My body is rebelling against this novel.
My enthusiasm for finishing my last few scenes is dragging on the ground. And today, out of nowhere, I suddenly started *writing* *songs* with a vengeance. Writing songs is what I do, but I haven't had a wave of ideas this significant for a while.
Just when I need most to boost up my word count.
At this point, I will pretty much be done with a (rough, rough) first draft of this thing at 50,000 words. This new novel I want to start on might be considered a second draft of the first story (which significant changes in setting, character, etc.). Which I'm not sure is legal. But that's okay. I can break the law.
I am not sure the original idea is "novel"-length, really. I'll be able to wring 50,000 words out of it, but, edited and shined up, it'll probably be novella length (I'm doing a *lot* of padding).
Getting my 3208 words today was squeezing blood from a small, ornery, recalcitrant stone. Maybe Day 13 will not be realistic for finishing this thing. And perhaps I need to focus hard on this first story, not give up on it so easily, and try to add something in to bolster it. Hm. Dunno.
Decisions, decisions.
jules
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Hey Julia,
Don't worry about breaking the rules. I'd be more concerned about the energy you'll waste adding 17000 words of padding to the first story just to reach your goal. It's one thing if you think you'll end up with two distinct pieces, quite another if you want to start over but incorporate chunks of the original into the new one. In that case, maybe it's better to take off in a new direction, and just keep counting. At the rate you're going, you'll end up with 50000+ for the new part anyway!
Reread No Plot's chapter on week 2, if you have it. Chris talks a lot in there about following your muse away from where you thought you were going, which sounds like exactly what you want to do. The gist of it, if I remember correctly, is don't erase what you've done; just make whatever drastic jump is necessary and keep writing (and keep counting).
Take this for what it's worth. I don't presume to know your story, or how you want to rework it, well enough to offer any concrete advice.
Burt
6pm and still no post today?! I hope that's because you're inspired and writing like mad! Let me know how you're doing.
Burt
Post a Comment