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I have been working on my novel, but I've been having problems, still, with the end of the story. I've been away from the novel for a while, and my drafts are scattered over two computers and two notebooks, so I'm not entirely sure where I left off or where I was heading. Based on the notes and planning I have been able to cobble together, I was worried that the end wasn't big enough—it follows the plot to a logical conclusion, yes, but perhaps too logical. Conclusions, generally, can't be at the same pace as everything else, because no matter how much sense they make, if they don't have a sense of final action then they aren't fulfilling, and the story feels artificially truncated rather than intentionally completed. (Granted, I plan to end with a sense of "this is the end of the first chapter," because no story really ends, but the fact that life continues after this story concludes is no excuse not to give this story a strong conclusion.)
So in that line—in order to get my bearings and make sure that the climax has a certain sense of buildup and finality, without stripping away all logical aspects of the conclusion—I've gone back to the beginning of my manuscript. Devon dug out the drag that was on my laptop before we formatted it; it's not up to date with at the end, I think, but when I get there we'll grab the hard drive from my desktop and grab that bit. I'm editing it from the beginning, as of course it needed as a first draft. I'm updating it to include a few changes that I made latter on in, and I'm adding names (yeah, all of them—as I encounter characters and locations, I'm forcing myself to come up with names for all those without; worst case is, if I dislike them, I can change them later). I'm also keeping notes of each plot point in order, so that I have a list of what happens, with whom, and when. This way, I can figure out when I reveal what information (and change as necessary), cull duplicate scenes, and make sure that the end of the book is an appropriate climax.
The good news is that the work proceeds well, I'm largely happy with the names I've forced out, and I don't hate what I have written so far. This is a pleasant surprise, because I was hesitant to come back to the beginning in case I decided it was all crap and I should just give up on it forever. It's not. It needs polishing, but it's a rough draft. I don't expect this editing to make it final, since I still don't have the end all worked out, but simply reading through it has done wonders for the text so far. It'll get trickier once I get passed the introduction, but who cares? I can write, and well enough at that, and there's plenty of reason to keep going with the book.
My new wordcounts will be based on how much of the text I've gone back through, although I am also sitting on about 4000 handwritten words that need to get typed up for the end of the current manuscript.
Wordcount: 3077
Previous Accomplishments: Notes for possible conclusion; went through first two scenes of manuscript.
Upcoming Challenges: It gets messier as the plot gets going, so my readthrough will get tougher.
Currently Reading: The Orphan's Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice, Catherynne M. Valente; Marlfox, Brian Jacques; Lady Macbeth, Susan Fraiser King.
So in that line—in order to get my bearings and make sure that the climax has a certain sense of buildup and finality, without stripping away all logical aspects of the conclusion—I've gone back to the beginning of my manuscript. Devon dug out the drag that was on my laptop before we formatted it; it's not up to date with at the end, I think, but when I get there we'll grab the hard drive from my desktop and grab that bit. I'm editing it from the beginning, as of course it needed as a first draft. I'm updating it to include a few changes that I made latter on in, and I'm adding names (yeah, all of them—as I encounter characters and locations, I'm forcing myself to come up with names for all those without; worst case is, if I dislike them, I can change them later). I'm also keeping notes of each plot point in order, so that I have a list of what happens, with whom, and when. This way, I can figure out when I reveal what information (and change as necessary), cull duplicate scenes, and make sure that the end of the book is an appropriate climax.
The good news is that the work proceeds well, I'm largely happy with the names I've forced out, and I don't hate what I have written so far. This is a pleasant surprise, because I was hesitant to come back to the beginning in case I decided it was all crap and I should just give up on it forever. It's not. It needs polishing, but it's a rough draft. I don't expect this editing to make it final, since I still don't have the end all worked out, but simply reading through it has done wonders for the text so far. It'll get trickier once I get passed the introduction, but who cares? I can write, and well enough at that, and there's plenty of reason to keep going with the book.
My new wordcounts will be based on how much of the text I've gone back through, although I am also sitting on about 4000 handwritten words that need to get typed up for the end of the current manuscript.
Wordcount: 3077
Previous Accomplishments: Notes for possible conclusion; went through first two scenes of manuscript.
Upcoming Challenges: It gets messier as the plot gets going, so my readthrough will get tougher.
Currently Reading: The Orphan's Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice, Catherynne M. Valente; Marlfox, Brian Jacques; Lady Macbeth, Susan Fraiser King.
