Today I set out with the following goals:

• Read the second 1/3 of Rayne Hall’s “Writing Fight Scenes“. Success! Areas covered today: the difference between male and female fighters (Both physical and psychological), unarmed combat styles, types of fights, and how to write group fights (Group vs. Group or 1 vs. Group). All in all, very interesting. I didn’t know that women have a greater tendency to reach for improvised weapons in a fight than men do. But, when I think of my own tendencies I gravitate toward one of three things, depending on what I’m carrying: my fists (Never leave home without ’em!), my knife, or my sidearm. Very interesting, indeed!
• Continue reading through Volume 28 of the Writer’s of the Future. I’ve read two more really good stories from the book. I’ll likely write up a post about it either tomorrow or Monday morning, whenever I finish the book. I’ve enjoyed some stories in there more than others, but I’ve liked them all so far. One can learn a lot about pacing, characterization, dialogue, and plot from reading other people’s works, as well as what one’s own weaknesses and strengths are relative to other authors.
• Keep working on the Wendigo Novel 1 outlining process, first with Michael A Stackpole’s “21 Days To a Novel“. Day 17: Creating Problem Arcs is finished for three of my main heroes, and I have a pretty good handle on how to add more problems for my characters to solve throughout the course of the novel. I’ve wound up with a few interesting plot twists and scenes from this day’s exercise, and have increased tension between the three. This should make the novel more interesting.
• Keep working on the Wendigo Novel 1 outlining process, this time with the plan in Karen Wiesner’s “First Draft in 30 Days“. Today I wrapped up Day 2’s exercise, which is coming up with general and character-specific sketches for the different settings to be shown in the novel. I’ve found there are currently four towns that will be visited, but there are at least as many towns that will only be mentioned by name in this book. I want to have a basic sketch for each of them, as some of the characters have either visited these places or will encounter people who have visited them. It pays to know more of the setting than will be shown, as it helps make the place feel more real. Tomorrow will involve the creating of plot threads.
• Keep editing my “Ultimate Evil” short story. Yesterday was all research. Today was all editing. In the articles I am hoping to emulate I found that the length of the articles tended to be no fewer than 15 paragraphs (Sometimes one-sentence paragraphs, so maybe “blocks of text” is a better description) and no greater than 30. A minimum of 3 paragraphs was dedicated to the summary of the entire article at the beginning (The ol’ punchline at the beginning trick of news articles. Get to the point, then rewind back to the start), and at least 2 paragraphs were dedicated to an aftermath conclusion, although there could be a lot more. Ultimate Evil began the day at 32 paragraphs and around 1,250 words. I managed to cut it down to 1,100 words, but now it’s 35 paragraphs. I’m going to put it aside for today, but tomorrow I plan to finish it and send it to a few people I think will appreciate it for their comments. After that, it’s off to somewhere.
• Continue my Writers of the Future third draft edits. I wanted to spend two hours on this today, but failed. It was at the end of my already packed day, and other things came up. That’s all right, though. Progress was made on the one story, so there’s always tomorrow!

Here are today’s numbers. Again, no new fiction written, but a good bit of groundwork laying:

Blog Posts: 663
Planning and outlining: 1,200
Short Fiction: 0
Novel Fiction: 0
Salable words: 0

Total Fiction for Month: 0

Total Salable for Month: 0

Total Fiction for Challenge Year: 0

Total Salable for Challenge Year: 0