Remaining in the Scene

Finished 52: 91,990 word count

Writing Tip: Remember what the other players are doing. In this scene characters A and B are headed into a dangerous situation. Lots of action is going on around them. This is the battle. So, I have to get A and B from point one to point two without taking them out of the scene and setting them back down where I want them. They still have to be a part of the ongoing action. So, as they skulk along, they overhear enemy chatter, they watch a dragon fight in the sky, and they aid a fight going on by snatching a weapon from the bad guys, and eventually get to point two. Lots of fun, not boring, and feels realistic.

Realism

Finished 51, started 52; 89,825 word count



Writing Tip: Remember these characters are not real people! I'm writing the battle scene and it is so very, very hard. Why? Because I don't want anyone to get hurt.

Rewriting for imagery

Finished Ch. 50; 88,423 word count

Writing Tip: Evolution of a sentence:

The dark night whispered with chilly breezes.
Chilly breezes whispered in the dark night.
Chilly breezes whispered among the nearby bushes.
Chilly breezes whispered among huddled bushes.

Creative Paragraphing

finished CH 49 again; word count 87,042

Writing Tip: In fiction, we can get away with re-writing some of the rules, some of the time. Not all the time, even though poet e.e. cummings did banish capital letters in his work. Sentence fragments are something that fiction writers can get away with. Again! only if they don't over do it.
So what is creative paragraphing? You may have already picked up the idea that it is breaking some rule. Right! To add emphasis, the sentences are listed instead of running along back to back.
This is The Grawl thinking:

So where were the statues? Where was their protector? The castle? The island? The mine?

But this is the same stream of questions in creative paragraphing:

So where were the statues? Where was their protector?
The castle?
The island?
The mine?

Short Sentences, Short Chapters

Finished 49; 86,925 word count

Writing Tip: Fast action scene=short, clipped sentences with simple language. This syntax moves the reader forward in the same staccato rhythm of a boxing match. As I come to the climax of the book, I find myself with short chapters as well. In this instance, the brevity of the chapters, the short accounts of where the main characters are and the direction they are going lends an urgency to the writing.
Boy, I can't wait to find out what happens next.

Prepositional Phrases Proliferating - No! No!

finished chapter 48; 85,597 word count

Writing Tip: When I present myself with a string of prepositional phrases, I know it is time to reword.


She tasted the breeze as well as luxuriated in the brush of warm wisps of breath on her skin.

Four prepositional phrases in a row are too many. Three is pushing the limit. This is the way I rewrote the sentence:



She tasted the breeze as well as luxuriated in the brush of warm breath-like wisps on her skin.



All on its own, it looks a little like purple prose, but since it is in Hollee's POV and she is rather flamboyant, it works.



Purple prose = overdone style, usually in descriptions.

Whoopee! Fight Scene

Finished 47; 84,090 word count

Writing Tip: First, when writing a fight scene, don't have too many participants. In a battle scene you can say the flank took a hit, but that means all the men in the flank are counted as one person.
In a fight scene you have to stage the people in your mind and have your hero tackle one person at a time. Or two in quick succession. But don't, don't, don't have the hero all over the place. You have to move him through his offense and defense with precision.
Also it is handy if your foes are named. Named foes don't have to be labeled the burly man, the thin man, or the redhead. After you've said the thin man did this and the thin man did that, then the thin man did this and then the thin man did that, you and your reader are going to wish the thin man had a name.