Know the Novel: Part 2

Part 2 of this writer’s linkup designed to help you dig deeper into your novel and share snippets with the world! Check out Christine Smith’s blog post to learn more about this linkup and how to join the fun!

So heeeeree’s part 2 of my story The Tale of Plum Blossom!

THE QUESTIONS

1. How’s the writing going overall?

Slower than I would like, that’s for sure! However, I took a trip to see my sister (who has two toddlers and a deployed husband) for one week in October, and then I went for a weekend to meet in person a dear Internet friend during early November. I regret nothing. 😊

2. What’s been the most fun aspect of writing this novel so far?

The visual details and character development! Visual and atmospheric descriptions that contribute to the plot, the sense of the scene, or character’s mood are my JAM.

(Feel free to guess my MBTI personality type now!)

It’s also been fun to dive into my characters’ personalities, what makes them tick, what their quirks are, and how well they get along with the other characters. Character creation and development is one of my favorite aspects of the process—it’s like finding the answer to a question or solving a mystery. Who are these people? What matters most to them? Also, the more knowledge I have of my characters, the easier it is to write the story.

3. What do you think of your characters at this point? Who’s your favorite to write about?

They are precious, and I love them. Writing about them is almost like accompanying them on their journey, and I’m excited to share their joys and sorrows!

4. Has your novel surprised you in any way?

Not yet; it’s still pretty early in the process. There may be surprises down the road…

5. Have you come across any problem areas?

The fact that my brain will not yield more than 300 or so words at a time. Seriously, I wish I could sit down and pound out 1k or 2k in each writing session. Sometimes it feels that I’ve written over 700 words, and I check my daily word count in excitement—and nope, it’s only 347 words.

That said, even those 300-word sessions do add up, and I’m learning to be more patient and content with what each day yields.

6. What’s been your biggest victory with writing this novel at this point?

Two things:

1. Handwriting the draft and keeping at it during an incredibly stressful work time. In addition to planning the story during those two weeks of all-day shifts (detailed in my last post), I took my manuscript to work and wrote in between customers. When the workload grew too busy for even that (no joke, sometimes I wrote only half a sentence before the crowds started streaming in. It was like they wanted their laundry or something), I started waking up at 4:30 am to write for half an hour before heading off to work. I also stopped by Barnes & Noble on the weekends to get some writing done. At the time, I was frustrated by how slowly the process moved; I thought for sure the story would be finished by the end of summer. Nope, it was March of the following year before I penned the words “the end”. BUT I kept at it and found ways and times to squeeze in writing around an incredibly busy and physically exhausting schedule!
2. On that note of frustration with myself, I have begun to take things slower and not give myself a hard time when I don’t accomplish as much as I want. Because here’s the thing: I always strive for more and better. This is not a bad thing, but it means if I write 500 words, I’ll feel like I should be able to write 1,000. If I write 1,000 in one sitting, well, it would be better if I could have done 2,000. If I write a whole chapter? Why not two? Two chapters? Couldn’t you do four? The real issue is that I need to work hard but also be content with what I can do on a daily basis. Sometimes it’s more, sometimes it’s less.

7. If you were transported into your novel and became any one of the characters, which one do you think you’d be? Would you take any different actions than they have?

Possibly Hikari, a mentor figure who shows up later. She’s the motherly sort, always ready to help or to listen. I have those tendencies as well.

8. Give us the first sentence or paragraph then 2 (or 3!) more favorite snippets!

I already shared the first sentence of the prologue, so here’s the opening to Chapter 1:

Hiroto wandered around the courtyard garden for the fifth time. Nothing interested him for long, not the long shadows of the green trees, not the dappled sunlight on the grass and flowers. He paused by the wall of the courtyard and stared up at its top. The walls of the courtyard blocked any view of the country beyond, and while the provinces were not the most interesting thing to Hiroto’s mind, they were at least a new place with new experiences.

But the wall shut them out. He sighed and ambled across a stretch of grass.

“Stop wandering like a restless <animal>.” Hiroaki, his eldest brother, looked up with a critical expression. “Do you have nothing to amuse yourself with?”

“There is nothing to be amused by,” Hiroto returned. He strode to the side of the pond where his brothers sat, Hiroaki still scrutinizing him with what seemed to Hiroto a perpetually furrowed brow, and Hiromitsu bent over the scroll in his lap, studying the written characters, lost to the rest of the world. Hiroto dropped down cross-legged by the edge of the pond and resisted the urge to toss a stone in it. “The only thing worth seeing—the only thing new—is out there, beyond the courtyard.”

“And exactly what might be worth seeing beyond the courtyard?”  Hiroto did not have to look to see his brother’s disapproving stare, growing steadily darker. He deliberately stared at the calm water of the pond. “The wilderness, I suppose,” Hiroto replied, knowing this would rankle his brother. “Something new and interesting.”

