Show Time

127.

That's how many days I have left to finish my novel. Frightening. Yet inspiring.

It's time to take my writing and editing to an entirely new level. I have a sub-goal - a goal within my larger picture. My plan is to complete my entire second draft, fixing all the inconsistencies and writing the additional scenes, in the next 27 days. We're talking roughly a month.

Then, in the following last 100 days, I will be able to go over my work with a fine-tooth comb, have people read and critique my third draft, and finish it up before my deadline of December 31st.

That's the plan.


Novel update: Currently working on an additional scene - the death of a great, heroic character. I've even cried a little while writing it. Is that bad?

Alice Advice

"I give myself very good advice. But I very seldom follow it."

Alice and I have a lot in common.

Only two blog posts ago, I said that stories are not manufactured but, rather, discovered. I had an hour-long phone conversation with my writing cohort (which mainly consisted of me whining to her about how nothing made sense in my novel anymore).

She then told me to go re-read my own blog post, which said, "Whenever I'm struggling to make a plot line work, it's likely because I'm trying to force the story to go in a direction that it actually doesn't (or shouldn't) go."

Needless to say, I felt a little hypocritical.

Yet, after I got off the phone and for this past week, I've continued struggling to make a square fit into a circle. I laid awake in bed for, what felt like, an eternity. I went through every possible idea to fix my villian problem. With no results. Except a very sore brain.

The next day, I decided to take a break from the trials of my book. I'm just sitting there - contendly immersed in the world of Francine Rivers' A Voice in the Wind - when, out of nowhere, a lighning bolt of inspiration suddenly struck me. And I realized my one-line of dialogue had been there all along, simply waiting to be discovered. Oh, frabjous day!

All that to say, follow your own advice...if it's "very good advice". 


Novel update: Getting there... 131 days remaining!

Confusing Characters

One-line of dialogue can fix any story problem, or so they say. Like, "It's really great that we invented this thingymabopper to help us breathe under water." However, what people don't realize, is how many hours of strife and struggle it takes to get to that one simple little line...

Lately, I've been battling it out with my evil villian. I'm severely confused. What made perfect sense previously is complicated now. As I'm red-penning the later chapters, I realized my villian's been doing things that go against her true nature. Nice things. And last I knew, evil villians did not do nice things. At least, for nice reasons. If only I could uncover her true (and truly evil) motive for doing the nice things she's doing (and spell it out in one line of dialogue), it might all make sense and I could sleep better at night...

Another predicament I so kindly brought upon myself is...how to kill one of my main characters. I love him, and I'm not completely certain I can part with him. However, if I do part with him, I must do it epicly (I don't think that's an actual word). There can be no lame deaths in this novel. Oh, but I can't bear to watch...or write it.

Novel Update: Basically what I just said in the last three paragraphs... 133 days...

Born, Not Made

Stories are discovered. Not manufactured. Whenever I'm struggling to make a plot line work, it's likely because I'm trying to force the story to go in a direction that it actually doesn't (or shouldn't) go.

I hate to sound writerish... But stories are already there before I ever start writing them. The world of my fantasy is, to me, a real world with real people. I create nothing. I only enter that world, and bring back my treasure trove - in the form of nouns and verbs - to reveal that world to my readers.

My dear writing friend dared to ask the question, "Why?" A formidable question, indeed, to the writer. She asked what was the deep, driving motivation for my character Jak, and, as I thought for a moment, I could see his motivation clearly. It was already there. I just hadn't discovered it...until that moment. 

Novel Update: It's more difficult to track a second draft than a first, because I'm jumping all around the book. I have "red-penned" up to Chapter Seventeen. I'm going back and adding a few more scenes to give the characters, such as Jak, more depth. But I must hurry...140 days remaining!

Read! Read! Read!

My newest issue of Writer's Digest is a "top ten" treasure trove (try to say that ten times fast!) and I'm still discovering new wealth among its pages. However, some discoveries are painful truths. Number 5 of Sherman Alexie's Top Ten was, "For every 1 page you write, read 1000." Another writer said that if you fill yourself up with poems, essays, and stories, you will always explode with creativity like Old Faithful.

I used to wonder why I went through dry spells. I don't wonder that anymore.

I used to read all the time and, therefore, I used to write all the time. But reading takes dedication, time, commitment, focus. All of which, I lack at one point or another. But if reading means writing, I will do whatever it takes. To begin, I recently started reading Gone with the Wind. Not exactly within my genre. But a classic, nonetheless.

I hope it helps with my current writing drought...


Novel Update: "Red-penned" up to Chapter Eleven. 149 days remaining!