Done!

Holly monkeys it's done! 85,000 words, 36 chapters !! Phew that feels soooo good :)

Working on the very old system of wordcount / 250 (the supposed number of words on a page) that should make the published works about 340 pages long.

Now I have to start the hardest tasks: checking the text, editing any sections that are weak and then trying to submit it to agents :(

Still, book done people !

Cheers all,

Zeth

And so it ends...

I WILL finish the book today. I have about 1 1/2 chapter left to write - maybe 2,000 - 3,000 words at most I would think... So here goes...

Zeth

Yep - I slacked off again !

Damn myself ! I am so close now to completing the book that I think I am losing focus. Possibly I am just too anxious over the final chapters of the book. Trying to draw everything together to a logical and satisfying conclusion is not as simple as you might think. It took me an age to think about the plot branches and bringing them together at one finale. I have, now finally, broken down the final scenes and actions for the last chapters and I think (read: hope!) things should flow a little easier now.

Anyway I am well past my word count goal and heading for the 80's so I am very pleased with productivity. Looking back at the blog entries it is hard to believe that all this only started at the end of April this year ('08)!

I will try and release a few more deatils about the work over the next few days to give you more of a taster :)

bye all,

Zeth

A quick note

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I just broke the soil on 70K! Yeah ! Woo ! Yeah!! Still got the last 2 or 3 chapter to write so can't stop but YEAH ! WOOOHOO!! etc etc

Zeth

A mini-update

Hey all,

Well as you can probably tell from the meager amount of info on the site over the last few weeks life has been too hectic and full to do any writting :( BUT with that said I am now back on the case having notched up another 6000 words and mapped out the remaing chapter structres... All told there should be about 30 - 32 chapters in the book. The word count is probably going to exceed the 70K that I set as my ultimate goal and I'm pleased with that. I still feel there is more than 1/4 of the story left to tell in less than 1/4 of the overall page count so rather than squeeze things in and cut out details I have no problems with exceeding my word limit. I never intended to write a massive wedge of a book, just enought to convey the story and setup the characters in a compelling enough plot/universe.

Anyhoooo completion by the end of this year is now almost guaranteed (as long as I don't shirk off too much !) and I will be proofreading it over the holiday break with a view to sending the manuscript out to agents/publishers in the new year... so hold tight and I will keep you updated.

Thanks all,

Zeth

Yeah I suck!

Sorry everyone but nothing has been written since the last time I posted - shame on me ! I have just not felt the insperation to do any writing since then and the last thing I want to do is force the issue. When I write the story and seems to just flow through as if I am watching a movie or reading a book myself. The last thing I want to do is turn this into a "process" becuase it would not work.

So, I will continue as soon as the passion takes me, I am still on course to complete the story by the end of '08 which, for my first attempt at a project of this scale, I am pretty pleased about :)

Take care all,
Zeth

Happy Birthday!

So, today is my eldest son's birthday and I thought I would mark the occasion here. I am now in excess of 47.000 words and am in the process of fleshing out the details of the arc to give me my "way point" markers for finishing the story. I have roughly 20,000 words in which to wrap things up and move the story towards it's conclusions. I probably have not mentioned this before but the book will represent the first in a series of books within this universe and using these characters.

Don't worry I have plenty of other ideas for other stories. I think a short story will be my next project, maybe 10,000 - 20,000 words something like that. I have an idea that will work in that length but would be hard to carry into a full length novel.

So, many thanks for reading my ramblings.

Zeth

On a roll?

So, it seems I am on somewhat of a roll at the moment. I have, in the last 6 working days, managed to bash out around 30,000 words. And that's not full working days people, that is just squeezing time in around the day job, kids and life in general :)


I am not expecting to keep up the current rate of creation as, if I do my brain and fingers may explode :) So as I travel close to the 45,000 word mark I thought I would impart my up coming plans to you good readers and predict that, with luck and a fair wind, I should complete the initial draft by Christmas '08. I will probably start submitting fairly soon after that point.

So, I am now starting to look around at potential agents and publishers - man it's a frickin minefield! I think, after reading loads of information and getting advice, that I shall wait until the book is finished before approaching anyone. I will then polish my first three or four chapters ready for submission. Then use the resultant long wait and rejection time to polish up the rest of the book.... At least that is the general plan :)

Cheerie-bye for now!