Hiroaki sighed. “You could play your flute. You could read. You could study. You could work on your poetry”—a severe tone coming into his voice. “The fragment of writing I saw on the table in your room would shame us all if you read it aloud.”

Hiroto shifted impatiently and did not deign to reply.

From Chapter 2:

A long black rope was cast over the balcony rail and came sliding down. Only it was not a rope, Hiroto could see at once, more like a ribbon or narrow curtain. He frowned, and as it lowered and brushed the ground, he put out his hand and seized hold. He paused in shock. What he grasped felt like the softness of human hair. Hiroto looked up again, but the cliff and the balcony obscured his vision, save that the rope curtain tumbled over the topmost rail. He carefully pulled on the rope, then tugged harder and found it would hold his weight. He began to climb.

The balcony railing came nearer, and Hiroto’s heart beat faster. He hauled himself higher and grasped an upright post of the balcony and pulled himself up to look over the lowest rail. He could now see the door and the house beyond—and who was on the balcony. It was a beautiful young woman.

Her long, black hair was wound around a post that stuck out from a short pillar, and the length of her hair tumbled over the balcony rail to the ground. Her layered robes and long sleeves were the finest sheer silk that Hiroto had ever seen from the capitol. Her dark eyes were downcast, and her expression was a little perturbed, as though there was nothing too unusual about someone climbing onto the balcony using her hair. Hiroto noted all this in an instant. The woman looked up.

From Chapter 3:

Ume gathered her paper and brushes and other tools and knelt at the table before her aunt. She did enjoy painting and writing and composing poems, though there was always the chance her aunt would find some small flaw and scold her for it. But today, after she had sketched out the scene of some mountains, forest, and clouds to show her brush work, her aunt again seemed pleased. “Show me your calligraphy and the poems you have completed over the week,” Aunt Noriko said. “And then we shall have reminders in etiquette.”

“Yes, Aunt,” Ume said. Her aunt’s improved mood suggested this was perhaps Ume could ask the question in her mind—though it would have to wait until after this lesson. Ume gathered her blank papers and calligraphy brushes and inkstone and handed her aunt a sheaf of papers with carefully written poems on them. Noriko studied them, and Ume watched her aunt’s expression as she read page after page. Noriko’s face remained hard and focused, no hint of pleasure softening her features, and at last, Ume resisted the urge to twist her hands together. She could not imagine what was wrong with her poetry this time. At length, Noriko sighed and set down the sheaf of papers.

“I read not one word about the royal family or the nobility and their praises,” she said to Ume. They are the protectors of our country and the leaders and cultivators of our culture and should be venerated as such!”

“I do not know any of them,” Ume said quietly. “I did not know what to write about them.”

Noriko made an impatient movement with her hand. “Did you not hear what I just said?”

Ume hesitated. “Would it not be presumptuous to write something I know nothing about? Especially if the subjects are such venerated families?” She did not add that praise would be insincere if she knew nothing about the people and who they were and what to praise about them.

“And you must not presume,” Noriko said with a nod. “Yet in the capitol, often a well-written poem expressing the goodness of some noble family will catch a gentleman’s eye and please his humor. Particularly if the poem is about his family.” She set the sheaf of papers back on the table.

Ume said nothing. She did not know quite how to apply her aunt’s instructions. She could certainly write beautiful, symbolic praises of anyone, but it might be false and would certainly be hollow without understanding who she praised and why.

9. Share an interesting tidbit about the writing process so far! (For example: Have you made any hilarious typos? Derailed from your outline? Killed off a character? Changed projects entirely? Anything you want to share!)

The funniest tidbit about the process is that I’ll forget to put something from the outline in one scene! So I’ll list the missing info brackets somewhere in the paragraph where it ought to belong or underneath that paragraph. It’s a problem for Editing Christine. XD

I also have a special playlist for this story (all my books have one)—and I write to it so often that hearing those first notes of music jumps my brain into “writing mode”, which is lovely!

10. Take us on a tour of what a normal writing day for this novel looks like. Where do you write? What time of day? Alone or with others? Is a lot of coffee (or some other drink) consumed? Do you light candles? Play music? Get distracted by social media (*cough, cough*)? Tell all!

Getting distracted by social media isn’t as big a problem as getting distracted by the FicFrenzy discord. Which isn’t a huge problem in the long run. 😉 (Check out Christine’s blog if you want to learn how to join!)

Prior to the holidays, my writing time was in the morning. I would get up at 6:00 am or 6:30 am, give myself some time to wake up, and pull out my laptop at 7:00 am and start writing (with my story playlist, of course). The daily results are usually not more than a few paragraphs, but those paragraphs add up!

Now that family is over for the holidays, my writing time is at night. I like to get out my laptop, get cozy in bed, turn on some music, and write at least a few words. Getting distracted by the FicFrenzy server is still a problem, though…

The holidays might change this setup yet again, which is okay. And I’m looking forward to what writing time the New Year will bring!