The Rogue Workshop
This past weekend I attended the 2015 Southern California Writer’s Conference at the Crown Plaza Conference Center in San Diego. The conference was a blast as well as instructional and productive. I met some great authors and authors-to-be.
This is the second writer’s conference I’ve attended. The first was the La Jolla conference in November at the Paradise Point Resort last year. There are many similarities in the two conferences, including workshops, lectures, read and critiques, advance submissions for readers, guest speakers, and late night marathons for the hardy. The Friday night no-host cocktail reception and the Saturday night banquet are also staples of both.
One immediate difference in the two conferences is the venue. Last year's Paradise Point Resort is a far better choice than the Crown Plaza by a wide margin. The meeting rooms at the Paradise Point Resort are smaller and more intimate, nestled together with short, outdoor pathways through beautiful landscaping. Inside the meeting rooms, the U-shaped or squared table arrangements encouraged conversation and participation. By contrast, the Crown Plaza meeting rooms are large, high ceiling chambers that echoed and made it hard to hear. We sat at large round tables intended for dining, not meeting. Unless you were able to grab one of the 8-10 seats at the teacher’s table, it was a challenge to hear and participate. Second, the meet and greet socials were right outside the meeting rooms and our conference wasn’t the only group using it. Since we were encouraged to move freely between different meeting rooms, doors were routinely opening and closing, flooding the room with noise each time. Third, the conference seemed to be put together at the last minute. We were encouraged to go to the conference website to review and select the many sessions available, which I did. Yet, right up to the day of the conference, a good percentage of the sessions listed only a title with no description of any kind as to what was being taught.
On the very positive side, there were some great sessions and excellent teachers. I also learned a lot just by talking and listening with those like me who are still learning, and share the same dream of being a writer. The best presentation of the conference was by Ara Grigorian, a commercial fiction writer who has only recently written his first novel. He taught me a lot about the pacing of a novel, and he did it in a very entertaining way that I will remember long after the conference is over. Ara took clips from several movies, primarily ‘Notting Hill,’ and used scenes from the movies to show the ebb and flow of act one to act three that must exist to keep the readers attention to the end.
I also want to acknowledge two more people who impressed me. I sent a request to the conference for an advance read and critique from author Matt Pallamary, and met with him on Saturday afternoon to go over the fifteen pages I submitted from the first chapter of my novel, The Majik of Spark. I was excited to see that there were lots of red ink spilling across those pages. To me, it meant that I would be learning a lot as we went through it. I did, and that short session is going to drive the self editing phase of the novel. I also want to acknowledge author Bethany Lopez. I had never met her before, but we have an affinity in that both of us served and retired from the military while still pursuing our dream of writing. In addition to being an inspiring guest speaker, she led a number of classes which I attended. During a session about secondary characters, we got into a spirited back and forth about happy endings and untimely deaths. Bethany, being the true optimist, roots for happy endings, and her fine novels deliver just that. I looked more for high drama, killing off a key player so that a secondary character would have to rise to the challenge. When she pointed out that I done similar deadly deeds twice more, I realized that maybe I should take a more serious look at “happily ever after.” Uh, not. Seriously, the debate made me think, and I will be reviewing the romantic angle that is present but somewhat buried in the book.
Finally, I come to the Rogue Workshop. I’m not quite sure how to describe it. On the surface, the workshop is a group read and critique where anyone can ask to read their work (or have their work read). After the reading everyone else in the room gets to critique the work. The only rule is that the critique must be about craft, not content. I’ve never been to one of these, and I was pretty nervous about it. Not only was I expected to have my own work critiqued, I was expected to critique the work of others as well. It’s not a format that I am comfortable with, but something Bethany said during her speech on Friday helped me get over my jitters. I don’t remember the specific quote, but it was something like “attack what you fear, and believe that good will come of it.” By the way, did I mention that Bethany is a very positive minded person?
