Grinding it out

* Words so far: 34,000
* Completed Chapters: 19 (mislabeling meant prior counts were incorrect)

With a four day weekend I thought I'd get a lot of writing done, but I'm really not liking what I'm writing at the moment. I feel like the train has come off the tracks and I'm having thoughts about different ways to go which would involve major re-writes on earlier parts of the story. I'm resisting that urge at the moment and making notes about those thoughts.

I'm just grinding out the plot movement to get the story to the end. I've got maybe three more major scenes to go and a whole lot of loose ends to tie up not to mention the climax to write.

I feel at the moment like the end is not going to pay off as I haven't set it up well enough. Also Jacob has become a fairly passive character for the protagonist over the last few chapters. I think this is because I am spinning out his story a little to allow Eva's life to move along. The chapters I've just written are filler and they feel like it.

I was hoping the story would have a comic edge that I just haven't been able to inject. There's far to much doom and gloom and I need to go back and add scenes and moments to lift the characters out of the darkness.

Additionally despite the initial impact of his relationship breakdown and the trauma it causes with Jacob's life, by chapter three he's completely over the break up with his fiance and it's all about his work life. That needs to be refined and fed back into the story as it develops so that I can clearly show the impact it has on his life.

Finally I wanted there to be a pivotal moment where Jacob begins to take responsibility for his life and putting things right for himself. Looking back I see that though I've got that moment the events that surround it are all in the same tone and that even towards the end of the most recent chapters he's still making serious mistakes that damage his life. It's not that he can't keep making mistakes but they need to not be constant and exactly the same as the ones he was making before.

As you can probably tell from the above, editing is going to be quite severe when I get to it. Right now I need to get the story done, then edits galore are coming.

Easier Said than Done

• Words so far: 30,000
• Completed Chapters: 16

Thank you Gimbiya for calling tonight and listening to me walk through the plot so far and what I had planned ahead. Not only did I get some additional plot ideas as we spoke, but I also found the motivation and direction to continue. Writing Fairy to the rescue.

Getting back too it

So it's been a while since I updated this blog and that's mainly because I haven't really been writing since I got back from the UK.

No excuses...
No reasons...
I've just been crap.

So here is my re-assertion that I will be finishing this novel asap (I've done a touch of editing (#@$%!) and added a little but I'm still only at 28,500 words for those keeping up with the numbers).

At the Kaboom! playground building (which you'll know about if you read my other blog), I met Gimbiya and in a very strange coincidence I discovered that she is also a writer, is part of a writers group and that they were looking for new members. I'm taking this as a hint from the universe that I should pull my finger out and get back to writing the novel.

I attended my first meeting with the group (Gimbiya, Nick, Jill, Cathleen and myself) and was pleasantly surprised given my previous experiences with such groups. Firstly they are normally bigger so that only a few people (i.e. the loud ones) get to comment, secondly they are normally far less keen to have their work critiqued.

We discussed a short story of Nick's that he is considering turning into a novel and approached it as a Q&A with the author so that rather than suggesting improvements we asked questions about why he had made certain choices and where he saw the work developing. It was an interesting approach and given the early stage he is at I think a good one. It was interesting to hear different people's opinions and questions and hear how Nick was thinking about the piece, particularly as he is taking it in a slightly different direction than I was thinking of.

I'm looking forward to the next meeting but know I need to make serious progress on Fixing as I've invited people to nag me about it, with that in mind let's see if I can add some more tonight...

Arrrgh -editor attack

• Words so far: 28,000
• Completed Chapters: 15

Another slow weekend. I mean honestly you'd think two days off work would be enough for me to get at least a few thousand words down, but no.

So I didn't get any writing done this weekend. I opened up the file at least six times, but each time I suddenly though of something else I needed to do - I even convinced myself that I needed to vacuum. There is something about the working week that is forcing the habit of writing on me.

Then today it got even worse as I found myself re-reading and making technical and artistic edits to the first chapter. It snuck up on me and at first I didn't realize what I was doing. I was half way though a paragraph and just changing a few words when I realized my editor had struck.

I'm moving ahead again now and I think I know what had me stuck. I'd reached a point where I felt like I was moving towards a conclusion, closing out the planned parts of the work aspects of Jacob's life, but it's much too early.

I want everything to come together at the end of the book, hitting him like a wave and lifting him. I've managed to throw another wrench in the works, but I need to keep in mind the different streams and ensure I'm not getting ahead of myself in any of them.

Evolution vs. Plan

• Words so far: 24,000
• Completed Chapters: 13

So much is evolving as I write.

The order of plot pieces is changing, new elements are creeping in along with new characters and the scope of the book is becoming wider.

So I'm pondering the the thought, should I be sticking to the plan or allowing the plot to evolve?

On the plus side for firm commitment to the plan; I get to know what is next and avoid any dead end story lines that will leave me with writers block and uncertain of the way forward and the last thing I need at the moment is a reason to stop writing. Several important work projects requiring intense focus and with short deadlines at my day job are leaving me a tired and drained. The wider scope is also requiring more research and detail checking.

