Book 3 is finished !

I'm happy to tell you that today, May 30th, 2016 I finished 'The Hunt 3 - Beaten'
Now I'll start on book 4 - Severed and work on that for a month or two before I go back and give 3 - Beaten a proofread.
 Again I'm sorry that I'm not gonna publish yet. It have something to do with me being a perfectionist and that I hate deadlines and don't want to risk having one. But soon I'm halfway through the series ;) I hope you can wait and will support me on my way to completing the series.

Writing tip: Keeping track of tattoos, scars, or distinguishing marks:

Short, but good. Writing a full physical of your character is always a help. But really it’s annoying to have to go back there now and then to check ‘was it his right or left arm the tattoo/scar/whatever were?’
To give an example:
I’ve drawn a sketch of Jake, as he have five tattoos, it’s sometimes difficult to remember where they are, and what the motives are. “But I can’t draw.” You whine with a sad frown, while you read my post. Well, tip for you. Thin piece of paper (no lines, just blank) find a model (male or female matching the description of your character), put the paper on the computer screen and gently draw the figure with a pencil. And then add the tattoos, scars or other distinguishing marks your character has. To make you feel better I can absolutely not draw people. So I used this little tip as well. (I can only draw horses, and Donald Duck figures.)
Most of us have a lot of notes, lists, and stuff to go with our stories, what’s an extra piece of paper? Nothing to me to be honest (Check out my post ‘I need this shit (left) instead of this shit (right) posted March 8^th 2016) I’m also so super lucky to have a friend who is absolutely awesome at drawing on computer, and she have made a proper sketch for me. And to be honest, it’s just as easy to open an image file as having a piece of paper instead of reading though a physical description of your character.
Nivi, thank you for providing me with your drawing skills!
That’s it for today. Remember if you have any questions or have a problem you want me to help you with then swing by ‘Get in contact’ and write to me ;)

Getting through a tough chapter - follow up

Remember that mini writing tip I gave you last week about getting through a tough chapter? I wrote it because I was going through the same thing and wanted to share with you how I get through that kind of thing.
So, now I have some good news. Yesterday I finally finished that tough chapter. Proud of myself? You betcha! And now I can move on to the next, which I have so many awesome ideas for. Three chapters to go and I've finished book three of The Hunt. (The adult/erotic fantasy series I'm currently working on.)
Then, of course, there's all the editing and I have to read it from start to finish a couple of times, but for me it is deeply satisfying to proofread my own books from start to end.
Though I usually start writing the next book and wait 2-3 months on editing from start to finish, that way I'll have fresh eyes on it. (You can read more of my writing tips about proofreading your own stories under 'Writing Tips' (obviously) ;)

Talk to you soon :)

Mini writing tip - Getting through a tough chapter

So, now I’ve worked with a chapter the past 10-11 days. It usually doesn’t take me that long to write a chapter and I can feel I’m struggling a little to find motivation, mainly because my steady writing flow got interrupted. First because of holidays, second because of research.
So now I’m gonna tell you how to ‘survive’ and get the chapter finished even though it’s hard.
First off DO NOT continue to kick yourself in the ass for not finishing a chapter as fast as you normally do. Same goes for kicking yourself over not writing as much each day/writing session as you use to.
Second, look at your chapter every day. I usually read ½ -2 pages to ‘get into the story again’. Here you can also proofread what you already wrote. You can also read the chapter from the top, but after a week of reading the same chapter over and over I move on to the ½-2 page method.
Third, try to write every day. Just one sentence is enough (here it’s important to remember the first rule) It is okay to stare at the page for an hour and only write one sentence or half a page. At least you’re going somewhere, and at some point you’ll finish that chapter. Sometimes one sentence bring forth the next one and before you know it – BAM – you have a page. Soon you’ll have a chapter and can move on.
Fourth, Praise yourself for writing one sentence, praise yourself for writing half a page. Remember you are one sentence, one paragraph, one page closer to getting through this chapter.

My point is: push through it, writing is hard sometimes, and sometimes it’s pure fun :D
Push through the hard parts – enjoy the fun. You can do it. 

Chapter length/book length - kind of a writing tip

Now I’m about halfway through the third book of The Hunt series, and I have come across people who’re having difficulties finding out what the proper length of a chapter is, and also a book.
First off, there’s a lot of people who’re trying to dictate what the proper length of a chapter is. So I’ll get back to this one.