Back to the rogue workshop. I went to it. There were about fifteen people in the room, led by a young lady who I have unfortunately forgotten the name of. She is a fine reader and made everyone feel comfortable sharing our work and placing ourselves under the critical eye of our peers. The read and critique began at 9pm, and our last read and critique ended at 2:40am in the morning. Several of these sessions go on at the same time and there is a bit of a competition to see who grinds it out the longest. We outlasted them all. I was exhausted but pleased, and even a little exultant (that might have been the sleep deprivation). It was the highlight of the conference for me.
With the conference over but still fresh, my next task is a self edit of the novel to tighten up the prose and improve the pacing of the story. Matt Pallamary showed me in just 15 pages how much work that is going to be. Then, if I go the “traditional route” I am looking at having to find an agent, an editor, and a publisher. Each will evaluate whether to take a chance on me. If I get that far then I’ll need beta readers, formatters, cover artists, social network planning, and a growing list of things that must come together to actually become a published work. Finishing the novel is only the first step.
I’m a long way from the finish line, but I’m most definitely in the race.
Monday, February 16, 2015
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
The Finishing Touches
The Finishing Touches
I wrote "The End" for the manuscript "The Majik of Spark" on January 12th, 2015. The manuscript in my hands now tells a much different story than when I first began writing it. The story began as an extension of the online game World of Warcraft. The characters were based on my pixilated characters from the game. That was in November 2013 and I was participating in the annual National Novel Writer's Month (NaNoWriMo). That process helped me to write a second draft that removed all references to the game. The third draft was completed based on the great advice and information from my first writer's conference. From start to finish, from first draft to third, it took fourteen months of work to complete.
The manuscript is one hundred and thirty-two thousand words long (132k) and is composed of thirty-four chapters. The grueling process of editing the manuscript now begins in earnest. Frankly, I haven't done a very good job of preparing the groundwork needed to get the manuscript to an agent, so that will be my focus in the time I have. The editing work will also continue.
The Southern California Writer's Conference begins on 13 February, 2015. I am attending the entire conference. With a loving nod to my wife, who paid for the hotel reservations as a Christmas present, I will also be staying at the hotel for the duration of the conference. For three days I can focus 100% of my time into my writing and the conference.
I have four weeks to be ready.
I wrote "The End" for the manuscript "The Majik of Spark" on January 12th, 2015. The manuscript in my hands now tells a much different story than when I first began writing it. The story began as an extension of the online game World of Warcraft. The characters were based on my pixilated characters from the game. That was in November 2013 and I was participating in the annual National Novel Writer's Month (NaNoWriMo). That process helped me to write a second draft that removed all references to the game. The third draft was completed based on the great advice and information from my first writer's conference. From start to finish, from first draft to third, it took fourteen months of work to complete.
The manuscript is one hundred and thirty-two thousand words long (132k) and is composed of thirty-four chapters. The grueling process of editing the manuscript now begins in earnest. Frankly, I haven't done a very good job of preparing the groundwork needed to get the manuscript to an agent, so that will be my focus in the time I have. The editing work will also continue.
The Southern California Writer's Conference begins on 13 February, 2015. I am attending the entire conference. With a loving nod to my wife, who paid for the hotel reservations as a Christmas present, I will also be staying at the hotel for the duration of the conference. For three days I can focus 100% of my time into my writing and the conference.
I have four weeks to be ready.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Where Did the Time Go?
Where Did the Time Go?
Our family just returned (14 November) from a round trip RV excursion from California to Virginia and North Carolina and back. On board the 27 foot Shasta Class C RV were myself and my better half, the family dog, and four cats. It was a fun but exhausting trip. I'll expand on the trip in a later post, but I wanted to get everyone up to speed on the novel, for which I have been very remiss.
The bad news is that my computer crashed just a few days before we left on our trip and there wasn't any time to get a new one. Now that I'm back home I've started getting a new computer up an running.The good news is that all of the "novel stuff" was backed up, so none of it was lost.
"The Majik of Spark" is on the final stretch. Nineteen Chapters are complete, with much of the initial editing completed. Chapters twenty through twenty-seven are also complete, pending editing. Chapter twenty-eight is giving me some trouble at the moment, but it is nearly complete. I have the last five chapters mapped out and I'm pretty excited about how things are falling together.
The goal is to have the novel completed and ready for pitching at an upcoming writer's conference scheduled in February, 2015.
