#TKPepper

[notatravelwriter]

WIP TKPepper 23.10.18

Another 30 minutes, another 1k+ words. I crafted an unexpected action sequence today, with an unexpected ending. I loved it.

It is raining here, as it has on and off since Saturday night — it feels fresh and cool and wonderful. The darkness the clouds bring is also a blessing, so used to the bright tropical light overhead am I, that to remember conditions vary is rather delicious.

I am missing the sea, however, but soon, soon I shall be back by the beach.

#WIP #writing #amwriitng #the lesser evil #TKPepper #more than 1k words in 30 minutes makes me happy #wordcount #wordcountability #rain #chiang mai #thailand

[alexandermichaelcrow]

WIP TKPEPPER 16.10.18

A day when I didn’t write my new fiction words until 1700 — for me, not a good time. My brain is too weary, my body tired. So I am pleased with this. It was also a day when I fleshed out some further ideas for this story. How, for example, do you find and track someone in a city where everyone is legally obliged to wear a mask in public? Watch this space.

#WIP #TKPepper #wordcount #wordcountability #the lesser evil #writing #story #fantasy #new words #weary brain

[richking66]

#NowPlaying King Crimson by tkpepper

#music #spotify

[notatravelwriter]

WIP TKPepper 26.10.18

I think there may only be two more days left in this tale. The end will, however, be tricky. It needs to set up What Comes Next, whilst also neatly pulling together several threads and ending the story in a satisfactory manner.

Although I shall be away at the beach for a long weekend, I shall still be working. As it happens, I probably have even more work to do than I had hoped, which is a bit rubbish as I had also wanted to simply relax — I have only had two days off since late July. However, that work is paid by the hour, so that’s something. I shall, of course, also be working on my own things — this tale and the longer novella I am redrafting/editing.

It is looking increasingly like the re-release date for the first novella shall be in the first half of November, which would be fantastic. The second novella should then be released shortly after, if not at the same time. The third, the one I am currently redrafting, should be ready during November too. Ideally, all four, and all four bonus stories (one each, per novella), will be completed and released before Christmas. Let’s see, shall we? (Shall I do NaNoWriMo? I do not know.) Watch this space and, indeed, other spaces — I shall put together a blog post or three about this process, about The Lesser Evil, and where I see it heading. I shall talk about process, about writing, about ideas and the shift to making money from my own fiction, rather than my freelance words/edits/social media management. Coming soon!

And, this time tomorrow, I should be on the beach down on the Gulf of Thailand, close to a jungle which still has wild tigers, a sea that has beautiful pink dolphins and the delicious food of the South.

#WIP #amwriting #writing #wordcountability #wordcount #work in progress #story #The Lesser Evil #TKPepper #thailand #digital nomad #pink dolphins #tigers #NANOWRIMO #life of the writer #writer #fantasy

[notatravelwriter]

WIP TKPepper 15.10.18

This is the second day of crafting this story, but the first when I kept to a 30-minute time slot, hence not initially recording it here. I had to decide what the story needed to be, about who, where, why? Then I had to make a few notes and record some ideas before starting on the tale.

I am pleased with this start. I am especially pleased to return to an old friend (character) and also to meet a new one (as a young adult — she was a small child last time we met). This story is about a city too, one that will play an important role in The Lesser Evil, and it tells of certain peoples, geographies, customs and other things, all woven into a story of death and murder.

I like it already.

#WIP #wordcount #wordcountability #writing #amwriting #the lesser evil #TKPepper #old friends are the best

[notatravelwriter]

WIP TKPepper 30.10.18

Started this at 1900, so rather pleased. Also, this was 30 minutes crafting after a day mostly spent travelling back from the south of Thailand to the north, which is always a bit tiring, especially changing in Bangkok.

We had a lovely time down on the coast, finding a wonderful strip of sand with ridiculously good restaurants, cheap and clean accommodation, a great coffee shop, friendly people, a pool, warm sea, monkeys, pink dolphins, and very few other Farang. Instead, the clientele were nearly all Thai families.

I am torn — between writing an article/post about this place and keeping it a secret. Genuinely torn. One of the resorts there is in the middle of renovation, and the owner explained she is planning on attracting more westerners, marketing it to them — and they will come. Perhaps I should write something, she was great, and they deserve success, but it would also change the feel of the place.

Decisions, decisions.

At the pointy end of the story, by the way. Perhaps two more scenes…

#WIP. #TkPepper #The Lesser Evil #Thailand #Bangkok #pink dolphins #farang #chiangmai #new words every day #wordcount #wordcountability #writing #amwriting #writers on tumblr #fiction #fantasy

[notatravelwriter]

WIP TKPepper 22.10.18

This bonus story is progressing well. I really love the characters, especially Pepper, but also the newly-explored Hedda. The setting is also interesting, being a new-to-me city in a different place to the other novellas I have already crafted in The Lesser Evil.