The ‘proper’ book length can’t really be discussed either, as people have different preferences about what book sizes they want to read. Some wanna read 2-300 page books because they can finish them faster, others understand to indulge in a 1000 page book. – The kind we call ‘a brick novel’ in Danish ;)
 But there are some classifications based on word count in fiction. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have specified some word length for different categories:
Novel          – over 40,000 words
Novella       – 17,500 to 40,000 words
Novelette   – 7,500 to 17,500 words
Short story – under 7,500 words

Personally The Hunt 1 is 131,201 words (equals to 432 book pages), and The Hunt 2 is 152,125 words (equals to 522 book pages).
Originally book 1 and 2 was one book. But as the first in a series I think it would come off too intimidating starting a trilogy with a book that’s almost 1000 pages. If it was me I wouldn’t start on it if I hadn’t heard any reviews or seen a movie/series based on it. And I think it’s safe to assume I’m probably not one of those people who gets my book made into a movie or series. So that’s why I have split the first book in two, and the two other books I have planned will also be split into respectively two and tree, so The Hunt is not a trilogy anymore, but a heptalogy – not to be confused with hepatology – heptalogy is simply a series of seven books.

Now back to chapter lengths. As I said some people are trying to dictate the ‘proper’ length of a chapter, but my personal opinion is that you have completely free hands. It is your story, it is your little personal messed up universe and you’re the freaking master of it. If you have a chapter that needs to be 40 pages then you just have to make sure to get some well-placed breaks with paragraphs. And if you have a chapter that only needs to be 1 page then go for it. It depends on how you’re building up your story. Personally the shortest chapter I have so far is 1 ¼ pages. But I’ve seen other books have chapters of under a page. But of course you don’t make every chapter that short. But now and then there just isn’t more to say, and that’s just the way it is. You don’t have to make it longer to please other people, or make a chapter shorter for the same reason. You’re the master, but there also have to be a balance in it, and it’s your job to find the balance in your universe you’re creating.
So toss aside all the ‘rules’ of lengths and setups and just write. Because you write because you love it, and it shouldn’t be prohibited by anything. 

The wonders of prewriting

Well, I'm feeling generous today. After all it is easter. (Though the only way i celebrate is with chokolate and alcohol :P )
Anyway here you have my second writing tip today :D

The wonders of prewriting:
At first I was utterly scared of this. I would be like ‘if I write the future scenes in my head I’ll pour all my creativity out.’ I was afraid my creativity would be satisfied by writing these future scenes in my story, and that I would never get to write the parts in between these scenes. But one day my head was too full of all these delicious future scenes that I simply had to write them down to get them out of my head. They were filling too much and taking up all my RAM. I couldn’t stop thinking about them, afraid I’d forget them. So I put the pen to the paper. Or actually my fingers to the keys and started typing. Now I have close to 100 pages of prewritten scenes.
And back to my last post Keeping track on previous and future chapters (ealier today). With all this material for future scenes I have to make a plan for when they happen, and how my characters reached those scenes. Simply to get it all braided together to one lovely braid instead of the day after a too wild party hair, with wild bobby pins and stiff leftover hairspray. It all have to fit together on a higher level, and that needs to be planned meticulously. Some scenes must be cast away, some needs to be edited, and some are just on the spot. But the better you know your characters the less are the chances of prewriting scenes that doesn’t fit the story, and needs to be deleted. I suggest you take a look on my post Character development/evolving: (And apparently my opinion on The Hunger Games. Don’t know where that came from? - posted 24. january) - But both previous writing tips can be found under the tap 'Writing Tips' :) 

Keeping track on previous and future chapters:

Though I have written every word myself, I simply can’t remember everything. I like to have a little ‘reference’ that mentions the key points in a chapter, along with date, day in the story, and place. It helps me a lot along with the plan for future chapters that hold the exact same information. The key points of what I have planned for the chapter, date, day in story, and place. It’s easy to work from, and allows for a certain amount of freedom. Sometimes I have to change, or move the key points, but it’s a great guideline. We all at first write senselessly because we have so many ideas spawning in our mind, but at some point you have to sit down and wonder where you want this to go. What obstacles will they be facing? How do they overcome them (and their fears)? Where will they end? So you have to sit down and plan like you were about to get on a 3 hour, with 4 shifts public transport journey. Remember this is a guideline, you are the master of your little messed up universe you’re creating. You’re basically your characters God! So start acting like it. What will you put them through, and what do you hope they’ll learn? And if you have a scenery or event planned, then you make sure you get your characters there.
The chapters isn’t the only think I keep track of. I also keep track of some utterly minor details as my characters whole wardrobe, so I don’t end up giving one of the characters a blue top/shirt without them having one. Also scratches, cuts and bruises along with distinguishing marks. But I’m addicted to making lists and stuff, so I might overdo it. But you get the point – keep track on the important stuff.