I've made it to that wonderful and saddening place writers reach once in a while- the end of the first draft. My latest work is finished and ready to edit later on. I've been here a few times, so it's not as frightening anymore, in fact, it's much more exciting that scary and that's the way it should be. By now I know what's expected of me and what I need to do to make sure the manuscript is as good as it needs to be. It's quite sad though, now that the 'writing' process of the novel is done and down the road, I've got to edit the damn thing before letting anybody else see it. Sure, I love editing, but I also love seeing where the story will go and I like surprising myself with where the narrative goes. So, would you like to know how this all came about? Good.
Where I Was
This novel, code-named 'ACICH' is actually a full on rewrite from my original manuscript. About a year ago, I tried writing this story, finished it, edited it and everything. But, come the end of the editing, I was so bored of the book that I couldn't possibly try my luck with sending it out for somebody to take a look at. I'd never felt that way about a novel before, but I was so sick of it. At first I thought it might be because I spent such a long time working on it and when editing, I knew where the story was going. It's like reading a book, over and over and OVER again. I don't care how much you love that book, repeated readings are going to grate on you after a while. Maybe that was part of it, but mostly, my novel held no interest in the story. I planned it all out so you had to wait until about halfway for the story to kick in. I like stories that don't hang around, and I found that out from editing. When I edited 'WIRCP', I never got bored of it. Sure, editing after a while can get a bit monotonous, but hopefully if you love your book enough, that won't matter. Comparing both editing experiences made me realize that 'ACICH' needed something else for it to work.
So, I decided to write it again. However, even though it retains the same cast, setting and title, the story itself is completely different. I only discovered the main crux of the story a day before writing the damn thing and I had to work around my plan. Mind you, loads changed from my plan and that can only be a good thing. I find that when you write a story, you're in the mind of the fiction a lot more than you are when planning and things jump out at you and better ideas come around. I just like having a plan as a safety net. These days, I'm relying less on them and more on my mind when writing. Still, I like safety nets. What can I say, I'm afraid of heights. I thought I'd hate editing, and that's only because I hated video editing at college and uni. Then I remembered: I love literature. I don't love media studies. Editing is awesome, I love linking inconsistencies and making the story wholehearted. Every writer has metaphors about editing and writing, I'll avoid those. We know that editing makes the story better and all first drafts suck. It's sad though that the writing is almost over. I don't know if I prefer editing over writing, both are fantastic, but after a month of resting the novel, I'm going to have a hell of a time leaping back into the story of 'ACICH'.
So, I decided to write it again. However, even though it retains the same cast, setting and title, the story itself is completely different. I only discovered the main crux of the story a day before writing the damn thing and I had to work around my plan. Mind you, loads changed from my plan and that can only be a good thing. I find that when you write a story, you're in the mind of the fiction a lot more than you are when planning and things jump out at you and better ideas come around. I just like having a plan as a safety net. These days, I'm relying less on them and more on my mind when writing. Still, I like safety nets. What can I say, I'm afraid of heights. I thought I'd hate editing, and that's only because I hated video editing at college and uni. Then I remembered: I love literature. I don't love media studies. Editing is awesome, I love linking inconsistencies and making the story wholehearted. Every writer has metaphors about editing and writing, I'll avoid those. We know that editing makes the story better and all first drafts suck. It's sad though that the writing is almost over. I don't know if I prefer editing over writing, both are fantastic, but after a month of resting the novel, I'm going to have a hell of a time leaping back into the story of 'ACICH'.
Where I Am
I started writing 'ACICH' in late May and now, in mid July, I've finished the first draft. My deadline for finishing the whole book is around the end of summer, but I suspect I'll run through autumn for a bit. Deadlines matter, but I won't part with it until I'm happy with it. If you're not happy with your work, you're not finished. I have further ideas for new novels, I'd like to finish another book by the end of the year and as long as I work hard, stay on time and keep my head in the game and all the other wordy nonsense you can think of, I'll finish it. These days I find myself caring less and less about how many words others write for their books. As long as your stories are as long as they need to be, that's fine. I like books that are around 250-350 pages, that's a perfect length to me. I don't really go for mammoth word counts, as long as the story doesn't outstay its welcome. Anyway, I'm incredibly happy so far with 'ACICH' and I'll go on record and say that it's massively better than the original write-up from last year. Unlike that one, the story now starts on the first page and not halfway through. Next month I start editing.
Good times.
Songs of the Week:
Good times.
Songs of the Week:
- 'Night Time' by The XX
- 'Heart Skipped A Beat' by The XX
- 'What Only You Know' by Dark Tranquility
- 'Uniformity' by Dark Tranquility
- 'The Approaching Curve' by Rise Against
- 'I Don't Want to Be Here Anymore' by Rise Against
- 'Best of You' by Foo Fighters
- 'Going Down' by The Stone Roses