I'm at that point in my WIP when I am a third of the way through writing the first draft and I can't believe I will ever finish this sucker. I've finished novels before and I know I will most likely finish this one too but its hard to imagine right now. Its like knitting a fancy sweater with three cables across the front where the chance of dropping a stitch is high. Can I bring all the threads of the story together in a satisfying way? That is the plan and I just need to keep at it.
I do not go through a lot of drafts, finishing the story first and then revising again and again. I tend to fix as I go which probably goes part of the way to explaining why I am a little slower at writing compared with some of my peers. So at least when I do make it to the end I will not have a long period of rewriting ahead (unless some prospective publisher demands it). Having said that, my last novel (the sequel to Jack the Viking) took a looooonnngg time to write because twice before i'd even got to the end of the story I ripped out a decent chunk of words and started again from about a quarter of the way in (first 10,000 words, the second time around 20,000). Then when it was complete I did the edit on the first novel which meant more changes to the sequel. This may have cured me of writing series, trilogies or sequels ever again. I would be more inclined to write them if the story came to me as a two- or three-parter in the first place. Still, i would never say never to anything cos thats just silly. I does not like to eat my words, especially that 'never' word - it is not tasty. It was also comforting to know I could look criticly enough at my own work to see when it was going wrong (with a little help from a friend at one point) and to be able to fix it. These are important tools in the tool kit of the writer and I'm thrilled i've been able to add them to mine.
No comments:
Post a Comment