Where are you? (in your novel)

JFitchett92 said:

Lots of grey characters and red herrings in this MS.

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My favorite kind of story

JFitchett92 said:

Lots of grey characters and red herrings in this MS.

Click to expand...

Very cool! This sounds great.

My characters have just gotten through talking to a bog woman, who's helped them figure out how to tackle the treasure hunt. My MC was also hoping she knew of a cure to save her brother, but no dice.

I think I've breached the halfway mark now in my outline!

On my last editing pass. It’s in good shape, just a few comma placement issues. I’m excited!

Pride fallen again. I'd thought I'd got Lily's Vol. #1 nearly complete, needing only a little dusting, a little smoothing, a little shake.

Nope.

Writers' group unanimous: I have got to write that super-critical scene I'd skipped in favor of showing its aftermath. Won't do. Readers cheated. Tempers flaring. (But that's good isn't it, that they should care so much?)

Anyway, where I am in my novel is writing de-novo the scene in which Lily speaks for the first time since she went mute. From Lily's POV. Without repeating what's going to be reported later by her First Auditor. Without losing Lily's snarky little opinionated voice even as she manipulates this moment that will effect her forever.

No sweat.

Still drafting. I'm finishing chapter eight.

40,000 word mark now! : D

At the 45,000 word mark! And this thing was only on pace to be about that long before I wove in an additional complication, so I'm thrilled. The agent I'm courting wants at least 60K, and I'm not sure if I can reach that, especially with the first draft...but if it's close, I hope she'll still consider it. My last big project (a novella) grew by 3,000 words in revisions, so perhaps that will happen here, too.

65,000 words in!

You're a powerhouse, Daniel!

On my final edits but otherwise completed with 120,000 words. That leaves me room to cut every one of those redundant sentences and to shorten all that hokey stuff into something more professional.

All done.
Submitted 'Departure' to Amazon this afternoon. Should be live within the next 3 days. Ordered 5 author copies for my beta readers (who helped me a bunch).

flowerburgers said:

You're a powerhouse, Daniel!

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Thank you kindly flowerburgers!

Thought I was through with the first draft. Now I'm rethinking one of the chapters in the POV of the, for want of a better word, antagonist. The guy is not really a monster, never mind he killed his sister's horse and her puppy and tried to rape her. He is just a very troubled young man. However, in this one spot, I think I've dragged him back across the line of decency too far and made him too sympathetic a character too soon. Now that I think of it, this seems to be a pivotal point in his journey, and here I was thinking of it as a means to explain what he was doing before he rejoins the rest of the characters.

Haha. Thanks for listening. This was very helpful.

I think I'm about 3,000 words away from finishing...and I'm totally stuck! It's a short book--I'd be surprised if it goes over 50,000 words--but it's still the longest thing I've ever written, so I'm pleased. I got stumped at the end of my last big project, a novella, so I'll take this in stride.

I've been feeling motivated to stop writing the current part of the book and jump ahead to a later set of four chapters in the story. The new scenes mostly take place in 1840s Philadelphia and Baltimore and are challenging, but fun to write.

Its my second attempt at writing. Around 90,000 words and currently the end of the first part of the plot. Cael is on to the second part ofhis first adventure. Trying to figure out whats next. Lots of proofreading for sure. Editor? Reader feedback? Publisher? Probably a litte of everything.

In Volume #3, it's 1938, and I've got Lily on B&O's Capitol Limited speeding toward Chicago. Yea! She's escaped Philadelphia.

I'm so excited for her, I've got to buckle down and govern myself. No skipping visual details. No forgetting to tie loose ends. No assuming emotions will be automatically understood by the reader.

Darn. And I thought this would be my carefree release.

Just started a new WIP so I'm at the very beginning. My MC just revealed to the readers the truth about her fire accident.

Halfway done the first draft.

Just starting a new novel. After two years of struggling I had finally realized why I couldn't get anywhere with the novel I wanted to write. It's because I was trying to get away with skipping over a huge part of the story.

The problem is that the inciting incident involves a family friend requesting help finding their adult child, who has run off and joined a religious sect that I had mentioned in a previous novel in the series. They can't get official help, but the protagonists used to work in that area so they might be able to help via unofficial means. Before I can start, though, I must explore this new character that I intend to introduce so that they aren't just a McGuffin. Also, I have plans involving this religious sect in subsequent novels, so fleshing out this character would give me a character with a low-level insider's view of the action.

OK, I finally got Lily's Vol#3 out of Philadelphia, tied up loose ends etc., and could have written The End...except, now I've got to go back and take care of the bad spots and gaps I left behind.

First up, the month of October 1937 when Lily, assigned to only half-day service, is no longer able to submerge herself in nursing, and can't stop worrying about her friends in the Spanish Civil War.

I've written this bit before, two different ways, and have yet to capture her angst as she pours over the New York Times in her vain attempt to understand what exactly is going on over there--while I show the reader what the Times tells about what is going on over there.

There must be a way...there must be a way...

About a third of the way into edit 4. I thought it was complete last time. It was not. Hoping to skim at least 10,000 words from the current 120,000, maybe more.

Just reached the start of act 2, which means the mage tournament is fast approaching! Unfortunately I don't have a clue about how it's actually structured, so I see lots of plotting in my future....

Guess what everybody.

I sent my first query letter off today. One.



Goal was May 2018. I'll take June 3rd as an honorable mention. I hope to proudly wear a rejection soon.

This post does not 'look' excited. A year ago ... I had not even started on my novel. I'm so excited. Very, very much so.