Day 51 - 1743 Words

And that was actually a net gain, since I read through the first 100 pages, and did some editing. I am very pleased with those first 100 pages. I have some work to do on Chapter two, and probably some plumping up, but I am quite delighted.

Running Total: 55168 Words.

55168 / 70000 words. 79% done!

In Today's Pages: Lots of stuff.

Chapter Strategies - Chapter Titles

This book isn't going to be complete before the end of the dare, but one of the other measures of "completeness" for me is chaptering. When I'm writing the first draft, I jump around, try different pacing, and I don't always know how much will go into any gaps I have in the narrative. So I often don't number the chapters yet. I'll just write in "Chapter Break" if there is a spot that seems especially right for one, and let the rest run free.

So one of the goals for this dare is to set the chapter strategy of the book. At the moment I'm not sure what the chapter styling will be: Short and snappy? Long and graceful? How much will I use cliff hangers and how much the natural breaks in the story.

And the biggie: Will I use titled chapters?

I admit it. I really love titled chapters. I don't actually use them that much, but they are like a touch of chopped ginger in a stir-fry. Done with the proper touch (usually light) they act as teaser and tone setter to the story.

Teasers can actually work better than a cliffhanger for bringing the reader back to the book. Why? Because cliffhangers are designed to prevent the reader from even putting the book down. But that's silly because readers often must put the book down. They don't want to be forced to read on, they want to be lured. Most readers, when they come to the end of a chapter, will glance at the next chapter to whet their appetite for the next session. I think that, in some ways, the beginning of the next chapter can be more important to a "page turner" than the end of the previous. (And, of course, the most important thing is what's in between - nothing builds anticipation better than having already experienced some great stuff in what you've already read.)

Ahem, back to chapter titles: The problem with them is that not only can they feel a bit gimmicky, but they are also a lot of work. You can't just throw in a title here and there on chapters that really call for them. If you use chapter titles, you have to put them on all of them, and you have to be just as clever on the boring chapters as you are on the cool chapters. (Of course, you shouldn't have any boring chapters.)

This book, I think, was made for chapter titles. There is a certain high adventure undercurrent, plus the comedy, that just suits it. So I'm going to be trying them out, anyway. I can always remove them later.

Day 50 - 1685 Words

And I probably cut about a thousand words from yesterday's misbegotten progress. Plus I've got a lot of scribbles yet to type in. So in spite of the no sleep and a day's work, I got a lot done.

At this point I can see I will still have a lot of work to do on this story but I am very pleased at how this ending is coming together. The ending sequence is what makes a book feel whole, and also gives you something to hang anything else on.

Running Total: 53425 Words.

53425 / 70000 words. 76% done!

In Today's Pages: Karla tells all again. And gets to go all Dirty Harry too. Sort of.

Midnight Madness - When the Muse Comes to Getcha!

So I wake up in the middle of the night with the sudden understanding of why writing that "detective reveals all" scene went SO SLOW yesterday.

It's all wrong.

Not factually - that's just fine - but those smaller revelations are an emotional bombshell. This is no snappy "it was Colonel Mustard in the Library with the Candlestick" kind of thing. For certain characters, it changes everything. It creates a moral justice vacuum. And it totally steals the thunder of the last clever little twist I had for the end. The characters are just not going to be in the mood for it.

So I ended up tossing and turning for a long time, but I think I have the answer. This revelation has to come before the villain is vanquished, when emotions and anger are high, and when there is time for the characters to make choices.

But that's the key here. You have to allow your characters choices, especially at the end. You can make that choice really tough - but the tougher it is, the more you have to let them deal with it. It can be tempting to clean things up and take things out of their hands, but you can't.

And now after four hours sleep, I'm wide awake, and I need to sleep before going to work.

Such is the price of art.

Day 49 - 1585 Words

A lot of sleep really did help with the migraine. I did realize, though, that the stuff I was writing was also slow going, and though it was fun, it was also slow going today. The problem was that I jumped ahead to the unraveling of the mystery, so I could make sure things were consistent.

Tomorrow I have a day at work, but it should not be too tough, so I hope to get good progress anyway. I had lots of fun ideas today, and moving on with the action scenes should help.

Running Total: 51740 Words.

51740 / 70000 words. 74% done!

In Today's Pages: Karla tells all. Rosie confronts George.

Writing Wisdom: Getting Things Right

Elisabeth Spann Craig, of Mystery Writing is Murder, had a post today about freaking out when you find mistakes in your writing.

Today I took a daytrip down to Zingerman's Deli (Food Geek Central of the Universe), with a friend of mine who is an artist. She started out as a potter, and she had an interesting take on how to deal with things that don't come out the way you expect. You see, pottery NEVER comes out the way you expect. You make it, put it in the kiln... and something else comes out.

She said that the biggest thing she learned in grad school was that you shouldn't just take your "failures" out of the kiln and smash them. You take them out, put them on a shelf in your house, and live with them for several months. Then you get to choose which ones to keep and which to smash.

Now, here's the thing. As writers we may think that's what we're doing when we put a manuscript aside for a while, but we aren't. When you put a manuscript on a shelf or in a drawer, you're not living with it. You're avoiding it, trying to forget it. And that's fine, but it doesn't do for us what the shelf does for the potter.

