Writing is such a different thing than the other things I've done professionally.
Okay, to be fair, I can hardly call my writing anything resembling professional. But that's the point.
Most of my working career has been very task-oriented. Come in to work at a set time, and there's a pile of to-do list. Take a task, finish it, put it somewhere else, and grab the next one.
Recently, as an analyst, there are some reports I run that are still tasks. But there are now longer-arcing projects. Those are the things that can't get done in one afternoon. Some of them can be divided into steps, which become little tasks of their own. But it isn't like I work on it 'til it's done and then just cross it off a list.
And then there's writing.
Now, I have this long-standing tradition of starting these big, ambitious projects. All too often, Generally, I'll get to the really complicated part and then a new project/idea comes along, and I launch into that one. I leave a trail of partial-project carnage in my wake.
Naturally, therefore, I have a stack of book ideas, some with more progress than others. Some are just a file folder with a few pages of notes. Some include partial chapters and disks of note files. One has about 2/3rds or so of a first draft.
And then there's the current book. I wrote an entire first draft for it. Then a reasonably serious flaw got pointed out, and I set it aside, temporarily daunted.
But I'm back to it now. Sure, I could pick an easier one to come back to. That 2/3rds first draft is one or two main point-of-view perspectives. I think I have a reasonably complete outline for it. I understand the characters, the motives, the conflicts that drive the plot.
But no, not yet. Maybe that'll be next. I have...three or so that I'm looking forward to starting next.
The current one gets intimidating at times. In the current revision process it has grown from three point-of-view characters to six (one of which I'm already thinking might get removed in the next round of revisions). That makes the whole thing more complicated. Before, there was one character arc that didn't get a complete ending. Now I have to add in two more endings and fit them into the same overall story.
I've been taking the revisions one character at a time, for the most part. I've started with the characters added in. They get smaller shares of page space than some of the others. I'm nearly done with the third and final addition. Just a few chapters to go.
The main two characters I might have to re-write together some. They're a bit interwined, and they're also going face some large changes. It's a lot to keep track of.
The next step, then will be to put the chapters back into book sequence so I can read it straight through. Then I'll go through it again, in sequence this time. I'll have to make sure chapters transition nicely. I'll have to check pacing. I'll re-evaluate each character arc to make sure they achieve what they need to.
Only after that will I start the real polishing and proofreading. All that for a book that a lot of people would suggest I not try as the first one to publish. But even if it doesn't end up the first one I send out to agents/publishers, I can't afford to set it aside half done. That's a cycle I can't afford to leave unbroken.
So that's where things are at. Long way to go. I'll never finish it if I don't keep making progress. Find/make time. Avoid distractions. Focus. Take it in manageable steps. But at the end I'll have something I can be hugely satisfied with. Then I'll start over again with a new book. There is one idea for a long series that is far more ambitious. Yeah, I'm not starting that one next...
Posted by fictionman at May 14, 2009 10:40 AM | TrackBack (0)