It rained here from yesterday, throughout the day and into the night and morning. It keeps raining occasionally. I awoke this morning just before the dawn, as my body likes to do, and lay in bed listening to the soft rain, which had brought with it the cool of the night-jungle. From somewhere towards the mountain I heard the sound of monks chanting, a timeless sound containing a power of its own. I could have been here fifty years ago and felt and heard the same things. Or one hundred, five hundred. Beyond. A ceaseless connection to the past in this old city of temples and elephants and jungle.

#WIP #wordcount #wordcountability #TKPepper #bonus story #Hedda #Pepper #The Lesser Evil #Chiang Mai #thailand #monks chanting #chanting #timelessness #night jungle #amwriting #writing #digital nomad #nomadic #No one ever reads these anyway #it is mostly just for me and my pleasure #come to think of it #no one reads these posts either

[notatravelwriter]

WIP TKPEPPER 13.11.18 1088 Words

Boom, that’s not too bad for 30 minutes! I suppose this could be due to this scene being the penultimate and also featuring a character I’ve been working with for seven years now. She’s pure in a way that is hard to replicate with “good” characters. Sometimes, writing evil is simply more fun. She has her plans, she has her ideas and she gets what she wants. People die. Creating certain characters is a true pleasure, but she still sends shivers down my spine — the way she appeared unbidden and already cruel. Sometimes we writers worry (just a little) about these moments — what does it mean, psychologically, to have these characters walk into our lives?

Just this scene to finish, then the wrap-up. I can’t wait for people to read this tale.

#WIP #wordcount #wordcountability #nanowrimo #nano 2018 #amwriting #writing #words #new words every day #TKPepper #TKPepper but probably should be TKHedda #TKHedda #draft #drafting #evil characters are so fun to write #if a bit scary #more than 1k words in 30 minutes makes me happy

[notatravelwriter]

WIP TKPEPPER 12/11/2018 883 Words

Been a few days without any update. I was busy with other things, including thinking this story through, considering the direction and how best to end it.

I now believe there to only be two more scenes to write after this one — it has already climbed to nearly 17k words — not so much a bonus short story, as a bonus novella. I imagine it will be 18k-19k once finished. And I’ll be giving this one away for free…

Pepper is one of my favourite characters to write, hands down. I can’t wait for certain scenes, conversations, and meetings between her and some of the other principal characters in The Lesser Evil. It’ll be fun.

Her first appearance, in Death and Taxes, has just come back from my editor, so it’ll need a final polish and revamp, then it’s time to release her on to the world. Can’t wait, but also secretly (!) a little scared.

Best dash now, want to get my site finished in the next couple of days if I can, lots still to do, but mostly loose ends.

#WIP #wordcount #wordcountability #writing #amwriting #Death and Taxes #TKPepper #The Lesser Evil #nanowrimo #drafting #novella #Pepper

[notatravelwriter]

WIP TKPepper 29.10.18

Super-fast note today — I have had a proper weekend off, from almost all forms of work except thinking and plotting which, truth be told, never ends.

I am by the beach, in a tiny resort where the vast majority of clientele are Thai, rather than the hordes of Farang who often hang around on Thailand’s coast. It is remarkably chilled and I feel rested, despite being up early yesterday to take a tour to see pink dolphins. (They were remarkable.)

That is all for now — this story has taken a slightly-longer twist, so I am guessing it may be another three or four days before it is complete. We shall see.

#WIP #wordcount #wordcountability #tkpepper #story #writing #amwriting #new words #new words every day if possible #the lesser evil #Thailand #thai beach #farang #pink dolphins

[notatravelwriter]

WIP TKPepper 25.10.18

I am actually more pleased with 757 words than I was the 1k+ days — simply because I didn’t start my 30 minutes until 1800 this evening. As I have mentioned before, I am a morning creative. My best work on new words is always in the earlier part of the day, so to be able to get a 50% return on the 500-word minimum I set myself is rather good for me.

Usually, by now I’ll have shut down for the day, so I am very happy.

I estimate this tale has perhaps 2-3k more words until it is finished. It is a bonus story for another novella, so those of you (if anyone ever reads this) who buy the novella will also get this tale for free if you sign up for my newsletter. That will be a free novelette or very long short story. Not a bad deal, really!

#WIP #writing #amwriting #TKPepper #story #new words every day #The Lesser Evil #novella #novelette #wordcount #wordcountability

[notatravelwriter]

WIP TKPepper 21.10.18

Not quite as good a wordcount as recently, but still pleased things are moving forward.

One reason I may not have been as effective with words is that I spent some time early this morning thinking of the bigger story picture, taking notes and writing down and threshing out ideas that underpin the whole. Sometimes, when I do this, I lose my creative burst speed, as I suppose it could be called. This is why I usually try and get my daily 30-minute new word/draft session done ASAP and why I try very hard not to waste creativity on emails or messages (including reading them) before this is done.

