First Drafts, At Last
Remember how I completed my first NaNoWriMo challenge last November? That one where you write a book in a month?
Well, I finally finished the first draft of that book. I know, how could I win the challenge if I didn't finish a first draft? But the rules are pretty simple-- you just have to finish 50,000 words. You don't actually have to resolve the story, which is what I managed to do in November (about 55k words). But my novel wasn't even close to being resolved, and I had whole sections where I'd just skipped ahead in time so I didn't get stuck. The goal was to finish it off in January, once I got through the Christmas craziness. But the reality of my life is that most days writing falls down my list (which is silly because one of the things I learned last November is that I'm really happier if I write every day). So finishing off that novel took six months-plus instead of one month (In my defense, the final word count as of now is over 86k, so I did add quite a bit).
But yes, the first draft is complete. I feel like throwing a party!!!!
So I have two "alpha readers" lined up to do their thing and tell me where I make no sense and where the story drags and then I will plunge headfirst into revisions. I've already got a couple pages of notes of things I want to fix already. Still, I'm pretty pleased with the general story. (At least I enjoyed it. I go through periods of anxiety where I'm terrified at the idea of anyone else reading it for fear they will throw it against the wall in disgust.) What is it about? It's a companion novel to Legend and Corizen (not exactly a sequel). One of the most common comments I got from people who read Legend was how much they enjoyed the part about the Quintan Edge Resort, and they wished they could visit! So this novel was inspired by a desire to revisit the resort. But of course, I'm not writing travel guides so there's an actual story involved here. Honestly, I don't know what genre to plug it into. Sci-fi, obviously, but this one has more romance than my other two stories as well as some action (actual gunfights!). It's young adult in flavor without the characters being teenagers. The main character is Jenna Donnell (Andie's sister), a budding architect who gets caught in the middle of a love triangle and a tech war involving industrial espionage gone violent. How's that for a description?
My other first draft finished today was this year's Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation. Every year all the primary kids at church get one Sunday to do a program for Sacrament meeting featuring the songs and gospel teachings they've learned during the year. One of the jobs of the primary president is to make sure this gets written. (She can outsource it, I guess, but I've never inflicted it on any of my counselors, and I've never found anything helpful on the internet either-- at least not by the time I need it.) Our ward likes to make sure that every child has a speaking part (that's not required, but for whatever reason, we found that this made the most people happy). That means that I had to write an appropriate script with parts for all of our kids. In some ways it was easier this year, since my primary is only half the size it was last year. But still, I spent a lot of time staring at a computer monitor and procrastinating. Anyway, my big accomplishment for today was finishing up the last few parts and getting the draft sent to our bishop for approval. Just in time. *giant sigh of relief*
The odd thing is that now I feel sort of at loose ends. What writing am I going to do now? What story am I going to be hammering out in my head during the school runs?
Hmm...I've already got a few ideas for new stories swirling in my head. No worries. The writing will go on. I've just got to make time for it!!!
Well, I finally finished the first draft of that book. I know, how could I win the challenge if I didn't finish a first draft? But the rules are pretty simple-- you just have to finish 50,000 words. You don't actually have to resolve the story, which is what I managed to do in November (about 55k words). But my novel wasn't even close to being resolved, and I had whole sections where I'd just skipped ahead in time so I didn't get stuck. The goal was to finish it off in January, once I got through the Christmas craziness. But the reality of my life is that most days writing falls down my list (which is silly because one of the things I learned last November is that I'm really happier if I write every day). So finishing off that novel took six months-plus instead of one month (In my defense, the final word count as of now is over 86k, so I did add quite a bit).
But yes, the first draft is complete. I feel like throwing a party!!!!
So I have two "alpha readers" lined up to do their thing and tell me where I make no sense and where the story drags and then I will plunge headfirst into revisions. I've already got a couple pages of notes of things I want to fix already. Still, I'm pretty pleased with the general story. (At least I enjoyed it. I go through periods of anxiety where I'm terrified at the idea of anyone else reading it for fear they will throw it against the wall in disgust.) What is it about? It's a companion novel to Legend and Corizen (not exactly a sequel). One of the most common comments I got from people who read Legend was how much they enjoyed the part about the Quintan Edge Resort, and they wished they could visit! So this novel was inspired by a desire to revisit the resort. But of course, I'm not writing travel guides so there's an actual story involved here. Honestly, I don't know what genre to plug it into. Sci-fi, obviously, but this one has more romance than my other two stories as well as some action (actual gunfights!). It's young adult in flavor without the characters being teenagers. The main character is Jenna Donnell (Andie's sister), a budding architect who gets caught in the middle of a love triangle and a tech war involving industrial espionage gone violent. How's that for a description?
My other first draft finished today was this year's Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation. Every year all the primary kids at church get one Sunday to do a program for Sacrament meeting featuring the songs and gospel teachings they've learned during the year. One of the jobs of the primary president is to make sure this gets written. (She can outsource it, I guess, but I've never inflicted it on any of my counselors, and I've never found anything helpful on the internet either-- at least not by the time I need it.) Our ward likes to make sure that every child has a speaking part (that's not required, but for whatever reason, we found that this made the most people happy). That means that I had to write an appropriate script with parts for all of our kids. In some ways it was easier this year, since my primary is only half the size it was last year. But still, I spent a lot of time staring at a computer monitor and procrastinating. Anyway, my big accomplishment for today was finishing up the last few parts and getting the draft sent to our bishop for approval. Just in time. *giant sigh of relief*
The odd thing is that now I feel sort of at loose ends. What writing am I going to do now? What story am I going to be hammering out in my head during the school runs?
Hmm...I've already got a few ideas for new stories swirling in my head. No worries. The writing will go on. I've just got to make time for it!!!
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