Boarders Writing a Novel, Draft 7

[Starkess]

It's so fun though, not being chained down! I love it.

Ah, but to me it's more like being lost at sea!

[Ebenstone]

I've found that the pieces I kind of dread becoming immersed in, often end up being the most rewarding in the long run. I think it's better than just feeling like, "Man, this story's so awesome, I'm so good, it's just flowing!" That usually ends up in me finishing it and thinking it's amazing, then getting high one night a few weeks later and reading it and being like "My god...it's awful".

That's partially why I've put off getting into my two-part epic for so long. I wanted to be really, really sure (or at least as sure as possible) that the general outline of the plot and characters was competent enough before I found myself five-hundred pages deep and feeling like I need to rewrite half -- or more -- of the damn story. Luckily so far I seem to have a pretty good track record of being able to plan a story out, and then go and actually write it and still feel like the broad strokes of my original plan are solid. I honestly can't imagine being the type of writer that just sits down with a beginning in mind and starts going at it, with little-to-no idea of how it will end. At least when it comes to anything over a hundred pages.

I outline pretty extensively, but sometimes characters want to do things that aren't in the outline. Or they respond to something in the story that isn't exactly the way you planned it in the outline. As long as you understand that, you'll be fine in your writing. I said something to my students this year about writing: "No writer is ever completely satisfied with what they've written."

As for wondering if you'll be "competent" enough, just write the darn book and you'll know! You're going to have to rewrite the book, several times. If that means after you've finished it or after 500 pages, so be it.

[Zoë Sumra]

Ebenstone speaks the truth. It is known.

My first draft of my steam punkish gothic horror-ish Resurrection Men is sitting pretty on just over 83,000 words with another five chapters and an epilogue to go. Chapter 34 was hardgoing due to being mainly ezposition. I realised i was putting in too many plot reveals and cut a lot out obly to put even more in. On the bright side 35 went smoothly. I'd be working on 36 if my laptop battery hadnt run out.

Go you! Nearly there = excellent.

I'm feeling a bit down about the book thing at the moment. Not the writing: I'm still pretty happy about that, and the Backup Plan is now progressing at a non-zero rate for the first time in a couple of months. Just the publication issue, and the agents not getting back to me, including the agency that a) definitely received it because I got an auto-response, and B ) claims to reply to everyone within three months including all rejects. That one was from six months ago. Ah, well: solution = apply to more places. Solution always = apply to more places, and stop obsessing so much.

[Kaldaur]

How goes everyone's projects?

I'm currently going through a second round of edits on my manuscript and getting ready for a send-off in two weeks to my first batch of agents.

[SamanthaofHodorsfield]

Still working on hammering out the first draft of one. One that is done, back to the rewrite of the other. Then it will be back to editing the first draft of the one I hope to finish soon. lol.

So yeah, simply put, I'm no where near ready for submission. Thought I was (with the one I'm rewriting), but I decided it worked better in 1st person, rather than 3rd, so I'm rewriting it. Hopefully after the rewriting and subsequent editing/polishing/etc. I'll be ready to go.

[henderson]

I am about 45,000 words into the first draft of the eighth story. I think it might be less than 90,000 words.

[Starkess]

I am nowhere. Moving is killer for my writing time and motivation, it turns out. I will be attempting to get some work done if I can, but I fear that until I move in to my new place, I'll be useless. Doesn't help that I am starting my new job and it's kind of taking over my mind and life for a little while.

[Francis Buck]

I am nowhere. Moving is killer for my writing time and motivation, it turns out. I will be attempting to get some work done if I can, but I fear that until I move in to my new place, I'll be useless. Doesn't help that I am starting my new job and it's kind of taking over my mind and life for a little while.

I actually had a boost of writing motivation when I moved a few years back. It's like the change of environment somehow ignited something within me. Of course it only lasted for like a week, but it was a good week.

[Ebenstone]

Stuck in the water right now. Busy with end of the year wrap-up. Grades are submitted, my classroom is clean, I just can't get traction right now in any project. I'm tired and run down from school. I'm also having surgery on Monday (long story that I'll explain at some time just not right now) and don't know what my situation is going to be.

[TrackerNeil]

Just the publication issue, and the agents not getting back to me, including the agency that a) definitely received it because I got an auto-response, and B ) claims to reply to everyone within three months including all rejects. That one was from six months ago. Ah, well: solution = apply to more places. Solution always = apply to more places, and stop obsessing so much.

The agents really are just another arm of the industry. You can't get to any of the significant publishers unless you have an agent, and the agents won't send anything to an editor they don't think the editor will like, so there's little functional difference between the two. I worked with an agent for more than half a year before realizing that she really wasn't working for me; she was working for the editors she had in mind. Argh.