However, I am glad I did get these notes crafted — they will prove important over the coming years… Watch this space.

#WIP #Wordcount #wordcountability #TKPepper #TKPepper but probably should be TKHedda #The Lesser Evil #writing #amwriting #drafting #on drafting #drafts #new words every day if possible

[notatravelwriter]

WIP TKPepper 19.10.18

Another day, another near-thousand words. Pleased, again.

Pepper and Hedda’s story progresses, with certain threads appearing that tie this neatly to Death and Taxes, and also to the bigger work of The Lesser Evil. It is always a delight when these appear unbidden, my subconscious creating the links I know need to be there, before I even put any thought into it.

As per yesterday, super busy with other work, so I had best get to it.

#WIP #TKPepper #wordcountability #work in progress #new words every day if possible #wordcount #The Lesser Evil #Hedda #pepper #amwriting #writing #story #death and taxes

[notatravelwriter]

WIP TKPepper 17.10.18

Today was a struggle, but I still managed more than my 500 word minimum so that’s something. My brain is cloudy and full of wool, stuffed with other thoughts and none.

It feels hotter and more humid here day by day, which actually doesn’t make sense — the humidity should be dropping now, and the nights getting cooler. Still, there’s another month before we can count it as winter.

I have been wondering where to curate all my posts, whether those here (which are, really, mostly just for me — as I have mentioned before, they are a cross between a form of accountability and also a mini-diary, posts too small for a blog post, but too large for twitter, too plain for Instagram — and I am pondering Steemit, which I have joined (find me there as NotATravelWriter, of course). It may be the place where I post all my content, combine it all into one stream. Makes sense to me, but we shall see — I have yet to have enough time to study the lay of the land.

In other news, I shall copy and paste a series of tweets from the 14th of October, which I meant to write about here, but ran out of time (story of my life):

It was bound to happen, living so close to the jungle... Last night we had an indoor snake visitor. After many videos, photos and details (http://thailandsnakes.com  is excellent), I have narrowed our little friend down to one of two species. I think.

The first potential, and the one I’d rather have inside the house, is a juvenile Malayan banded wolf snake (Lycodon subcinctus). See here: https://t.co/qeEcET6VIt

The second potential is a juvenile Many-banded krait (Bungarus multicinctus). This is a wee bit more deadly, a juvenile being the one that tragically killed Dr. Joe Slowinski. https://t.co/x77YyNwAxt

I have little herpetological experience and, if those with experience still get things wrong between these two, I have no way to be sure. However, I AM sure it was beautiful and an experience we shall not forget in a hurry.

(It also means we now go to the toilet with a torch, just in case — would rather not tread on any guest.)

#WIP #TKPepper #wordcount #wordcountability #The Lesser Evil #writing #amwriitng #snake #snakes #krait #wolf snake #Thailand #Chiang mai #herpetology

[notatravelwriter]

WIP TKPepper 14.11.18 811 Words

On to the final scene. Of course, as I get nearer to the end, it gets slower, as I have to think about all the threads that need tucking in, all the parts that need wrapping, and those that need to be left loose, to be tugged upon in a future story.

One joy of these free stories (each novella I release will also have a link to a free story — originally planned to be a short story, but this particular one is clearly a lot longer than that…), is that I get to introduce themes, places, characters, ideas and history to this world, things that the reader won’t exactly NEED to know for the longer work I plan, as they will also be included in that, but they do serve as a bonus, hints and queries buried within the fiction as a paperchase, Easter Eggs, if you will. It makes it fun.

I suspect this piece will be finished tomorrow. In fact, I am relatively sure of that. What comes next? Another free story, for the third novella.

#WIP #wordcount #wordcountability #TKPepper #novella #free story #easter eggs #writing #amwriting #nanowrimo #nano 2018 #the pointy end #the lesser evil #fantasy #draft

[notatravelwriter]

WIP TKPepper 24.10.18

And with this day we are now over the 10k limit.

In her book, The INFJ Writer*, Lauren Sapala discusses how important new words are, how crucial it is to write fresh material, not to simply edit and polish. This was a problem I once had, but no longer. The habit of crafting new words is so important for any writer but crucial for those of us who fall into the INFJ type. I am not saying I agree with the whole Myers Briggs test — but it is uncanny how accurate it is for me. (I shall discuss this more on my website…)

Write new words. Simple. 30 minutes a day and, in 10 days, I now have a 10k+ story, nearing the Pointy End.

*worth a read if you are a writer and fall into this category and, yes, that’s me, INFJ through and through.

#WIP #wordcount #wordcountability #TKPepper #new words #amwriting #writing #the lesser evil #myers briggs #INFJ #Lauren Sapala #new words every day if possible