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Hit the 40,000 word mark last night. More than halfway there!
The problem with writing a first draft in just over a month is that while it's very useful for reassuring you that the story does, in fact, hang together, there is a certain discouraging aspect of turning out substandard prose day after day after day.
I keep thinking wistfully that if I could just write one really good -- not perfect, but good -- scene, something that makes me feel happy and proud to have written it... but there are no such scenes in the book, not yet. No time for polishing at this stage, no chance to go back and verify that the pacing's right and the emotions ring true and the mood is consistent, none of the things that elevate a novel from Action to Story. As Laurie King put it in her recent blog entry on revision (which is excellent by the way, and well worth reading), the first draft is really more like a 300-page outline. And useful as they may be, nobody really wants to read an outline.
So here I go again, off to the sausage grinder, squishing out words. Yay?
The problem with writing a first draft in just over a month is that while it's very useful for reassuring you that the story does, in fact, hang together, there is a certain discouraging aspect of turning out substandard prose day after day after day.
I keep thinking wistfully that if I could just write one really good -- not perfect, but good -- scene, something that makes me feel happy and proud to have written it... but there are no such scenes in the book, not yet. No time for polishing at this stage, no chance to go back and verify that the pacing's right and the emotions ring true and the mood is consistent, none of the things that elevate a novel from Action to Story. As Laurie King put it in her recent blog entry on revision (which is excellent by the way, and well worth reading), the first draft is really more like a 300-page outline. And useful as they may be, nobody really wants to read an outline.
So here I go again, off to the sausage grinder, squishing out words. Yay?
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Date: 2007-04-25 04:10 pm (UTC)Just think, though. Rewriting will be so much more satisfying, having gone through this. (At least, so I've found.)
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Date: 2007-04-25 05:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-26 04:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-25 04:39 pm (UTC)It looks awful... And yet, given enough time and polishing, you can get a convincing final version out of it all.
Be strong!
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Date: 2007-04-25 05:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-25 04:56 pm (UTC)I've got a much shorter outline, and I hope to have it finished by the time the FDE pulls into the depot. Still, I can't guarantee this new track I'm taking is the *perfect* approach.
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Date: 2007-04-25 05:40 pm (UTC)But I really appreciate the encouragement -- thanks so much. And yay for you, too! I think this FDE thing has been great and I hope it continues.
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Date: 2007-04-25 05:38 pm (UTC)The good side though, is that, as you mention, you'll have an outline and the revising process should be easier.
Good luck!
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Date: 2007-04-25 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-25 06:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-26 05:39 am (UTC)