Puttering away on my fantasy story prequel (I feel like it is a prequel story, but I am writing it first to help solidify the world/cultures in my mind). I've solidified two goals. The first is the "write every day" goal that is ongoing; 300 words a day for a month. If I "beat" that word count (9K words in 30 days for the math-phobic), then the next month is 400 words a day. It's actually proving difficult to beat. 300 words is nothing, once I start going; but I find that instead of doing 300 words a day, every day, I am doing 1000 words every 3 or 4 days, and so my word counts keep "failing". But I am trying to instill a habit, so it's going to be a long slog.
The second goal is to try and finish the Fantasy Story 00 (my code name until I think of an actual title) by the end of the year. I have a word-count tracking app (of course I do) and I've set it to 70K in 233 days (70,000 divided by 300 words a day) just to have a framework to work by, but since goal #1 is about increasing my daily output to something more like 1-2K a day, I think the end of the year is reachable.
I talk a lot about my goals on this blog, and that is mostly just to reinforce them within myself. I could announce them on Facebook or something but I find that a) intimidating, and b) I doubt most of my FB friends would care much past the initial post. I have told E, and M, since I talk to them the most, and Kenso-chan, since she's my writing/editing partner. That should be enough, but it really isn't. Sometimes I like to go over my goals again, and since I don't want to be boring and the cats are terrible at listening, I tell the blog. (A lack of followers in this case is a boon--now I am definitely sure I am not boring anyone.)
But all is not goals and word-counts. A couple of weeks ago I had a good Plot Talk with Kenso regarding an army structure for the culture that I was developing. I wanted something complicated enough to sound real without being based on any existing command system; and it needed to sound like something that an isolationist society heavily invested in guilds would come up with when they had no standing army for generations, and suddenly enemies were at the gates. The PT was quite fun, and got very silly towards the end, as they usually do, but the best bit was a revelation that had nothing to do with the original topic.
So within the guild system would be children of guild masters who may or may not have the aptitude for the particular skills within the guild; at the same time, they have the ear of the masters. They would get stuck very quickly in the hierarchy; not talented enough to produce results but still be able to leverage their connections. (Inept managers, in other words.) Now let's say they were all carted off to a make-shift army to be a layer of officers. Some of them might discover that while they are mediocre carpenters or masons or whatever, they are talented soldiers and COs. (This led to the line "It's like the manager from Dilbert found out that he was actually Commander Riker", which had us in tears.) Once we stopped wheezing from laughing, it occurred to me--what happens when all those would-be soldiers go home? Would Commander Riker be content as a desk jockey within a brick-making company?
I don't know if I will ever use this piece of cultural puzzle, but it is a fantastic little thought-experiment to keep in mind while the rest of the world takes shape; and the best part was that the inspiration it generated helped fuel a writing binge.
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