This week’s been a bit of a struggle, WIP-wise. I guess that’s what I get for being so smug about last week’s accomplishments.
My deal with myself is supposed to be that I will write every day—write new material without getting lost in revision and without scooting off into Google-land every time I have a question. The deal is supposed to be “No research, no planning, no revision, just writing.”
But I didn’t do so well on that this week. I did a lot of revision. I did a lot of planning. And I spent a heck of a lot of time in Google-land. But actual writing of new material, not so much. Only four days of actual writing for a total of less than 2500 words for the whole week. I console myself with the knowledge that I did work on a different story every day, and that most of that work was actually pretty useful.
Writing-wise, the first draft of Eddie’s story is now finished, and I’m truly happy with it. It was for this story that I spent all that time in Google-land (it’s set in Belgium during WW2), but the time spent was well worth it. The story wound up taking a couple of twists I wasn’t expecting (don’t you love when that happens?), and they set up some great potential for Chatón’s (his daughter’s) story, which up until this week I had barely even begun to think about. Now I can’t wait for her name to come up!
Planning: I did scene cards (a Holly Lisle tactic that my Muse usually balks at) for Emma’s story. Emma’s and Chatón’s stories are the only two I haven’t even begun drafting yet, and this is the second time Emma’s has come up in the past couple of weeks. Last time, I did a lot of character and story development, and now, with the scene cards, I think I’ve reached a point where the next time it comes up, I should be able to pound out a good couple thousand words on it–or maybe even get the whole draft done, who knows? I’m really excited about this one, too.
I also got some revising done on Amelia’s and Tanna’s stories this week, but not as much as I would have liked. Amelia’s in particular needs some serious cutting. So now that my Muse has decided she’s willing to do the scene card thing, I think I’ll go back and re-plot Amelia’s story and see what can come out and what just needs tightening.
And finally, John’s story underwent some serious re-conceptualizing this week based on another of Holly’s methods, the Shadow Room, which provided me with a couple of surprising conflicts I hadn’t originally planned on. Those are going to be fun to write, too.
So all in all, it looks like I’m still on track to have the novel’s entire first draft completed by September 15, as planned. I may be working at a snail’s pace, but slow and steady wins the race.
Looks like it’s been a pretty productive week after all!
melinda hagenson 