The flip side though is that some of the evolving ideas are deepening the characters. providing more interest and (I think) contain some of the best moments so far.

I'm going to try to combine the two placing some limits on the evolution to prevent the 'dead end' possibility (which is the one I fear most), but otherwise I'll let my muse take me where she will.

Beer + The Weekend = Bad for Writing

• Word Count: 19,500
• Completed Chapters: 10

Going out drinking on Friday, while good fun, meant I didn't get any writing done in the evening. The hangover on Saturday meant I got very little done then either. Today has been spent trying to catch up and fortunately I think I've managed it - back to daily writing with the week ahead.

I'm about a quarter of the way through the plot and things are evolving as I work. This is a good thing as I'm getting to add to what I planned, but the overall story arc is remaining the same.

So far our protagonist Jacob has mostly been the victim of events, but he's just starting to head into the darkest part of his story. This is where he's making things worse with his own decisions which is a bit uncomfortable to write at times, but it's interesting to see how these events are changing him.

One major concern I have right now is that I'm not sure how sympathetic he is, but I'm hoping his growth will change that.

Regardless I'm determined - no editing yet.

Fixing

• Word count: 12,500
• Completed Chapters: 5

It's been a while, but I'm finally back to writing and my dream of becoming a novelist. I'm determined not to be looking back at when I'm in a retirement home somewhere and wondering if I could have made it - I'm going to find out.

The novel I'm writing is about a guy named Jacob (set in the real world[ish]) . It tells the story of how his life falls apart (love, job, home) and how he puts it back together again and is tentatively called ‘Fixing’.

It’s a bit of a departure from my desire to write fantasy, but the story I'd been working on for, on an off, around eight years was more of a collection of ideas and story starts that kind of got drawn together with no idea where I was going, so I'm putting it on the back burner for the moment.

This one is mapped out in terms of plot and while I’m sure it’s going to change and develop I at least have a thumbnail sketch of where it’s headed.

Currently I’m averaging about 2,000 words a day, largely plot movement and dialogue so I’m hoping to have the bones of the story down by early May. Then my first edit will be looking into adding some muscle and flesh, deepening descriptions, then adding the skin and making sure my vision for the characters is being shown. I'm determined to have finished draft one by end of June.

After that I’ll be sending out requests to a few people to act as my test readership and to get some feedback and help with additional edits, the cosmetics. Then hopefully I'll be looking for an Agent in early August.

Right now the major challenges are:

• Trying to suppress my internal editor. He always wants every line to be perfect as I write, but thinking about the staged approach (bones, flesh, skin, cosmetics) seems to be holding him at bay.

• Writing every day. Once I start it feels natural and I really love seeing the story unfold, but those first few minutes staring at the last line I wrote trying to figure out where to go next make it very tempting to take a break.

For those of you on my facebook, apologies that most of this is a repeat of the comments I bloged there - I will be keeping my ongoing blogs at http://writefixing.blogspot.com/.

Making Progress

• Words so far: 10,500
• Chapters so far: 4 and a bit

Sticking to a pattern and writing every day is tough, but non-editing is harder.

I keep wanting to go back and improve bits, but so far I’m resisting and it’s paying off in progress.

I’ve found the little black and red notebooks that I used to carry to capture story ideas and notes that come to me at odd moments.

It was depressing to find the most recent notes, just a couple of pages, were from back around this time last year (the ones prior to that were four years old).

These books (I have about 5 full ones among my writing stuff) used to be my lifeline, something I always had with me to make sure ideas didn’t get lost.

Despite the time that’s gone by, hopefully I’m older, a little bit wiser and have some more experiences bottled up to give to my writing.

In any case the last one was only half full and it’s now back in my pocket where it belongs.

Writing Again

• Words so far: 7,000
• Chapters so far: 2 and 3/4

At last I’ve got back to writing.

I’ve started a new novel which is based in the here and now and about a guy called Jacob whose life goes to pieces after he breaks up with his fiancé. Bits of it are based in my experiences but I’m taking it to some extremes and to different places as well.

The fantasy story I was writing hasn’t been added to in a long time and I’m not sure where it’s going, so I’m putting it on the back burner for now till I can figure out what’s happening with it.

I managed to get the whole of the new novel (tentatively called ‘Fixing’) plotted out – this has always been a problem in the past as I’ve written 5 or 6 chapters then been left with no idea where I’m going.

I’m also trying to suppress my internal editor who always wants every line to be perfect as I write – that’s what editing is for!

I’m absolutely determined to have the first draft finished by end of June – enough messing about with being a novelist – I’m going for it!

So for all of you who bother to read this - please encourage, badger and nudge me to keep you updated and to keep me writing.

Once I have a first draft I’ll also be looking for some test readers, so if you’re interested and can be honest with me about where it needs improvements without tearing the whole book apart let me know – I guarantee to add you in the ‘Acknowledgements’.

I wont be sending out any of it till the first draft is done, so please don’t ask - I’d be to tempted to act on any comments.

Wish me luck!