[Derfel Cadarn]

Just passed 90,000 words. I'd hoped to finish the 1st draft on tuesday, the third of my 4 days off, but sunday and monday didnt work out. I scrubbed a lot of 38, i was running out of steam when i wrote it and missed out several things. Tonight after work i want to finish 38, write 39 and maybe even 40. That would just leave the epilogue.

Im on holiday for 2 weeks as of monday, down at my parents and the goal is to spend a lot of it working on the 2nd draft.

[Myrddin]

How goes everyone's projects?

Better, but I'm not moving as fast as I'd like. Still tinkering at my 4th draft. I've still 7 new chapters to write (chapters so heavily revised I've scrapped older versions) and 5 chapters with serious revision needed. Then of course comes another polish pass to catch whatever errors I've introduced while revising. So 12 out of 53 chapters are holding me up from sending this manuscript again into the fray.

I had an excellent writing session last weekend. If I can get a few more of those in the coming weeks, this manuscript should be final soon.

And yes, I'm as good as GRRM in estimating time to completion of my manuscripts.

[awesome possum]

I submitted my second anthology to the printer yesterday. About three more weeks and that puppy will be in print, which means I can start working on my passion project that's been on the backburner since November: a chronicle of the Chicago Bears 2011-2012 seasons. Not a novel, I know, but it is what I felt (and still feel) gives me the best chance of making money off of a self-published title from my company because sports fans are crazy.

I also recently reupped my yearly bonus, so I have two more books with which to play with. I'm thinking a third entry in my anthology, as a few local traditional publishers (namely IU Press) have hinted that putting out three anthologies shows dedication enough for them to take a look at it and possibly pick it up for annual publication. But I also have strong feelings about a pure zombie anthology, because even though they've kind of had their 15-minutes this decade, I still love me some zombies.

The other book I went a different route with: instead of a B&W book of any determinate length like the first couple, this is going to be a color book of 24 pages. Now I just need to figure out what to do with it. I have a couple children's stories bouncing around my head, one of which I think could be really funny, but I'm not a great artist and don't want something that looks terrible. I have a good friend who is a great artist but she's a huge stoner and never finishes anything she starts.

The Bears book demands work now, as I've only a template and all of 2011 to take care of, but it won't be ready til this next NFL season plays out so it's hard to get motivated. I really want to start on that color book.

[Starkess]

I actually had a boost of writing motivation when I moved a few years back. It's like the change of environment somehow ignited something within me. Of course it only lasted for like a week, but it was a good week.

I'm hoping when I actually get my new place set up I'll get that change of environment feeling...right now I'm living in a hotel and it's soul-sucking!

[Isalie]

I've actually come across a problem in my writing and it's the pacing, I'm too fast, so I'll try to flesh out with meaningful filler, oxymoron much?

[Starkess]

I've actually come across a problem in my writing and it's the pacing, I'm too fast, so I'll try to flesh out with meaningful filler, oxymoron much?

I have a similar problem. It's frustrating, innit? Because you try to add filler and you KNOW it's just filler and you don't want to, so you try and make it important, but if it was that important it would have been there in the first place...it's a constant struggle for me in my work.

[Isalie]

I have a similar problem. It's frustrating, innit? Because you try to add filler and you KNOW it's just filler and you don't want to, so you try and make it important, but if it was that important it would have been there in the first place...it's a constant struggle for me in my work.

Yeah I would much prefer to trim, but I''ve discovered that my subconscious is something of a Chekovian machinegun so the added bits feels ok I think. I'm very new to this so it's probably hubris talking. Still. ;)

[Zoë Sumra]

When I had a similar problem recently I realised that I could solve it by stopping neglecting my (rather important) subplot. Lots of filler that completely doesn't feel like filler because I set it up earlier. :)

[Francis Buck]

My strategy for when that happens (although this doesn't always work in certain cases) is to look through what you've already written, and try to locate things about the character in question that you haven't actually shown to the audience (or that you've simply told them in an insubstantial way). Once you do, try to find a natural spot to create a scene that would reveals this particular information. In my experience, I'll almost never have conveyed everything I wanted to before I actually started writing. The trick, of course, is trying to do it in a way that isn't forced or obvious (which can definitely be harder when you're trying to inject it into an already existing narrative).

[awesome possum]

My problem is that I am far too wordy. Not Robert Jordan wordy in that I describe everything in a room or what a character is wearing in detail or GRRM wordy in that I describe in detail the 30 course meal the characters are about to eat. Just wordy in that I end up using too many words to describe something simple; I just use far too many words to get across a point. Like this paragraph. I could have gotten the gist across in probably 25-50 words but here am I going on almost 100.

The result is often like a fast food meal. There is no nutritional value but you feel full anyways, if that makes sense. In other words, I sometimes struggle to get the point across while still providing a lot of reading material. I'm not even sure how that's possible, but there it is.