Author Archives: Sam

NaNo 2015: Retrospective

Posted on by

It’s December 1st so November and NaNo is officially over for another year. There is of course Camp NaNo next April and July, but let’s forget that for the moment.

Before the month started I had two clear goals:
– Have a completed first draft by the end of the month
– Write every single day

At the start of the month I admitted that I would ideally like to go further:
– Beat last years total of 61k at a minimum
– Finally crack triple figures (100k) to make a good lifetime achievement total

Well how did that go? The answer is pretty clear if you take a look at the widget on the sidebar to the right. The total – 55,618 words. Do I have a complete draft? No. Did I beat last years total? Nope. Which obviously means I didn’t get my 100k. Did I write every day? Well, that depends on your definition, more on that under the cut.

Continue reading →

Revelations, Questions and Frustrations

Posted on by

This week there was a double bill of Once Upon a Time to watch. Episode 8 and Episode 9, Birth and The Bear King and the first episode contained a shocking plot twist, the second was any of the main characters actually really in it?

The revelations sparked questions and the frustrations come from the message on the netflix site. The next new episode will be “January 1st” – excuse me? Now Once Upon a Time has a really long hiatus, three months from December 6th to March 6th. That is expected, that’s why they split the season into two story arcs A and B. They wrap up one story arc so people aren’t mad as hell for three months waiting to see how it ends.

Netflix have been brilliant, putting up the new episode on the wednesday, after it airs in the US on the sunday. Why are they suddenly breaking from form? The last two episodes of 5A and saying we have to wait 6 weeks for them. Have to wait for the episodes that will wrap up the story arc, explain everything and bring resolution to the conflict which has ramped up over the previous 9 episodes. Why do that? That is mean, that is cruel and unusual and mean and very, very frustrating.

Alright so let’s talk about the episodes that have aired and that shocking plot twist. Obviously massive spoilers below.

Continue reading →

NaNo 2015: Midseason Update

Posted on by

Apparently skipping all normal NaNo rituals results in it not really feeling like NaNo. The magic just disappears, or never appears, it’s like a regular day with all the regular annoyances and distractions.

  • I didn’t stay up till midnight and write a few lines before I went to bed.
  • I didn’t complete my outline.
  • I didn’t have a title, series title, universe title.
  • I didn’t create a temporary cover.
  • I didn’t have an opening line so I was stuck at the start line.

All told it was not the best start to the month. However, I dutifully started writing the prologue and I reached the 50k pace for the day (1667 words) before the prologue was finished. That I hoped boded well for the length of the rest of the story but only time would tell on that front.

I finished the prologue and I was feeling good. However, I’m familiar with the emotional highs and lows of writing a first draft. I knew that high wasn’t going to last, the same as I know the inevitable lows will end. It’s a rollercoaster journey every single time.

What is somewhat miraculous is throughout the whole process, while there are parts of the draft I dislike, I don’t loathe anything AND I still absolutely love the idea. That’s new, usually I wind up hating everything and want to kill it with fire. Perhaps it’s just a matter of time. We’ll see how I feel when I reach those immortal words – ‘The End’.

Word of warning about this post. I wrote it in 5 separate updates over the course of the beginning of the month. Therefore I can’t vouch for how understandable it is, think of it as a live blog almost of the writing process.

Continue reading →

A New Hero Rises

Posted on by

I missed writing a post about last weeks episode. I had a cold (man-flu) and I felt really tired, then NaNo started and too much time had passed. However, the episodes did sort of lead from one to the other, or at least when it came to the important part – Rumplestiltskin of course!

My friend just asked me what I thought of last nights episode (5.06 – The Bear and the Bow) as they thought I would really have liked it. They know I’m a big Rumple and Rumple/Belle fan and this was a centric episode for them, they finally got their moment in the spotlight. When it came to my answer I was a bit more conflicted than I think either of us had expected.

The problem with head canon is that then on screen things happen that don’t seem right. I agreed with a lot of what happened last night, likely all of it but the episode was only 40 minutes and they had to show a transformation in that time. I suppose it’s no surprise that it came across a bit false but more on that under the cut.

Continue reading →

All NaNo-Eve

Posted on by

The 31st might be Halloween which is important to some people. However, for me it’s important because it’s NaNo-Eve, the day before NaNoWriMo begins again. I know it’s not the 31st yet, I may do another post before then, or maybe I’ll do a mid month post. Last year I forgot to do a pre-NaNo post so I did one on day ten, that could work for this year too.

Anyway, last year I wrote a NaNo retrospective, as I often do, and I listed some goals for myself.

