline by volunteering at my local library. A week more, and those three years of hard work, insomnia, frustration, panic, worry, sweat, and occasional crying would have been a waste. And, not only that, I got a good, fun job at that same library I volunteered at. They saw my potential. They saw how devoted I was. They saw that I was a human being. 
...Anyway, I probably have mentioned this story dozens of times throughout the blogs, but, being that I started rewriting this book series in June 2013, I might as well have explained a bit of the significance of restarting the writing process here. 
Want to know more about my life story? Read my blogs. It's a broken jigsaw puzzle because "she" scattered the pieces. Not to say that you have to guess the rest or to read every post in my blogs, but it's a bit much to swallow all at once. If I were to share everything with you in one wild ride, I might as well give you an amusement park. (I'll write a book of my life eventually, but be prepared that it may not be emotionally comfortable to read.)
Oh, and one more thing: If you'd like to see my progress on my next book, code-named for secrecy, "G4:0" (You wouldn't want me to spoil the surprise, would you? That would be boring. "And the title of my book is...! [Title]!" "Oh... I already knew that. Now I am sad."), the writing log blog is here: http://writinglog-g4o-jenniferfulk.blogspot.com/ .