Untrunking

So I'm up to about 20,000 words on the current incarnation of my book. Some of you know that I threw away around 40,000 words of this same book as all the events of that 40K words were events preceding the 20,000 I've written.

Technically speaking I could simply append the 20,000 words I have onto the preceding 40,000 as its simply a continuation. The reason I threw away the 40K was because I felt I had stalled and that my story really needed to start 20K words ago, not 60K. (Sorry for the math)

Heres my question. The concept of get right to the action was sort of what made me decide to trunk the original 40K. There was plenty of action ,don't get me wrong ,but at some point I decided the story was more about Mitch dealing with the loss of his wife and his descent into madness.

Now I've been going back and thinking about the original 40K. I could easily pare back the more boring scenes, and edit and slash it and reinsert it into the story.

I definitely have no problem "getting to the action" in the first 40K. The books opening chapter is the apocalypse. The 20K i've written now deals with the world as the apocalypse happened over a year ago. Its a character in the background, taken for granted.

So here is my dellima. If I start my book as I have it, with my current 20K words, my story is essentially a revenge tale as a man dips into madness over the loss of everything in his wife. Keep in mind, this 20K already STARTS with my MC being a killer, just not a nutjob killer.

If I start with the original 40K, its becomes an epic. Showing the transformation of the world itself and my MC himself. He goes from being a loving, caring husband to a survivor, to a recluse, to a man driven to find his wife who's been captured by slavers to... The 20K I've got now, which is the descent into madness.

Any of you guys have any advice? Revenge story vs Epic?

I should add that its also going to make the difference between a 75,000 word book and a 100,000 word book.

motormind said:

Why not try both: have the revenge story, while delving into the main character's backstory through flashbacks, dialogue and inner monologue. I wouldn't worry about word count too much at this stage, since it all depends on how much want to flesh out that backstory and how much you want to use it for tension in the present tale.

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Well I'm definitely not "worried" about the wordcount. I know for a fact I'll have at leats 75,000 words before editing even not counting the previous 40K.

I would really want to rip into that 40K though and pare it down if I decided to use it, so I'd say 25,000 to 30,000 when I was done.

What I'm really concerned with is the scope of the book. It really changes it from a tight, mental thriller to an epic, sweeping tale. The book would really be MUCH different if I included those preceeding words and I'm not really sure which I want to do.

Nothing will affect how I write the next 50K words though

bearilou said:

Speaking strictly as a potential (!) reader?

Revenge would work so much better for me. Getting into epics and watching someone's downward slide takes time and investment I may not have. Jumping in and seeing him at his worst, gasping OMG WHAT AN ANIMAL and finding out through the story what happened to cause him to tip would, I think, engender more sympathy from me. And make a more compelling tale as I see him as he is with flashes as to what he was and finding out as I read along what exactly happened.

If that's not what you were asking, then disregard all this and just put me down as waiting to read this (regardless of epic or revenge approach) when it comes out!

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No thats exactly what I was asking. I personally feel the story is more powerful when it opens the way it does now. In the first chapter of the book this guy who you don't know has just found the campsite where his wife is being held after 6 months of tracking her across the state.

When he finally gets to where she should be, she's already been executed and set on fire. He burns himself horribly trying to extinguish her body with a horse blanket and when he reaches down to remove her wedding band, her charred finger breaks off with it. Its visceral and hard hitting and I think immediately establishes sympathy for the character who you otherwise wouldn't know. Driven mad by this event he butchers the few surviving slavers with a machete.

Its a helluva punch to have in the opening chapter and I think nails the reader immediately. I think it makes you go, oh shit, what happened to this guy to make him do this? He must be sympathetic, right? I can't be rooting for a monster.

But there is a lot of really good stuff in the previous book too. It just... Ruins the suspense of the opening I list above if you see exactly HOW he got to that point.

I think both books could be very good, I'm just not sure which one I want to write.

PS. I don't know if it makes a difference or not, but his wife isn't really dead. That makes his slide into madness and psychosis all the worse, because he did it under the guise of getting revenge and when he finds out she was never killed it shatters his world. So does that fit better with the revenge story, or with the epic?

motormind said:

Well, like I said: you can still use the epic bit as a background for the revenge tale and refer to it through flashbacks and the like. Then you have the best of both worlds.

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That's what I've done so far. It is pretty interesting sprinkling tidbits of the back story in there.

Also, Maestro, you're right. I'm troubled by this.

Originally, I'd never concieved of the book as anything other than standalone.

The fact is though, as I've written it, I came up with ideas for sequels. Its an awesome world I've created and might really do well to have further adventures.

The revenge story however really should be standalone.

The epic version makes more sense for sequels.

Its really a conundrum!

maestrowork said:

So, make it a series like Dexter. Give him more reasons to kill and more storylines in that universe. But sprinkle in more and more back stories for each book? I mean, didn't Dexter's brother show up in season 2?

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No dexter's brother was killed in the season finale of season 1. Layla showed up in season 2.

FWIW, at the end of this book, he's got his wife back and he retires to the farm to be with the kids he just left.