Zeth

PHEW! And we reach the half way point

WooHoo!  Celebrate good time - Come on!

So I have, finally, reached a midway point in the book.  Both interms of the word count and in terms of the story.  The first part of the book is almost a complete "episode" on it's own with the second half of the book building on teh events of the first and flashing a few more elements out.

So, looking at my "start" date I can predict, with absolutely no accuracy what so ever, that a completed manuscript will be shipping out with a pleading note to all publishers - good and bad - around the end of January 2009... hopefully.  This is subject to me slacking off or indeed, as has been the case over the last week, writing shit-loads (2/3 of the first half of the book has been writtin in the past seven days!).  So hey, if the current pace continues expect to hear of the book being finished in October :) 

Anyways, stay tuned for more ramblings and info as it happens - sorta :)

zeth

And I'm back - again :O)

So.... My big plan to get writing again failed dismally after about 1 hour. Fear not though reader I ploughed on again earlier this week and a whopping 6000 words spewed forth from my keyboard so things are moving along again, finally.

I have written up teh full story arc now, I know what happens, I jus tneedt o string together the how. I am approaching the 1/3 mark in the number of words I aim to write and coincidently am about 1/4 - 1/3 of the way into the story at this point. So at this point I am looking at around 80,000 words and around 50 ish chapters... this will change I am sure.

Anyhoo, until next time.

Zeth

Whoa!

Well I have actually started writing again :O) For some reason I just had no incentive to start writing until I started writing for a new gamer blog (www.brutalgamer.com) and that seems to of kickstarted the writing juices again soooooo.... Stay tuned and I will start updating things again... 5 pages written so far today so you never know :)

Bye all.

Whoopsie!

Hey all,

Sorry to say but I have neglected my writing duties over the past month - not a single word has been written. I will endeavor to change this over the next week and start again on the book.

Cheers,

Zeth

Yowzers ! I finally broke into the double 1000's!

Yes it's true dear readers I did in fact finally break the back of the first 10,000 words. I have since peaking over the brow of the 10,000 written several thousand more much more quickly and easily. I am guessing hitting that watermark meant something too me, probably that this is really taking shape now and I am actually having to do this :O)

In celebration, and as promised, I have prepared a brief character synopsis for one of the pivotal characters. It's just a very brief vital stats kind of thing but it gives you an idea of character development at least. Trust me more will be revealed once I can risk letting the details out.

So here you go :-

Dr Maria Hedge
Born: 11th December 1955
Location or Origin: Born in Santa Monica, California, USA
Living: Oxford, UK
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Professor of Genetics at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, UK
Children: Yes, 1
Favourite Album: Pink Floyd’s The Wall
Favourite Colour: Yellow
Favourite Food: Sushi

Bye all,

Zeth

A bit of solid info

Hey all,

I thought I would finally impart a small smattering of info to you. So I thought the least "damaging" thing to the project would be if I released character profiles of some of the books cast.

So following soon should be a character profile for Dr Maria Hedge... quite an important character in the story and a real "biggie" for the first profile.

Another chapter down and anothe 1500 words written last friday... going to take anotehr crack at it this week and see if we can break the double 1000's :O)

Cheers all,

Zeth

Finally !!

Hi all,

Well the eagle eyed ones amongst you will have notice that the word count just doubled today :O) I finally knuckled down and started writing. I had to go back and flesh out a few things from the earlier chapters and then chapters 3 and 4 pretty much poured out.

I have plenty of ideas for the next one also so hopefully that will get done today / tomorrow and if I carry on this current rate I might even get myself back in track ;O)

Cheers all,

Zeth

Ho hum...

So I am a major slacker at the moment. I should of completed a fair number of pages/words by now but I am totally off track. Not to mention I had a great idea for a short story over the weekend. Now I am torn about either writing it whilst it is fresh in my mind or should I continue with the project I am currently on...

I'm sure one way or another I will decide :O)

So, I am going to knuckle down this week and see what I can produce with a little concentrated effort.

