Quandry of the day
I've got nearly 40,000 words on "Still Gracie Mac." They're pretty good words, but I think they're in the wrong order. I think 15-20,000 would finish her off, but as usual I'm stuck in the middle. I kind of wanted to have this done by the end of the year so I wouldn't carry it into the new decade, but Christmas interfered with writing.
Here's the real issue: Holly Lisle is starting the next "How To Revise Your Novel" class January 2 (or there-abouts. Registration is January 2-9.) A finished novel is required to take the class. She doesn't say *how* finished. I'm wondering if I should sign up with a mostly-done-plot-challenged book. There is, of course, always the chance that inspiration will strike and I'll hit on the right combination of conflict. No matter what, if I sign up for the course, it will be a VERY rough first draft. I guess I can sign up for it and download the lessons, and then start them when I'm ready. Anyone who is currently taking the class have any thoughts?
UPDATE: It occurred to me later that I cut a huge piece of Rogue Pawn. In the original, Sieger didn't appear until almost half-way through the book. That gives me a nice sized piece of manuscript to work with. It's not something I'd publish, probably, but it will work for a learning piece. Problem solved!
Labels: Writing
Just because...
2Comments:
I'm taking the course now. Are you planning to use the cut portion of Rogue Pawn as a full novel? That was a large piece and almost a book of it's own. Alternatively, if you think you could write the last 15-20k of "Still Gracie Mac" in the next week to two weeks, then I'd strongly recommend going with that.
I've been a month on the first week of the course, but I'm slow and only doing it in short stretches every couple of days, so, at least in my case, I'm already way behind the class, but I'm working at my pace. I'm half way through my first pass on the novel. Holly says the first couple weeks are tough but they should smooth out after that, and that seems right from what I've seen so far.
Again, I highly recommend a strong push to finish the last bit of the novel -- even if you're partially sketching in the last part of the middle and the end then working with that.
Actually, the whole back story shakes out to about 86,000 words. It's 167 pages printed. I'm working with that, at least for now, because believe it or not, it feels like a manageable length, plus it's done and I've got distance between it and me. I shouldn't have any problem finishing the first read-through this week.
Post a Comment
<< Home