Writing Notes

They say that you don't ever learn to write novels, you learn to write this novel.

So here's now it's going.

The manuscript is presently 75,815 words long, and in a state which I would characterize as "rough draft".  It has a starting and a middle and an end, and all the characters, and a reasonable sequence of plausible events.  It has a hole in the middle but I don't like that part anyway, it all has to change, so I'm not going to worry about it.

I set myself the target of 7000 words per week and I was able to get that done pretty consistently until the draft was done.  That complete, I took last week off and watched Doctor Who.

I am planning on two more revisions before it will be ready to show to people.

This week I have been reviewing and planning structural changes.  The characters start off as an idea, and as you write, you find their voice, and pieces of their background intrude, and sometimes don't make sense.  Plot starts off going in one direction but good plot is rooted in character, so as the characters change, so too does the plot.  Motivations reveal themselves and things sometimes don't go where you expect.

Fixing these things are structural changes.  Big pieces of machinery need to be moved about.

John Rogers defined Plot as three essential elements:

1. What does he want?
2. Why can't he have it?
3. Why do I give a shit?

Part of this revision is going to be to fix plot problems.  To an extent these are logical problems, but mainly they are character problems.  What do the characters want, and why can't they get it?  How do the elements of the plot tie in to their histories and personalities?  Why do the events that happen come to bear personal consequences for the protagonists?  What bits can I make more relevant and personal and consequential to the characters, and what bits should fade away?

Once I have a good list of what needs to change, I can go through the document and rewrite it.  I expect I will end up about 80,000 words at that point, and with no hole in the middle.  The beginning won't change, but the end might change a little.  

That done, another review will be required.  This one will be style and tone.  Some of the work is well written, engaging and solid and elegant, but some of it isn't.  To do this review I'll print out the whole thing and then read it in dead tree format, with a red pen in hand, making cruel and bitter annotations.  Then I'll go back to the soft copy and fix everything that irritated, annoyed, shocked, horrified and depressed me.

That done, I will be left with a reasonably good draft that is ready for the outside world.  I have a short list of people I will ask to read it, people who cover a spectrum of interests and perspectives, who can be trusted to give me good, honest feedback.

All the writing up until now has been a lot of fun.  Unfortunately, this is where the heavy lifting comes in.