Cheers all,

Zeth

Side Note 1: The new Coldplay album Viva La Vida is great - a real grower - well done guys!
Side Note 2: Metal Gear Solid 4 - an absolute triumph of design and gaming cinematics :O)

So here's the thing..

Sorry it's been a few weeks since the last update. Things have been manic. I have moved home and various work commitments have all piled together to mean no writing at all :o(

I will endeavor to start again in earnest this or next week. Things are starting to return to normal.

Cheers all,

Zeth

I even suprised myself...

Wow! So I totally wrote the first 2 chapters :O) I started to just flesh out the first chapter and before I knew it I had written chapters 1 and 2 and sketched the bones for chapters 3 and 4.

Now it might not sound that big a deal but it is good to have finally started, to of broken the "ice" of the project and put keyboard (pen) to word processor (paper).

So, looking at the project as a whole I am thinking I need to produce 60,000 - 80,000 words for this project (I am aiming for middle ground of 70,000 for now). With this in mind I thought I would keep a current word count on the site which I would update regularly.

I will, at some point soon, put up some of the content from chapter one.. just as a teaser.


Zeth

So, here's the thing...

Hi all,

I know it' s been almost a week since the last post. I have been thinking over elements of the plot line and trying to take a grasp on the perspective to write the novel from. I have also pretty much decided on the structure and content for the opening chapter of the book and I am planning on writing it today (maybe tomorrow also :) )

So stay tuned or what ever you wan to call it - stay fed I suppose if your using the RSS feed :O)

Cheers for now,

Zeth

Peripheral.. It begins

So, with the title in mind and a small clutch of notes I will set about constructing the proper back stories and foundations of this. I have decided (at least for the time being) that this project will be a novel (I can always modify to a script later).

General plan is to try and knock together 10 - 20 pages of text over the course of a week, giving me a minimum of 260 pages within 6 months - I am aiming for around 300 - 400 in total.

I have spent a portion of my time this week fiddling with this site and trying to get some of the features working so hopefully this is now in place and I can concentrate on the main job in hand.

OK, thanks for visiting and I will keep you posted.

Zeth

PS - GTA4 was great btw - in case anyone was interested :O)

A book by any other name....

So here are the thoughts on the first book/project. These are the scores of ideas that I have mused and distilled down to this list of three. Excuse the vague descriptions but, hey, I don;t want anyone ripping me off before I have even begun ;O)

Peripheral - A possible game, movie or TV script or book :


Shadows and Sins - A possible book or movie :

A story about a man desperately searching for his lost family whilst dreams and visions grip his sub-conscious.

Pill - A possible book :

A look at the power and influence the drug corporations hold over our everyday lives and the dependencies we place on them.


So that's the selection at the moment. I have chosen to work on and expand the Peripheral idea at the moment (hence the reason it's description is left blank - for now). So the title of the project, at least for now, will be Peripheral. As to the form it takes that will be decided over the coming days. At the moment I just have a few pages of notes, research and plot arcs. I will reveal more on the premise and plot as time progresses.

I will keep you posted when I have more info to share. Please post any comments on the ideas and thoughts and I will take them on advisement.

Cheers all

Zeth

PS - Needless to say that these ideas are copyright to me and any use it prohibited - k ;O)

Fit The First : A poor Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Reference

So here we have it ladies and gentle peeps - I am finally making a concerted effort to start writing my 1st novel.

I have mulled the idea over for many a year now and now, after writing my thoughts down to finally concentrate those efforts, I am setting forth.

I was going to toil and writhe in my own creative wallow for months on end and beat out page after page of angst ridden diatribe. Instead I have opted to share the despair and fruitless meanderings with you good fellows - that's based on the premise I am not just talking to myself.

So I will, over the next few hours / days, be revealing the proposed title of the novel. As I progress I will reveal elements of the plot, character and research. I will publicise my quest for a publisher (get ready for rejection city!) and ask you guys for help and comments in many different ways.

So there it is - the premise for this site, the justifications for my ramblings and a cry for help and increased meds :O)

Let's see where this ride takes us people.

Zeth


PS A small fly in the creative juices might be the fact that Grand Theft Auto 4 arrived this morning and my PS3 is looking enticing......