More More Progress and the Joy of Retconning

10182 / 20000 words. 51% done!

And I just spent 2 hours messing with geography and timelines. Note to self – do not write novels where people travel around without paying attention to actual maps. Also, remember that people and horses are slower than cars.

Pirates

No, not the Arrrrrh kind. No parrots, peglegs or Jolly Rogers, just illegally downloaded materials, specifically e-books. Erastes posted some information and guidelines for authors about fighting piracy. I want to add one aimed at readers.

Don’t, please. Really, don’t. When you download something off one of these sites, the author gets nothing. The publisher gets nothing. No royalties. Yes, someone bought that book at some point, but that person’s purchase of the book gives them the right to read it, lend it to friends, even sell it used, but it doesn’t give them the right to offer it up to everyone in the world via the Internet. I know there are authors who are just fine with their work being shared on these sites. I’m not one of them.

I write because I love it, yes, but it’s hard work, and hard work, when done well (and I try to do it well) deserves to be compensated. If you really can’t afford the $12 (or less for ebook), there are options. Borrow from a friend. Request that your local library buy a copy. Contact me privately – I’m not a heartless bitch, and if you are in genuine need, I’ll do what I can to make sure you have access.

In the interests of honesty, I have on occasion downloaded TV shows that aren’t available in the U.S. Mostly Torchwood and Dr. Who before they were shown here. Once the SciFi Channel/BBC America started showing them, I stopped downloading. Where something is out of print and unavailable, I understand making copies. If you can get the books or music or videos you want legally, though, please do.

More progress

6000 / 20000 words. 30% done!

1,000 words today on the rewritten section and counting. And this is all new content, no cut and paste from the earlier version. It took me about 40 minutes of fairly uninterrupted work (I’m at the day job) to do this. Of course, it might all be crap, but I can sort that out later.

Yesterday I got the end of chapter 28 and beginning of 29 done, will try to finish both of those today, though I’m also attempting to keep a balance between writing and schoolwork and other aspects of my life. Balance is not something I’m particularly good at.

Oh, and following up on my Torchwood post, I did actually get some inspiration from that. I have one character that would not be pinned down as to whether he’d be classified as a ‘good guy’ or not, and it occurred to me that he’s a lot like some of the politicians/bureaucrats in TW:CoE. Not evil. Just weak, self-serving, and wholly human.

Word Count Zero

Well, I would have written today, but I watched all of Torchwood: Children of Earth instead. That’s writing, sort of, right? It’s…research. Or inspiration. Or something.

Progress tomorrow – this train is not stopping, even for Captain Jack Harkness.

Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia…

I’m taking a leaf from Erastes’ page, put aside the rewrite sections and am working on the end first.

I’d already cleaned up the last chapter (30), which didn’t need too much alteration, but Chapter 29 had to be significantly restructured to accommodate the plot changes I’ve made, and I may cut even more. I’m closely examining each scene to see if it contributes to the development of the plot or reveals something important about the characters, and if it doesn’t, I’m letting it go. I couldn’t do that before – I was too close to the story, and to a certain extent for me, the way I write something initially feels like the way it ‘actually happened,’ and changing it makes me feel like Winston Smith at the Ministry of Truth.

But that’s stupid – I’m in control, and the story can go any way I want it to. Once it’s published, then it’s final. Except in the minds of readers, who are free to imagine any AU they want. No, Sirius Black isn’t dead – it’s all in your head…

Numbers game

I didn’t work on the rewrite this weekend, but I have spent a lot of time with the rest of the manuscript doing general cleanup. David is a great character, and I write very easily in his POV, but he does tend to ramble on.

As I was cutting, I started to think about length. Thaw, when it was first submitted, was about 137,000 words. After the editing process through Iris, it was about 122,000, so from original to edited, we cut about 10%. Ashes started out at 150,800 words. I’ve lifted out 20,000 words of rewrite and have no idea what the finished count for those sections will be, but right now, assuming that it’s still around 20k, it stands at 145,600.

I know I’ve got a huge chunk of text coming out of Chapter 27-30 – haven’t really touched those chapters yet, so I’m figuring probably about 140k as a finished length. Of course, if Steve wants me to cut more, I will. The impartial opinion of an editor is so valuable – I learned that with Thaw, where I resisted Kelly’s changes. She had me cut out two subplots that I thought were essential. I was wrong and she was right. It’s a hard but necessary step in a writer’s development to learn that her words aren’t precious drops of speshulness that can’t be altered under any circumstances.

Sadly, some well known writers learn this, then regress when they become famous enough to reject their editors’ advice. Not naming names – I’m sure you all can do that for me.

The edit continues…

4912 / 19448 words. 25% done!

I should point out that this isn’t all the editing I have to do on this – I need to trim down the total word count some, and I also want to clean up some of the sex scenes. It’s not that I have anything against explicit sex, but I’ve got YA readers, and as toning down the sex doesn’t hurt the plot or story at all, it makes sense to me to do it.

But again, progress. I hope I can keep it up this weekend.

Progress on revision!

2039 / 19448 words. 10% done!

And yes, the book is much longer than 20k words – that’s just the section that needs a rewrite. About half of the 2,039 words are new text, the rest is just copied, so it isn’t a huge accomplishment but it’s progress, for the first time in ages.

And a new character just walked in. I feel good.

Random Thoughts on Angst

I did a whole 50 words today, on a short story.  Go me.  And I looked at Ashes, and that made me think about angst.

My very first piece of fiction was a Mary Sue short story that I wrote on these teeny tiny legal pads when I was in 8th grade. The plot (fortunately) fades from memory, but as I recall, it involved this girl I had a crush on and communists invading our middle school. This was 1975, okay? Long before <i>Red Dawn</i>, maybe I should sue Patrick Swayze.

Anyway, it was appalling, and the next one, written about my then-boyfriend (I think this one had aliens, not communists) was probably worse, and both, now that I look back on it, were dripping with angst.

I didn’t know that then, didn’t know the word ‘angst’ – it may come as a shock to anyone who came of age in the 90’s and beyond, but back in the day, we didn’t really have teen angst, per se. No Goth, no black clothing, none of that, at least not in small town Ohio. There was punk, far away in the cities, but basically we had the cheerleader/football types, band kids, drama kids, rednecks. We didn’t even have the word ‘geek.’ It was nerds then. Or squares, though that was fading.

My point, and I do have one, is not that I was angsty before angsty was cool. It’s that I think for a lot of writers, self-insertion and angst are necessary steps in our development. But as I re-read my own work and try to make some sense out of Ashes, I’m trying to sort out what is angst and may need to be eliminated and what is just the normal drama of fiction, and I’m wondering what the distinction is, if any.

Roadblock – eliminated!

Revision is not working.  I think I need to take all the sections in my secondary point of view starting from where I lose my way and just rewrite. 

A fresh start is going to be much easier.  I’ve got a basic plot idea, will make use of the same characters and settings as the original version, but I’m sure it will also take new directions that I can’t even begin to predict.  What I had before wasn’t totally awful, but I feel, upon reflection, that it isn’t true to the character, and it just has to go.

I feel like I’ve overcome a real obstacle in this process and am excited about getting on with it, finally!