Writing progress

I’ve actually been making really good progress on the novel again, just not posting.

Finished the huge rewrite of chapter five, as well as the minor rewrites of chapter six. Reformatted the first six chapters into one file. Did additional writing on chapter seven. I wrote the “Yay, rah!” letter about the novel for the editor, as well as did more minor focusing of the entire novel and the outline. So the package is ready to go, once my agent gets back to me on the yay rah stuff.

I’ve also done another rewrite on the short story I wrote a couple of weeks ago, as well as started a new short story.

The story of this novel has two problems, that is, two things that the characters must address. Let’s call them Big X and little x. The Big X problem is the world-shaking one, the problem that the main character *must* address or the world is destroyed (in this novel, if Big X isn’t settled, all of the main character’s race will be hunted down and slain for starters.) The little x problem is the initial one, the one that starts everything in motion, the first domino. It also must be addressed. It’s a huge problem in terms of the character, an intimate problem, but it’s a small problem in terms of the world.

When writing the yay, rah! letter, I discovered that I’d made the same mistake I’ve made in the past, that is, focused too much attention on little x and not enough on Big X. It didn’t take much to do that refocusing in the first six chapters, to bring the Big X back into the picture, at least at this point, as Big X isn’t really a factor until later in the novel. I also went through the outline and discovered that I’d made the same mistake there, so tweaked that a bit as well.

The Big X and little x problems are very intertwined. The little x problem is transformed into Big X by the end of the novel. But still, I wasn’t bringing up the Big X problem with enough consistency — I think it would have been an unacceptable surprise later in the novel if I hadn’t done some of this tweaking.

I’m not certain how to keep this novel more “on track.” Going through the outline this morning I discovered that I’d not done some of the foreshadowing as well as character emphasis I’d needed to do in the early chapters, and so went back and corrected that. I’ve never followed an outline exactly — but then again, I’ve never outlined as completely as I did for this novel. And I really do need to follow this outline.

Because I’m anal this way, and I work best with plans, I’ve decided to just go ahead and write the next few chapters, following the procedure that I usually do.* When I get to the end of part I of the novel, I’m going to do another “big sweep” — looking carefully at the outline, making certain that I’m doing everything that I need to be doing, as well as ensuring that I’m not just focused on the little x, but the Big X as well. After that, we’ll see when I need to do another “big sweep”. I generally keep that kind of thing for once I’ve finished writing a novel, but this novel seems to be requiring a different process. And who knows? Maybe it’s just this novel, or maybe it’ll be a new tweak to my existing process, to sit back and look at the big picture at different intervals while writing the novel.

*Writing the next few chapters following the procedure I usually do — When it’s time for me to write a new chapter, I generally go look at the outline, get the general gist of what needs to be accomplished, then start writing. I may check back on the outline, but I may not, and instead, just go where the characters take me. In the past, I’ve found that I’ve driven myself crazy trying to follow the outline too closely when actually writing — that’s what rewrites are for.

As a reminder to those out on the west coast — I’ll be doing a reading at Borderland’s books in San Francisco this Saturday, June 18th, at 7 PM. Hope to see you there!

http://www.borderlands-books.com/