Now, I just need to transfer files over to the new computer, get myself organized, and keep writing!
Our family just returned (14 November) from a round trip RV excursion from California to Virginia and North Carolina and back. On board the 27 foot Shasta Class C RV were myself and my better half, the family dog, and four cats. It was a fun but exhausting trip. I'll expand on the trip in a later post, but I wanted to get everyone up to speed on the novel, for which I have been very remiss.
The bad news is that my computer crashed just a few days before we left on our trip and there wasn't any time to get a new one. Now that I'm back home I've started getting a new computer up an running.The good news is that all of the "novel stuff" was backed up, so none of it was lost.
"The Majik of Spark" is on the final stretch. Nineteen Chapters are complete, with much of the initial editing completed. Chapters twenty through twenty-seven are also complete, pending editing. Chapter twenty-eight is giving me some trouble at the moment, but it is nearly complete. I have the last five chapters mapped out and I'm pretty excited about how things are falling together.
The goal is to have the novel completed and ready for pitching at an upcoming writer's conference scheduled in February, 2015.
Now, I just need to transfer files over to the new computer, get myself organized, and keep writing!
Friday, February 7, 2014
Bane's Existence
I wrote a short story called "The Hallway" back in 1991. Yes, that's how long ago it was. Over the years I worked on this story numerous times, but I never felt that I had it right. Publishers felt the same way, and it never sold. Like an itch I had to scratch, however, I kept coming back to it.
After yet another rewrite, I submitted the story for a read and critique session at the La Jolla Writer's Conference in November, 2013. I received some good advice, but I was deep into the writing of the novel, "The Majik of Spark" and "The Hallway" went back on the shelf.
Jump forward to today, almost three months after the conference. Work on the novel went gangbusters for awhile, but the torrent has slowed to a thin stream and I felt I needed to work on something else for a bit. I reached once again for "The Hallway."
The story has a number of problems with it, but the overall issue was that there was too little detail for the reader to get a real sense of who these people were and why they should care about them. I had spent a lot of time paring the story down to meet artificial limits according to "those who are supposed to know about these things" and for publishers who had word counts to worry about. I decided to let the story be what it wanted to be, and take as long as it needed to get there.
Yesterday I finished it. The story is now called "Bane's Existence" which I think is a clever title that matches the intent of the story. I'm always a little giddy when I finish a work. I'm sure there will be some editing on further reading and reflection. Right now, though, I am very happy with the results.
Our writer's group will get first crack at the story. In the meantime, I'll be looking for a home for it.
After yet another rewrite, I submitted the story for a read and critique session at the La Jolla Writer's Conference in November, 2013. I received some good advice, but I was deep into the writing of the novel, "The Majik of Spark" and "The Hallway" went back on the shelf.
Jump forward to today, almost three months after the conference. Work on the novel went gangbusters for awhile, but the torrent has slowed to a thin stream and I felt I needed to work on something else for a bit. I reached once again for "The Hallway."
The story has a number of problems with it, but the overall issue was that there was too little detail for the reader to get a real sense of who these people were and why they should care about them. I had spent a lot of time paring the story down to meet artificial limits according to "those who are supposed to know about these things" and for publishers who had word counts to worry about. I decided to let the story be what it wanted to be, and take as long as it needed to get there.
Yesterday I finished it. The story is now called "Bane's Existence" which I think is a clever title that matches the intent of the story. I'm always a little giddy when I finish a work. I'm sure there will be some editing on further reading and reflection. Right now, though, I am very happy with the results.
Our writer's group will get first crack at the story. In the meantime, I'll be looking for a home for it.
Monday, January 13, 2014
The Last Chapter Three
The Last Chapter Three
First of all, I want to thank all those who listened to my long reading of the first three chapters of "The Majik of Spark" at the writer's group meeting on January 2nd. I truly appreciate the encouragement and comments. I'm a bit squeamish at doing readings, but it was a lot of fun, thanks to all of you.