What we need to do is put it on a shelf in our heads - actually think about it. Learn to be zen and accept that maybe you didn't get what you intended or wanted, but is there value in what you got? Is this really actually bad, or is it just awkward and in need of some polishing? Or does it need a companion piece to come out right?

And before you smash those words against the wall, be sure you know what is actually wrong with them, what is right, and what to do in future.

Migraine

I crashed today. I think it's a migraine, though, because I haven't been able to see well all day. So.... Tylenol and sleep for me.

I did about 500 words, but I'm not up to the record keeping and math necessary to post the progress, so I'll fold it into tomorrow's totals.

Day 48 - 2797 Words - Action is Easy

Action scenes are easy to draft, because you can put it all in. Those moments when you're not sure which option to take - odds are your character isn't sure either. Write that uncertainty in. Your character can have all of your ideas.

This can also give you suspense moments as your character struggles with one problem after another, barely inching closer to her goal. You get natural description moments, as your character's senses are heightened, and she looks around for options.

(Yes, you will have to edit later. There is such a thing as dragging things out too much.)

Running Total: 50155 Words.

50155 / 70000 words. 72% done!

In Today's Pages: Karla becomes much more familiar with the back seat of an 1989 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser than she ever wanted to be.

Skipping and Jumping

The whole story is now vibrant in my head. The only thing holding me up is gridlock among the bits that want to be written. I've got scribbles of details and sentences written all over the place so I don't lose them.

The process is accelerating, so I do expect to have the story complete by the end of the dare, and only the boring parts will be missing. Which can be good. If you set aside the novel with the boring parts missing, later on you won't remember what you wanted to put them in for in the first place.

That's why I'm a great believer in skipping around when writing. Write what's interesting, and the rest will take care of itself.

Day 47 - 1111 Words

I actually got more than that done, but a lot of it is in little snippets as I work out more details. I also discovered a possible timing problem - although I think I can work it out. I want to try to get my action/climax kind of nailed down to see if it matters or not before I change other things.

Now I am very very tired. Must go to bed. I would like to hit above 50k tomorrow. Let's see what happens.

Running Total: 47358 Words.

47358 / 70000 words. 68% done!

In Today's Pages: Karla decides that Tommy Lee Jones knows what he's doing, even if she doesn't.

Day 46 - 1508 Words

I wanted to get more done, but I got a ton of plot work done today. I worked out all the remaining questions (mostly). I should be able to move forward pretty quickly, and even if the draft will be choppy and full of holes, I expect a complete story by the Ides of March.

Running Total: 46247 Words.

46247 / 70000 words. 66% done!

In Today's Pages: George identifies himself. Gwen hides. Karla's in a spot.

Day 45 - 1198 Words

Back in the saddle again. I worked on my ending scene. Not as good as I envisioned it yet, but I think I will have to write the whole thing before I can see clearly all that it is wrapping up.

And tomorrow I sort of start Spring Break. (I have a couple of short work days scattered in there.)

Running Total: 44739 Words.

44739 / 70000 words. 64% done!

In Today's Pages: Karla hears zither music. George misleads the Shrink without realizing it.

The Heat Is On

The heat's back on, though the house is still cold. Tomorrow is the last full day of work before the end of the dare. So we're getting ready to sprint.

Today, I did not get any plot holes filled in, but I came up with perfect, killer last page/scene. I was just thinking about technique - about reflecting the opening image in the ending image - when I realized that I would also have an opportunity to give the audience a very clear picture of where the characters stand. Which is important because they don't know where they stand at the end in terms of certain personal matters - which is the arc for the series.

I will probably talk about the specific problems I have with the multi-book character arcs. If I can figure out how to talk about it without spoilers.

Arrrg! No heat!

Our furnace broke. It's too cold to type, and my hands and arms ache, and the smoke from our fireplace, though mild, is aggravating my eyes.

So even though I had hoped to at least get to 44k today, I will instead be calling a hiatus for today and tomorrow. (Tomorrow is one of my long, late days at the day job, and I don't expect to get good sleep tonight.)

I will be working on plotting. I have a few scene sequences and vague plot bits to work out yet, and maybe I can get myself ahead with that.

To make up for it, I think I will add a "clean up" period to the week after the Dare ends.

Day 44 - 1323 Words and Character Layers

"They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."
– Andy Warhol

Yesterday and today I did more rewrite work on existing material, as well as another outline. I still have fuzzy vague parts toward the end, but I'm definitely getting somewhere.

I am extremely pleased with my new opening. Perhaps excessively pleased. My alpha reader, who did not like the first version at all, likes it this time. I finally figured out that George can't be introduced inside his own point of view.

On the outside he has this very thin veneer of James Bond. The serious Daniel Craig version of James Bond. And deep inside his true soul is Roger Moore as The Saint. But in between, just barely covered by the Bond veneer, is John McClane (Bruce Willis in Die Hard). Once you've seen the cool exterior, it's fine to see the out-of-his-depth cowboy pedaling as fast as he can. But since he's barely aware of the veneer, it doesn't work introducing him the other way around.

Running Total: 43541 Words.

43541 / 70000 words. 62% done!

In Today's Pages: George is not feeling at all like any of the above mentioned action stars, but more like Bill Murray.