Off to Vegas, baby!

Time to party.

Planning the rest of the year

Now that I've finished Shadows and Dust, or the first draft at least, I find myself with almost too much time on my hands and an odd feeling that I'm forgetting to do something. It's been with me for long enough that I don't feel right not adding to it each day. So I decided to plan the rest of the year in regards to writing.

I'm using September as something of a break. I reactivated myself on Critters now that I have time again, and I just started critiquing a novel from there.

In October, I thinking I'll write a short story or two, just to keep my hand in that game. I've also been told that I should hear back from the magazine that is considering Percy Wallace by mid-October. If it's a rejection, I'll probably make a quick editing pass on it.

November is NaNoWriMo, and I'm going to participate again this year. However, instead of the 50,000 words required to win, I'd like to write a 75,000 word complete novel. That's 2500 words every day, which will be a good way to train myself to stretch my output.

I think that in December, I'll edit Shadows and Dust. Over two months will have passed since I finished the first draft, which hopefully is enough time for its freshness to fade in my mind. Then whenever I complete the editing, it's revision time.

Somewhere in all of this, I also plan to revisit Jack O'Lantern. I recently came up with a subplot that I think will help the novel a great deal, but it'll take almost a complete rewrite to integrate it. I've already written a basic synopsis for the expanded beginning, which should be enough to get it going.

It's going to be a busy autumn and winter.

DONE!

The first draft of Shadows and Dust is complete, at 88,554 words! It's a little shorter than I originally intended, and the plot bears little resemblance to what I envisioned at first, but I think the changes make it a hundred times better.

There's a absolute ton of editing that I'll need to do, however. The ending is pure deus ex machina, even though I planned for it for quite some time, and there's plenty of characters that I need to introduce earlier. Several scenes (at least) will suffer bloody deaths. There's tons of crappy writing, but that's okay, because it's a first draft.

It's done!

Halfway there!

Like the Bon Jovi song, I'm halfway there, and in many ways, living on a prayer: a prayer to complete the story. I've never undertaken such an ambitious project. Jack O'Lantern was ~50,000 words, and Shadows and Dust has now matched that total. The story of the first novel in this planned trilogy is nowhere near complete, however, and at times I'm staggered by how much more I have to write. But it's a good feeling, because I know I have plenty of plot and character development let to explore.

I recently looked over the outline that I threw together for S&D, and it's amazing how much it differs from the actual story that's coming out. The overall plot structure isn't changing...much...but the details, the how and why, bear little resemblance to what I originally planned. I can chalk that up to how my characters, especially Kale, the protagonist, has revealed himself--his strengths, flaws, and motivations--to me. Just today he threw me a curve when he added another group of people to his "hitlist," and it'll vastly change the way the rest of the story plays out. It's a good change, however, because it will enhance the first novel a lot, and make it stand on its own a lot better.

50k done, 50k to go.

Shadows and Dust goal

I currently estimate that Shadows and Dust will be around 100,000 words long, and I'm currently at 34,800. On 9/30, I'll be taking a trip to Vegas until 10/4, and I want to use that trip to celebrate the completion of my first draft.

This means that I'll need to average around 1,000 words every day. My current output is around 750-900 on the weekdays, and none on the weeknds. Obviously, I've got to step up my game.

Happy Independence Day!

Writing hurts reading

Here's a short list of things I've noticed about writing and reading and how they affect each other:

• Since I started writing that I can't read nearly as much anymore. Much of the free time I used to spend reading is now used for writing. It's odd, because I miss tearing through book after book.
• Something else that bugs me is that when I'm reading now, I'll notice things I never did before. I used to read for pure enjoyment, and while I still enjoy it, the writing tips I've picked up affect my reading. I notice "saidisms," overuse of adverbs, and plot contrivances. It's an interesting experience.
• To keep myself motivated while writing, I have to read. Reading books inspires me, even if they have nothing to do with my current WIP.