Since then I have spent considerable time on an extension to the third chapter, which I felt, in its current state, left too many things hanging. I didn't want that to complicate later chapters. I almost decided to let it stay undone while I worked on some big picture things, but since the chapter was already two-thirds completed, I ultimately decided to get it finished now. It took me three tries before I was finally satisfied. I will give a hint: Patient readers of my earlier version of the novel get closer to finding out what happens with Kalydice's locks. I also begin what I labeled the "Artifact thread" that turns up periodically throughout the story.
It may be awhile before I pen the next chapter. I plan to flesh out my chapter synopses into more detail so that the pieces interlock better. I hope that will reduce the amount of re-writing I need to do, which will ultimately speed up the work. That's not to say that things won't change. New ideas can always crop up. My characters always seem to have something to say about their role as well.
I'll be sending out Chapter Three for critique shortly.
First of all, I want to thank all those who listened to my long reading of the first three chapters of "The Majik of Spark" at the writer's group meeting on January 2nd. I truly appreciate the encouragement and comments. I'm a bit squeamish at doing readings, but it was a lot of fun, thanks to all of you.
Since then I have spent considerable time on an extension to the third chapter, which I felt, in its current state, left too many things hanging. I didn't want that to complicate later chapters. I almost decided to let it stay undone while I worked on some big picture things, but since the chapter was already two-thirds completed, I ultimately decided to get it finished now. It took me three tries before I was finally satisfied. I will give a hint: Patient readers of my earlier version of the novel get closer to finding out what happens with Kalydice's locks. I also begin what I labeled the "Artifact thread" that turns up periodically throughout the story.
It may be awhile before I pen the next chapter. I plan to flesh out my chapter synopses into more detail so that the pieces interlock better. I hope that will reduce the amount of re-writing I need to do, which will ultimately speed up the work. That's not to say that things won't change. New ideas can always crop up. My characters always seem to have something to say about their role as well.
I'll be sending out Chapter Three for critique shortly.
Monday, January 6, 2014
Androids Don't Dream Electric RTF
Androids Don't Dream Electric RTF
Yes, the title is a play on Phillip K. Dick's book "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" which became the movie Blade Runner.
I was thinking about my dead Windows XP backup computer. I don't actually need it except when the main computer is down. It was painful having them both out of action at the same time, but now that the main computer is up and running again, I haven't done anything about the backup.
I'm partial to desktop computers because I like having a specific place where I go to write, which is my little upstairs office. So, my first thought was that I needed to replace the dead desktop with another desktop. A cheap one I'd only use in an emergency. My second thought was that the only truly critical things I have on my computer is Jarte Plus, an enhanced version of Wordpad that I do all my writing with, and the files that go with my writing projects. I love Jarte's simplicity and excellent, easy to use features. It's Word without the Microsoft clutter. I can get email and Internet access from my Galaxy 3 android smart phone. Everything else I could live without for a few days - I just proved it.
Feeling a little bit like a dinosaur, though, I felt I should at least consider other options, those being laptops and tablets. I like the idea of having a device for writing that I can easily carry around with me. I could write wherever I happen to be. Such as when the Missus throws me out of the house to get me out of her way, or when I have to drag the dog off to the dog park that neither of us like. Ever had a dog that hated to be walked? Never mind, that's a different story.
A laptop would do the trick, but I've tried that in the past and I just didn't like lugging it around, or the heat it generated, or the time it took to boot, or how awkward it felt using it. Maybe I could find a laptop that I did like.
I am also considering a tablet. I'm immediately saying no to the Windows Surface. It has the worst of both worlds - the lousy Windows 8 O/S making for a poor faux tablet, coupled with an expensive, oversized laptop. I might have still considered it, except that it was more expensive than comparable tablets and it forces everything through the Microsoft website for all apps and programs. No thanks.
My wife has an Apple iPhone, and for Christmas I got her the iPad Air. She loves it. As for me,
I prefer an Android tablet since my phone is also Android. Not to mention the cost of switching from Android to the iPhone. I'm also a Kindle reader, which led me to consider the Kindle Fire HDX. Coupled with a matching keyboard (purchased separately) I though it might do the job of small, light and functional. It couldn't use Jarte, though.
