Post-NaNo Update: 12 Problem Areas Identified

~ crossovercreativechaos

Currently the problem areas in the draft of Seeds of Blood range from mild:

“Add more description here.”

To… not so mild:

“Massive fight scene! Oh, the humanity!”

…Ahem.  🙂

This is actually an improvement. I now have a list of places to hit in the text, and some notes on what’s wrong with each piece. Effectively, a checklist. Fix A, B, etc.; all the way to that last fight scene which won’t allow me to write it until I’m absolutely sure what characters will show up, you evil bunnies-!

*Sweatdrop.*

So instead of a nebulous “edit the rough draft”, I have a pile of “stuff to do”. This is a great relief, because it makes for a… measureable amount of work, so to speak. Not going to finish this week, but something that could conceivably be finished inside a month. For this round of edits, at least.

I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again: At least 4 and probably 6 major rounds of edits. One after I’ve put it into book-sized format, because believe it or not different things will jump out at you when you change how the sentences align on the page.

So, nowhere near finished. But given I’m trying to aim for late summer/early fall? Yeah, I think I can do that.  Whew.  🙂

But here’s where I need some input, because editing Seeds has pretty much eaten all my ficcing time lately. And I’ve almost run through the finished bits of Waking to Another Sky.

So… I could post up some unfinished bits. I could post up finished bits of something else hanging around in my hard drive – SAO/Eberron or a few odd Bleach bits come to mind. Or I could try and think of something else not necessarily fic-related.

Any preferences?

36 thoughts on “Post-NaNo Update: 12 Problem Areas Identified”

  1. Please do whatever relaxes your brain. I happened to enjoy your media thoughts, your fiction bits and the general craft posts, but please take time when you need to. I’ll still buy the book.

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  5. I’m not familiar with Eberron, but I love your writing, so do whatever you’ve got inspiration for while you try to get Seeds finished up

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    1. Dungeon and Dragons setting, sort of a modern magicpunk with ambiguity about clerical faiths. It is what Ghost Touch is a Bleach crossover with.

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  8. I vote Bleach bits! I’m in love with the Tatterdemalion series and (in canon ‘verse) the way you beat the communication issues into the ground. Yeah, no. Withholding information will get kids of decent spiritual power only so far. Then they get flattened. How can you not expect repercussions?

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  9. It makes the most sense to decide which one feels right on a daily basis. If this is what you do to relax the grip your mind keeps on a single project so that things can flow, then what you put up should be whatever is moving you at the time.

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    1. What I’m currently putting up is already-written stuff, honestly; Seeds has been taking all my writing time. I’m hoping once I get through this round of edits, and have the more problem scenes written, I’ll have energy to write something else. 🙂

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  10. Out of curiosity, what’s going on with your Princess Rama project? Is it something you’re going to have to split into multiple books and edit that way, or are you giving it time to rest a bit more?”

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    1. Ah. That one’s complicated by 2 things. One of which I can sort out – I need to do more research on the historical and mythical era to make sure I get details as right as possible. (Iron arrows being one example!) I’ve gotten some books, need to read and take notes when I have Seeds more edited.

      The second… and this is the stumper. I started Princess Rama as a NaNo project because it was interesting, and somehow missed the whole “er, ancient poem, what kind of copyright mess might I be wandering into, if any?”

      I think I’d be in the clear. I know of at least one graphic novel and a whole English-language book series written based on the Ramayana. I got my hands on both, and I couldn’t find any mention of who needed to get what permissions to do the modern versions. But… I don’t know. And I’m not sure where to look to find out. Any ideas?

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      1. Not a lawyer, but the Ramayana is old enough that any copyright would most likely have expired, given that it is ancient. A quick google search indicated that Indian copyright law only allows copyright for 60 years after the life of the author.

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      3. Copyright applies to relatively recent works.

        You are in the USA. The USA does not protect copyright for thousands of years after the death of the author.

        Legal protections in the US for works published in other countries depend on treaties and international agreements. I’m pretty sure none of these require protection for thousands of years after the death of the author.

        Plus the matter of country of origin. That long ago, there may not have been any legal copyright protections which would make any coverage ex post facto (hence perhaps unconstitutional to enforce), and the country probably wouldn’t count as extant (and hence not signatory to any treaties) even if it did.

        I’m pretty sure it is public domain.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Literary_and_Artistic_Works

        (Okay, there’s also the UCC and TRIPS, but I am not sure which is more stringent, and IANAL.)

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      5. Look up definition of public domain, there should be some lawyerly explanations, if you have any doubts as to what you can and cannot get away with.

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  12. I’m adding my voice to the pile of ‘do what you want to’s already here.

    Anything you post is pretty much assuredly going to be nifty and much of why I follow your posts is because I find your writing, world-building, and analysis interesting (I don’t always agree with it, mind you, but that’s rather to be expected). Whatever you do post is bound to contain that and I’ll be happy to throw in my 2¢ from the peanut gallery when that time comes… Barring the odd schedule hiccups that real life force upon us all, at any rate.

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  13. With regards to Through the Cracks, would it make sense for the lactose intolerant characters to drink almond milk? Suburbanbanshee’s blog says that real medieval Europeans drank that during Lent. You can also make cheese out of it. Also, would it make a difference if it were fermented using the cultures that make it possible for you to tolerate yogurt and sour cream?

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      1. Do they have fatty nuts of any kind? Also, according to the vegan cheese Facebook group I joined out of curiosity, you can use rice milk. Does Valdemar have a similar product? Can they? Are any of the natives lactose intolerant?

        Also, there are Japanese who can tolerate lactose. They sell so much whole milk in their grocery stores that it can’t just be expats drinking it. It must be a founder effect. There is an ethnic group in Yunnan called Bai that makes so much cheese that the Han Chinese around them sort of evolved lactose tolerance. Their cheeses are called rushan and rubing. They were making them by the time Marco Polo arrived.

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