Correspondence from the Front: WIP Update
I’ve had several people lately go “So, uh, what are you actually working on?” I’ve been twittering like mad about my word count, and occasionally posting humorously poorly written excerpts, and very rarely talking about the actual content of the book. But I guess I haven’t ever really talked about what it’s about.
Well, if you’ve been wondering. . . . Sorry. You’re going to have to keep wondering. I’m just not really ready to broadcast it yet. A few people know every detail (Sarah, Amie) and a few others know the general idea (Kim, Ellen) but in general I’m still mulling. I realize perhaps it’s a bad thing to be still mulling when you’re 30,000 words into the piece, but there you have it.
I can tell you generally what it’s about, though. The working title is THE IRON WOOD, and that may or may not end up being its final title. It’s the first in a possible trilogy, and it is (for lack of a better term) science fantasy. It is also post-apocalyptic, and dystopian, and YA. It’s very different from my usual stuff, and I think that’s part of the reason I’m having so much fun writing it. Lark, my main character, is very unlike me--another difference from my usual work.
The shivery exciting part is that, right now in the story, location-in-the-world wise, she’s actually standing not far from where I sit writing this -- just several hundred years into the future. It feels almost like I should be able to see her, picking her way through the rubble, like a ghost that doesn't exist yet. Getting to write about what my world would be like then, given the circumstances that I’ve invented, is both exhilarating and totally terrifying. Because if I don’t get it right, it’s certainly not due to lack of knowledge or experience, as I’ve lived here my whole life.
Anyway, I’ve just recently finished act one of the story. It finishes with a tremendous bang (you’ll have to just wonder if that’s literal) and I admit I’m having some trouble getting going on the next act. I would love to hear some advice from you guys about what you do when you hit a stumbling block in your work. It’s not that I don’t know what happens, generally-speaking. It just feels like I’ve been holding my breath, writing this so frantically, and now that I’ve hit a spot in which to take a breath, I can’t find that gut-twisting tension again.
So, advice? What do you do when you need to reignite your excitement about a work? How do you brainstorm? What propels you through the less-exciting parts of your stories?
Well, if you’ve been wondering. . . . Sorry. You’re going to have to keep wondering. I’m just not really ready to broadcast it yet. A few people know every detail (Sarah, Amie) and a few others know the general idea (Kim, Ellen) but in general I’m still mulling. I realize perhaps it’s a bad thing to be still mulling when you’re 30,000 words into the piece, but there you have it.
I can tell you generally what it’s about, though. The working title is THE IRON WOOD, and that may or may not end up being its final title. It’s the first in a possible trilogy, and it is (for lack of a better term) science fantasy. It is also post-apocalyptic, and dystopian, and YA. It’s very different from my usual stuff, and I think that’s part of the reason I’m having so much fun writing it. Lark, my main character, is very unlike me--another difference from my usual work.
The shivery exciting part is that, right now in the story, location-in-the-world wise, she’s actually standing not far from where I sit writing this -- just several hundred years into the future. It feels almost like I should be able to see her, picking her way through the rubble, like a ghost that doesn't exist yet. Getting to write about what my world would be like then, given the circumstances that I’ve invented, is both exhilarating and totally terrifying. Because if I don’t get it right, it’s certainly not due to lack of knowledge or experience, as I’ve lived here my whole life.
Anyway, I’ve just recently finished act one of the story. It finishes with a tremendous bang (you’ll have to just wonder if that’s literal) and I admit I’m having some trouble getting going on the next act. I would love to hear some advice from you guys about what you do when you hit a stumbling block in your work. It’s not that I don’t know what happens, generally-speaking. It just feels like I’ve been holding my breath, writing this so frantically, and now that I’ve hit a spot in which to take a breath, I can’t find that gut-twisting tension again.
So, advice? What do you do when you need to reignite your excitement about a work? How do you brainstorm? What propels you through the less-exciting parts of your stories?