Part One: We Can't Fight Back
After months of work and brainstorming and actually trying to structure a storyline, I have finished part one of my manuscript. It totals out at approximately 30,000 words (~100 pages) and was written entirely in longhand on legal pads.
This is all with the help of my trusty Zebra F-301, a pen which I recommend purchasing if you like using good pens. I don't know where I got it. It appeared in my backpack one day, but I know the ink was cheap to refill!
At any rate, I'm very happy with how it all went down. I know there are still a few spots that need some work, but I think storywise I finally have it down. Knowing the full story, which I didn't when I wrote the rough hell-draft for NaNoWriMo 2006, sure helps alot. There's a lot of elements to the story, and knowing all of them enables me to string them in at all times, instead of just ambushing the reader at the very end.
There's a lot more work to be done. I started this re-write in September. That's about six months of working on part one alone. Granted, this was the hardest part, I think. This is where you have to rope the readers in and describe the world and get down all the exposition without just dumping it in their laps. To be honest, I think I accomplished this rather well. I had to do a bit of research, and a bit of practice writing to get a couple of scenes to work the way I wanted them to (I was stuck on a two page scene for about two and a half weeks. I still don't consider it done, but at least workable).
I could keep rambling about all the trials and successes, but I'll stop boring you. I'm just excited that I've done it.
Seven hours today! Seven hours writing about eight pages. I'm kinda shaky and loopy, as one often is from this kind of thing.
But I've finished. I think I'll get this all typed in before embarking on part two.
Huzzah!
-tom
sic luceat lux
This is all with the help of my trusty Zebra F-301, a pen which I recommend purchasing if you like using good pens. I don't know where I got it. It appeared in my backpack one day, but I know the ink was cheap to refill!
At any rate, I'm very happy with how it all went down. I know there are still a few spots that need some work, but I think storywise I finally have it down. Knowing the full story, which I didn't when I wrote the rough hell-draft for NaNoWriMo 2006, sure helps alot. There's a lot of elements to the story, and knowing all of them enables me to string them in at all times, instead of just ambushing the reader at the very end.
There's a lot more work to be done. I started this re-write in September. That's about six months of working on part one alone. Granted, this was the hardest part, I think. This is where you have to rope the readers in and describe the world and get down all the exposition without just dumping it in their laps. To be honest, I think I accomplished this rather well. I had to do a bit of research, and a bit of practice writing to get a couple of scenes to work the way I wanted them to (I was stuck on a two page scene for about two and a half weeks. I still don't consider it done, but at least workable).
I could keep rambling about all the trials and successes, but I'll stop boring you. I'm just excited that I've done it.
Seven hours today! Seven hours writing about eight pages. I'm kinda shaky and loopy, as one often is from this kind of thing.
But I've finished. I think I'll get this all typed in before embarking on part two.
Huzzah!
-tom
sic luceat lux