Jarte, I was sad to find out, does not have an android or Apple tablet version of their program. There are specific reasons for this. First, Jarte is nothing more that Wordpad with extended features. Wordpad doesn't run on the Android. There is a Google app version of Wordpad that is new (still in beta) which might fit the bill that I could try on my phone. Google also has it's own word processor, free on the Kindle, called QuickOffice. I'll try that one out, too. There are some others, but most of them are focused more on simple note taking, not lengthy writing.
There is one issue in using any non-Windows tablet that surprised me. Just as I use a simplified version of Word for all of my writing, I prefer to save those files in .RTF format. That format is universally accepted, retains all formatting, but isn't bloated by all the gunk of .DOC and .DOCX. Unfortunately, Android devices don't support the .RTF file format. There are apps that claim to be able to read .RTF files, but none support writing to or editing those files. It's a disappointing mystery to me.
What that means is that any files I want to use on a tablet would have to be converted from .RTF to .DOC and back again. Conversion between the two is pretty good, but it's not perfect, and I worry that I would be forever tinkering with it.
However, before I get ahead of myself, I'll test the two apps I mentioned above: QuickOffice and Google Wordpad. And I'll take another gander at those Windows laptops.
Update: After all that research I ended up almost where I started. I purchased a Lenovo Ideapad. It's a 10.1 inch tablet that runs Windows 8. I went with the 64GB version that came with a slot for an SD card as well as a micro-USB port, plus the usual connections of a tablet PC.
I also got a case including a keyboard that also works smoothly. The tablet can be separated from the case/keyboard when I want to just use the tablet.
I love the tablet. The touchscreen is very sharp and responsive. I am quickly getting used to not having an actual touchpad, which is a plus for me. I miss my mouse, but if I get to pining too hard I can install one from the micro-USB port. I sent an email to the Jarte folks about compatibility with Win 8 and they were quick respond that their version 5 of Jarte Plus, which I have, already has touchscreen capability built in. I haven't tested that yet, because of a number of issues that always seem to come with a new device.
Some things have to be changed. I need to replace Windows Explorer with the Firefox browser. I need to strangle Bing and replace it with the Google search engine. I need to wring the life out of MSN so it will stop bothering me. I prefer AVAST! as my virus checker, but McAfee is already installed and working so I'll keep it - at least until it reaches expiration. I did get Microsoft Office running.
I still haven't been able to get my email flowing. Judi says that could be a blessing in disguise. She has her email coming into three devices: her home desktop, her iPhone, and recently on her iPad. I never liked getting email on my phone (texting is so much easier), but I do want to be able to get my email to the tablet. It may take a call to the Cox cable folks, who handle our mail server. Jarte is also installed, but I'm having a license issue with Jarte Plus. I have Jarte Plus on a thumb drive, which works just fine. However, it's awkward on the tablet because of the cable attachment to the micro-USB port, which is very inconveniently placed on the bottom of the tablet, right where the tablet sits on the keyboard case. Sigh. I'll figure it out.
I'm firing this off before I think of more things to add.
Yes, the title is a play on Phillip K. Dick's book "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" which became the movie Blade Runner.
I was thinking about my dead Windows XP backup computer. I don't actually need it except when the main computer is down. It was painful having them both out of action at the same time, but now that the main computer is up and running again, I haven't done anything about the backup.
I'm partial to desktop computers because I like having a specific place where I go to write, which is my little upstairs office. So, my first thought was that I needed to replace the dead desktop with another desktop. A cheap one I'd only use in an emergency. My second thought was that the only truly critical things I have on my computer is Jarte Plus, an enhanced version of Wordpad that I do all my writing with, and the files that go with my writing projects. I love Jarte's simplicity and excellent, easy to use features. It's Word without the Microsoft clutter. I can get email and Internet access from my Galaxy 3 android smart phone. Everything else I could live without for a few days - I just proved it.
Feeling a little bit like a dinosaur, though, I felt I should at least consider other options, those being laptops and tablets. I like the idea of having a device for writing that I can easily carry around with me. I could write wherever I happen to be. Such as when the Missus throws me out of the house to get me out of her way, or when I have to drag the dog off to the dog park that neither of us like. Ever had a dog that hated to be walked? Never mind, that's a different story.
