So Freakin' Close

[markteppo]

Twenty-four pages left. 2 - 4. Mostly minor line edits with one or two holes to fill, and HEARTLAND will be wrapped. Man, talk about close.

I do love Maureen McHugh's chart on Writing The Novel. So true. So very true. I'm discovering there's a corollary that comes with the second draft

Comments

[jeffsoesbe]

INSERT PARAGRAPH HERE THAT SUMS UP THE THEMATIC THRUST OF THE BOOK, and TIE UP LOOSE ENDS HERE

I must have overslept and missed this lesson at Viable Paradise, because I don't remember this at all...

But, damn, I like the way this sounds. I'll have to use it more often!

- yeff

[markteppo]

It was the secret Novelist meetings we held every night after you went to sleep. ;)

[jeffsoesbe]

I tried to stay up late, I really did. But someone said "secret novelist meeting" and I just instantly crashed in fear and avoidance.

Funny thing is, Maureen McHugh's chart applies just as much to a short fiction piece. Just a shorter time scale. Right now, I'm past "sucks and boring" on the latest story and the dark night is deep and dark indeed...

[markteppo]

I wondered if it did. Typically short fiction seems so short (to a novelist) that, for me, it's not the same sort of mental investment and this crisis doesn't loom as large.

[jeffsoesbe]

I tend to call it the "Pit of Despair" instead of the "Long Dark Night", but the technology is similar.

Fun point about short fiction: You can be in the Pit with multiple works at once! I think I'm at Pit or post-Pit "wow, a lot of this sucks" on at least a half dozen stories if not more. Try *that* with your novels! :-)