The Writing Plan
– To write a minimum of 1000 words, five days a week.
– To finish Book Two by the end of January
– As a bonus work through the flash fiction course
– Make plan for February at the end of January, probably in my new house.

How did that work out for me?

Well consistency has gone out of the window completely. Forget that, even when I was writing it wasn’t on a regular day to day basis. The first draft of book two has been completed – this month. Yup, I didn’t finish that until October. I also haven’t touched the flash fiction course.

All told those goals didn’t happen. Ok, so what did happen?

Continue reading →

The Fallen Empire

Posted on by

I haven’t blogged about swtor since April, when I said that the 12x boost was coming into effect for subscribers. I thought that I would be playing a lot of swtor this past summer. I only wish that could have been true. Instead I was rather ill and not in a good way, the sort of illness where you feel too bad to even play games.

In my post about the 12x boost I said I was “wary but excited” as I worried what the boost would mean for the games longevity. I thought that if I played through all the class storylines, then I would be ‘done’ with what I loved most about the game.

I need not have worried. I only took one class through their storyline – Imperial Agent. I started another – Jedi Consular – but I’m only level 21. That is all I managed. I have yet to touch the classes of Sith Inquisitor, Smuggler or Trooper and my Sith Warrior is still on level 17 and due for a restart as it’s been so long. I didn’t even max my Jedi Knight, which is now on level 47 so very close to the end.

The release of the next expansion reminded me it’s been a while since I played. I actually forgot to cancel my sub so I have another six months as it renewed by accident. So what are my current thoughts on the game?

Continue reading →

His Greatest Weakness

Posted on by

The Broken Kingdom, episode 4 of season 5 was added to Netflix yesterday.

I reached the end and had the exact same thought as a friend of mine – next episode please! It almost felt like it was paced as a two-parter. The credits started to roll and I couldn’t believe that was the end already, a lot had been covered but so much more was just set up and teased for what was coming next.

One of the things that I really like about this show, I think I’ve said this before, is it’s capacity to surprise me. I’ll see the promo, or I’ll see the live tweets which have pictures and quotes. This will form a picture in my mind, I’ll add it to my theories of what I think will happen. I then watch the episode and something totally different happens, but it’s not wrong, it makes as much sense as my theories.

I’ve never watched a show that seemed to encourage speculation as much. I am worried though because the ratings aren’t as healthy as I’d like. They are still winning the timeslot but it’s an expensive show, and this season will reach the magic number 100 for syndication.

With the numbers much lower than in the past, I could see ABC wanting to save the money. I really hope not though because I want this show to go on forever, or at least much longer than just the rest of this season! It’s too awesome, just like Stargate, and there needs to be a healthy amount for rewatching.

Ok so I’ve rambled on enough to now go to the cut.

Continue reading →

Best of British: Indeed Not

Posted on by

I want to say upfront that this post is purely my opinion, based on my own personal perspective. Obviously all posts are just my opinion. However, I wanted to make that doubly clear with this one because it might turn out to be a bit of a rant.

Now, I’m a bit of a vocal critic when it comes to British drama. Most of my complaints are on the basis that we don’t make enough of it. We produce very few drama series. Honestly open up TV guide, and the bulk is reality, soaps (which I don’t count as dramas), quiz shows and property programs. Scripted dramas are thin on the ground.

With what we do make, I don’t expect everything to be my cup of tea, different people like different things. However, even when we do make something of quality we don’t make very much of it. The largest episode order per season seems to be 10 episodes, less than a half season (or mid-season replacement) of a US series.

Despite this there have been a few British shows I have enjoyed over the years. Hustle was amazing, and it just makes me sad how few episodes there were in the end. It lasted for 8 seasons, but at 6 episodes a season, that only made for 48 episodes. That’s basically 2 seasons of a US drama, possibly part of a third depending on how many episodes were ordered.

I watched the last episode of New Tricks last night, which is what prompted this post. I’ve watched that show since the beginning and I saw it through to the end.

Continue reading →

A Seat at the Table

Posted on by

The third episode of Once Upon a Time’s season 5 was put up on Netflix last night. I had read the live tweets and seen a couple of preview clips courtesy of the official twitter account. One of those clips I thought was for next weeks episode, so I was very pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be the ending of this one – and wow what an ending!

This is a show which I believe encourages speculation about where plot lines are going. However, it seems every time I come up with a theory the writers take a totally unexpected turn. The turn might be unexpected but it also makes perfect sense, it’s just a plot twist that never occurred to me. It keeps the show surprising and makes me count down the days to the next episode.

Right, usual disclaimer though surely I could dispense with that by now? Spoilers under the cut …

Continue reading →