Writerly rambles and life updates
I've had a bumpy few weeks, writing-wise, made worse by the fact that my Saturdays are suddenly eaten up by Stuff With People, which is bound to last until we get past this round of graduations in my extended family. I am now extremely close to 80,000 words, which was my initial goal for this novel, and it's not nearly finished.
78282 / 120000
I chose my new target by dint of noting down each scene or event I haven't written yet and multiplying it by 500 words. It's an extraordinarily unscientific method, but I like to see the little red line creeping farther to the right, and really the word count for the first draft doesn't matter given how much I'll probably have to cut during revisions.
This is really going to happen. It's going to happen more slowly than I'd like, but I'm going to finish this book. I've got enough of it written now that I think I'm out of surprises; I'm not going to have another session like I did with Chapter 8, which was not in the original plan, and I still don't know where it came from, though now it's one of my favorite bits. Okay, I should probably amend that--I'm out of surprises other than that Thing that needs to happen in the last three chapters. I'm still a little scared of my climax. Here's hoping it'll work itself out as well as the other trouble spots have done.
There's been some really interesting discussion of id-fic over the last few days, and it prompted me to list the aspects of this book that really hit my own personal kinks. To wit: academia*, age gaps in relationships, game-changing secrets that are referenced only obliquely for the first half of the book, revelations of love (romantic or otherwise) as a result of life-or-death situations, relationships as political tools**, and competent characters who care hard for each other.
I'm trying to work on a quick, two-sentence introduction for this book, because it'd be really nice, wouldn't it, to be able to answer intelligently when someone asks what I'm writing about. Just for kicks, I tried my hand at those comparisons that people love to use when talking about books. You know, like describing the Amelia Peabody mysteries as "Indiana Jones meets Jane Eyre". I came up with quite a few combinations, some of them very amusing, before settling on this one, which is both silly and fairly accurate:
It's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell meets Monstrous Regiment of Women via Eugene Onegin.
* This comes with the caveat that I am not an academic, and I think I have a tendency to idealize the academic world, probably due in part to my awareness that I'm not disciplined enough to actually live in it. My viewpoint character for this novel is academic-adjacent; while she's a better student than I'll ever be, she can't participate fully in that life for various plotty reasons, and she spends a good portion of the book straddling the awkward divide between town and gown.
** I don't mean sexuality or sexual attraction as a political tool, which can of course be interesting but usually just feels tired. I mean people who are deeply compelling to one another using that bond for their own ends, people who know one another well enough to understand what's going on.
****************
In other news, I'm getting confirmed on Sunday! This is most exciting. I also appear to have made friends at church; at least, one of the priests has suggested that we meet this summer for an informal Bible study, and I think she's looking forward to it as much as I am.
78282 / 120000
I chose my new target by dint of noting down each scene or event I haven't written yet and multiplying it by 500 words. It's an extraordinarily unscientific method, but I like to see the little red line creeping farther to the right, and really the word count for the first draft doesn't matter given how much I'll probably have to cut during revisions.
This is really going to happen. It's going to happen more slowly than I'd like, but I'm going to finish this book. I've got enough of it written now that I think I'm out of surprises; I'm not going to have another session like I did with Chapter 8, which was not in the original plan, and I still don't know where it came from, though now it's one of my favorite bits. Okay, I should probably amend that--I'm out of surprises other than that Thing that needs to happen in the last three chapters. I'm still a little scared of my climax. Here's hoping it'll work itself out as well as the other trouble spots have done.
There's been some really interesting discussion of id-fic over the last few days, and it prompted me to list the aspects of this book that really hit my own personal kinks. To wit: academia*, age gaps in relationships, game-changing secrets that are referenced only obliquely for the first half of the book, revelations of love (romantic or otherwise) as a result of life-or-death situations, relationships as political tools**, and competent characters who care hard for each other.
I'm trying to work on a quick, two-sentence introduction for this book, because it'd be really nice, wouldn't it, to be able to answer intelligently when someone asks what I'm writing about. Just for kicks, I tried my hand at those comparisons that people love to use when talking about books. You know, like describing the Amelia Peabody mysteries as "Indiana Jones meets Jane Eyre". I came up with quite a few combinations, some of them very amusing, before settling on this one, which is both silly and fairly accurate:
It's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell meets Monstrous Regiment of Women via Eugene Onegin.
* This comes with the caveat that I am not an academic, and I think I have a tendency to idealize the academic world, probably due in part to my awareness that I'm not disciplined enough to actually live in it. My viewpoint character for this novel is academic-adjacent; while she's a better student than I'll ever be, she can't participate fully in that life for various plotty reasons, and she spends a good portion of the book straddling the awkward divide between town and gown.
** I don't mean sexuality or sexual attraction as a political tool, which can of course be interesting but usually just feels tired. I mean people who are deeply compelling to one another using that bond for their own ends, people who know one another well enough to understand what's going on.
****************
In other news, I'm getting confirmed on Sunday! This is most exciting. I also appear to have made friends at church; at least, one of the priests has suggested that we meet this summer for an informal Bible study, and I think she's looking forward to it as much as I am.