Another Open Mic
Time for another Open Mic! My news: I have a new roof! Which is great for not having water leak into my library, but not so great for pounding on the roof, also hard on the bank account.
How is everyone else?
Related Posts
May 15, 2024
Science vs. Magic
Every so often, I run into someone who is…a bit confused about the way magic…
May 8, 2024
Implication and subtext
Words can mean more than they actually say. In real life, people commonly provide an…
May 1, 2024
April Open Mike
Once again, it's open mike time! Who's working on what, how's it going, what…
19 Comments
Comments are closed.
June 5, 2022 at 3:18 pm
Kristiana Kincaid
I am likewise stuck with roof issues. First, the peaked part of our roof had been assembled without felt, so we spent £30k on everything from new insulation to chimney repointing to bring everything up to code. We moved in and instantly the flat part of the roof started leaking! That’s another £10k upcoming… so I feel your pain, and hope your costs aren’t as horrific as mine!
June 7, 2022 at 12:28 pm
Patricia Wrede
My roof was just old. I could probably have gone another couple of years before replacing it, but I found water in the garage after a rainstorm…by the wall that backs up on the library. And I panicked.
All done now, except for the city inspection.
June 4, 2022 at 1:17 pm
J.M. Ney-Grimm
I’m publishing the first story in a series composed of short stories rather than novels. The stories circle around the events in the Persephone-Hades myth.
June 4, 2022 at 7:46 pm
Mary Catelli
A short story cycle!
June 5, 2022 at 10:45 pm
J.M. Ney-Grimm
I had so much fun writing them!
June 7, 2022 at 12:30 pm
Patricia Wrede
And Persephone and Hades! That’s one of my favorite Greek myths. Where do we find them?
June 16, 2022 at 8:15 pm
J.M. Ney-Grimm
The first one is on Amazon now. Eventually all 7 will make their way to other e-tailers as well.
https://www.amazon.com/Eurydice-Otherwise-Hades-Cycle-Book-ebook/dp/B0B2V8Q8QB/
June 4, 2022 at 10:44 am
Emily
I’m trying chapter headings for the first time on a multi-chapter fanfic I’m writing, and I decided to take a leaf from the Enchanted Forest books and start each one with “In Which…” The story is a take-off on Cinderella, so I thought that would add to the fairy tale feeling.
June 2, 2022 at 8:54 pm
Rick+Ellrod
I like the chapter headings too. They’re out of fashion, but you can occasionally do some cool things with them — as in Kevin’s example! (And, if nothing else, they help me remember what was happening in which chapter.)
Rick
June 1, 2022 at 8:54 pm
Mary Catelli
Still getting ducks in a row to get a book out the door.
June 5, 2022 at 10:44 pm
J.M. Ney-Grimm
Those pesky publishing details always take me longer than I remember! Do you have a release date yet?
June 6, 2022 at 9:52 pm
Mary Catelli
The plan is one last check for spelling errors after a stay on the back burner so I can see them. These can be unpredictable.
June 1, 2022 at 10:13 am
Kevin Wade Johnson
We’re going to need our roof done in the next couple of years too. What fun. (Or maybe: What? Fun?)
I did something with my latest novel I haven’t seen elsewhere, to add depth and resonance. What do you think of my chapter headings?
One: When We Take a Step
Two: Our Shadow Walks Behind
Three: On the Day We’re Born
Four: A Darkness Assigned
Five: Our Eyes Turn from Darkness
Six: We Try to Walk Away
Seven: Its Presence Always With Us
Eight: Absence Must Stay
Nine: As Time Strides On
Ten: Our Steps May Slow
Eleven: Shadowed Closer
Twelve: We Onward Go
Thirteen: Wish We To Be Followed
Fourteen: Yearn To Tread Alone
Fifteen: Feelings Frustrated
Sixteen: Reaping, We’ve Sown
Seventeen: A Journey Shadowed
Eighteen: Can Leave Us in Dread
Nineteen: Leading Our Lives
Twenty: But Secretly Led
Twenty-One: We Walk—Run—We’re Fleeing
Twenty-Two: We Try, It Matters Not
Twenty-Three: The Light We’re Never Seeing
Twenty-Four: The Fate We’ve Never Sought
(P.S. I’m not trying to sell anyone anything. I’m retired, and all my work is free now.)
June 1, 2022 at 4:00 pm
Wolf Lahti
Clever. That’s the sort of thing I would completely overlook at first and would later notice it and marvel.
I personally love chapter titles, which are becoming increasingly rare. They add a dimension lacking in the soulless numbers usually implemented.
Of course, coming up with chapter titles can be a chore.
June 2, 2022 at 11:16 am
Kevin Wade Johnson
Thank you.
I admit I came up with the poem, intending to put it in the front matter, then realized I could make it the chapter headings. 🙂
I’m rarely satisfied with them, though. In a few words I need to imply something’s happening, but not spoil the chapter. Not easy.
June 7, 2022 at 12:31 pm
Patricia Wrede
That is very cool! Did you do it before or after the chapters were written? Because if I wrote something like that for a prolog, I’d NEVER manage to make the chapters come out right.
June 8, 2022 at 4:45 pm
Kevin Wade Johnson
Thank you very much!
What I did was, I wrote the poem while I was still working up the story at the idea stage.
I’d written maybe four chapters, when I realized I could use the poem as noted. I then went back to the four chapters written and made a few changes – but mainly I made sure for those four and the rest going forward that I reflected the wording if nothing more. E.g. Chapter One gives some back story, and I made sure to mention the birth. One protagonist had a problem mother, and I addressed her in Fifteen.
I think my biggest achievement with the whole thing was coming in around the word length I was aiming at (100k), with 24 chapters, none too short *or* long!! 🙂
June 1, 2022 at 9:57 am
Deep Lurker
The big news here is that I’ve finally, *finally* finished the year-plus rewrite of my WIP.
The WIP itself isn’t finished, because my process (for novels, at least) is to get part-way through and then do a rewrite of the partially-finished draft before going on to produce the first complete draft. In this case I needed to do some surgery on the timing of events, and it turned into a much bigger job than expected.
But the rewrite started when I had eight chapters plus an unfinished chapter nine, and now (finally!) I’m pushing on with a first draft of chapter ten.
June 2, 2022 at 8:57 pm
Mary Catelli
O frabjous day!