A laptop would do the trick, but I've tried that in the past and I just didn't like lugging it around, or the heat it generated, or the time it took to boot, or how awkward it felt using it. Maybe I could find a laptop that I did like.
I am also considering a tablet. I'm immediately saying no to the Windows Surface. It has the worst of both worlds - the lousy Windows 8 O/S making for a poor faux tablet, coupled with an expensive, oversized laptop. I might have still considered it, except that it was more expensive than comparable tablets and it forces everything through the Microsoft website for all apps and programs. No thanks.
My wife has an Apple iPhone, and for Christmas I got her the iPad Air. She loves it. As for me,
I prefer an Android tablet since my phone is also Android. Not to mention the cost of switching from Android to the iPhone. I'm also a Kindle reader, which led me to consider the Kindle Fire HDX. Coupled with a matching keyboard (purchased separately) I though it might do the job of small, light and functional. It couldn't use Jarte, though.
Jarte, I was sad to find out, does not have an android or Apple tablet version of their program. There are specific reasons for this. First, Jarte is nothing more that Wordpad with extended features. Wordpad doesn't run on the Android. There is a Google app version of Wordpad that is new (still in beta) which might fit the bill that I could try on my phone. Google also has it's own word processor, free on the Kindle, called QuickOffice. I'll try that one out, too. There are some others, but most of them are focused more on simple note taking, not lengthy writing.
There is one issue in using any non-Windows tablet that surprised me. Just as I use a simplified version of Word for all of my writing, I prefer to save those files in .RTF format. That format is universally accepted, retains all formatting, but isn't bloated by all the gunk of .DOC and .DOCX. Unfortunately, Android devices don't support the .RTF file format. There are apps that claim to be able to read .RTF files, but none support writing to or editing those files. It's a disappointing mystery to me.
What that means is that any files I want to use on a tablet would have to be converted from .RTF to .DOC and back again. Conversion between the two is pretty good, but it's not perfect, and I worry that I would be forever tinkering with it.
However, before I get ahead of myself, I'll test the two apps I mentioned above: QuickOffice and Google Wordpad. And I'll take another gander at those Windows laptops.
Update: After all that research I ended up almost where I started. I purchased a Lenovo Ideapad. It's a 10.1 inch tablet that runs Windows 8. I went with the 64GB version that came with a slot for an SD card as well as a micro-USB port, plus the usual connections of a tablet PC.
I also got a case including a keyboard that also works smoothly. The tablet can be separated from the case/keyboard when I want to just use the tablet.
I love the tablet. The touchscreen is very sharp and responsive. I am quickly getting used to not having an actual touchpad, which is a plus for me. I miss my mouse, but if I get to pining too hard I can install one from the micro-USB port. I sent an email to the Jarte folks about compatibility with Win 8 and they were quick respond that their version 5 of Jarte Plus, which I have, already has touchscreen capability built in. I haven't tested that yet, because of a number of issues that always seem to come with a new device.
Some things have to be changed. I need to replace Windows Explorer with the Firefox browser. I need to strangle Bing and replace it with the Google search engine. I need to wring the life out of MSN so it will stop bothering me. I prefer AVAST! as my virus checker, but McAfee is already installed and working so I'll keep it - at least until it reaches expiration. I did get Microsoft Office running.
I still haven't been able to get my email flowing. Judi says that could be a blessing in disguise. She has her email coming into three devices: her home desktop, her iPhone, and recently on her iPad. I never liked getting email on my phone (texting is so much easier), but I do want to be able to get my email to the tablet. It may take a call to the Cox cable folks, who handle our mail server. Jarte is also installed, but I'm having a license issue with Jarte Plus. I have Jarte Plus on a thumb drive, which works just fine. However, it's awkward on the tablet because of the cable attachment to the micro-USB port, which is very inconveniently placed on the bottom of the tablet, right where the tablet sits on the keyboard case. Sigh. I'll figure it out.
I'm firing this off before I think of more things to add.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Cobbling it All Together
PS - The formatting looks awful, I know. I am having issues with blogger.com. Hopefully I will get fixed soon.
While it may not look like it on the surface, I've been actively working on the novel. In terms of real pages completed, I've cleaned up the first two chapters and added additional content to carry forward several threads that have been added. The plan is to read those two chapters during the next writer's group meeting. Most of the work, however, has been under the hood. Several main characters have been better fleshed out with detailed descriptions about their backgrounds and personalities. I also spent considerable time mapping out a chapter by chapter synopsis. That's been a lot of work, but I'm pretty happy with the initial results. The chapter synopsis is my guide. As a result of that work, I was able to tighten the story arcs considerably. The thirty chapters of the latest completed version of the novel has been compressed into eighteen chapters. I hope the changes will move the story along at a faster, more exciting pace.
The book doesn't end at the eighteenth chapter. I have synopses of new chapters nineteen and twenty completed, and I'm not quite done yet. Don't panic, though, a great deal of the original content is still there, so it's not like I'm re-writing the whole thing. Content has been moved around and unnecessary pieces have been set aside (ie, things that don't progress the story). There is a lot of writing still to be done, but a good bit of it is just tying the moved around pieces together and adding connections to the new threads I'm weaving in. I am currently walking through the main threads looking for consistency and relevance. One of my problems is that I've changed my mind a number of times about how some things work that are pretty critical to the story, and I have to nail those things down and get on with it.
Let me use a real example. One fundamental element of the story changes considerably. That change concerns Flea. The character, Flea, was never really fully defined. What is he, exactly? Currently, Flea appears both as a young man and as a musical instrument, a mandolin. The explanations for this phenomenon are lacking in the story, and that creates confusion. Taking a step back, I had to look at the idea of Song and it's effect when present and when absent. Song comes from the Well of the Worlds on Chord. It doesn't reach Spark. However, Song does exist on Spark. Flea is a creature of Chord, stolen from Caretaker Melody by Mela-nnee, and taken to Spark. Flea IS Song, which makes him both precious and dangerous. This new Flea does not play music or transform into a musical instrument. Flea is a sentient receptacle of Song in the shape of a young man. What more he might become will unfold over the course of the story.
While it may not look like it on the surface, I've been actively working on the novel. In terms of real pages completed, I've cleaned up the first two chapters and added additional content to carry forward several threads that have been added. The plan is to read those two chapters during the next writer's group meeting. Most of the work, however, has been under the hood. Several main characters have been better fleshed out with detailed descriptions about their backgrounds and personalities. I also spent considerable time mapping out a chapter by chapter synopsis. That's been a lot of work, but I'm pretty happy with the initial results. The chapter synopsis is my guide. As a result of that work, I was able to tighten the story arcs considerably. The thirty chapters of the latest completed version of the novel has been compressed into eighteen chapters. I hope the changes will move the story along at a faster, more exciting pace.
The book doesn't end at the eighteenth chapter. I have synopses of new chapters nineteen and twenty completed, and I'm not quite done yet. Don't panic, though, a great deal of the original content is still there, so it's not like I'm re-writing the whole thing. Content has been moved around and unnecessary pieces have been set aside (ie, things that don't progress the story). There is a lot of writing still to be done, but a good bit of it is just tying the moved around pieces together and adding connections to the new threads I'm weaving in. I am currently walking through the main threads looking for consistency and relevance. One of my problems is that I've changed my mind a number of times about how some things work that are pretty critical to the story, and I have to nail those things down and get on with it.
Let me use a real example. One fundamental element of the story changes considerably. That change concerns Flea. The character, Flea, was never really fully defined. What is he, exactly? Currently, Flea appears both as a young man and as a musical instrument, a mandolin. The explanations for this phenomenon are lacking in the story, and that creates confusion. Taking a step back, I had to look at the idea of Song and it's effect when present and when absent. Song comes from the Well of the Worlds on Chord. It doesn't reach Spark. However, Song does exist on Spark. Flea is a creature of Chord, stolen from Caretaker Melody by Mela-nnee, and taken to Spark. Flea IS Song, which makes him both precious and dangerous. This new Flea does not play music or transform into a musical instrument. Flea is a sentient receptacle of Song in the shape of a young man. What more he might become will unfold over the course of the story.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)