Hey Folks,
After checking email and Facebook and a few reliable sources for “Of Interest,” I was about to move straight to the novel this morning. Then I had a thought and wrote a bunch of stuff below. But I got there eventually.
I mentioned yesterday that I had a glimpse of the end of my WIP. So now I guess I’m anxious to get there. I guess that’s why I was eager to get straight to the story. Once I know the end, I want to finish the thing and get on with the next one.
Finishing is possible, in this case, because I have only one major scene and a few small, incidental ones, left to write. Maybe another 5,000 to 10,000 words or so.
And it’s possible because, for those scenes, I’m still writing off into the dark. If I knew what was going to happen and how it was going to happen (ugh) in those scenes, I’d probably shoot myself or something.
As I’ve mentioned before, if I suspect the ending (especially if it makes perfect sense) EARLY in the writing process, I won’t finish the novel at all. I toss it out.
Why? Same reason I won’t watch a ball game or read a book or watch a movie if I know the ending. It’s boring. And I can’t write thirty or forty or fifty or sixty thousand words while I’m bored out of my mind.
To do so would be at least annoying, and the writing would be sluggish at best. It would become the “sheer drudgery” the literati brag about at book launches where cheese and wine and tiny watercress sandwiches are served.
Hey, I’m just not good at suffering for my art. I’m in it for the fun. If I want to suffer, I’ll go dig a ditch.
In fact, that’s exactly why I tossed out (a couple of months ago) D.R.E.A.D., a story I was really excited about, after I’d written the first 18,000 words. A close friend accidentally and inadvertently handed the ending to me as we were chatting about writing.
I heard him say, “Hey, you know what? She (the antagonist) could” and before I was able to slap my hands over my ears and run in circles yelling “Lalalalala!” the rest of it had come out.
My fault completely for going into detail about the stupid story in the first place. Never open up your current writing to anyone else. It jinxes the story, every time. Or if you have to open up about it, lie. It’s what we do, right? (grin)
Or at least be very vague, even if it’s a story you’re hyper-excited about. At least be vague until after it’s published. Then you can bore others with the details all you want.
Now, I might write a new opening based on the same idea that started D.R.E.A.D. and let it become a short story or novella or novel in another genre. But the action-adventure police-procedural mystery that it was going to be will never see the light of day. Nor will that acronyminal (don’t look it up) title. Because frankly, it’s a bee-otch to type.
But I digress. Badly. The point is, I should be finished with this novel today or tomorrow or the next day, depending. So it looks as if I might start September with something completely new.
And I’d just gotten used to the idea that “months” don’t matter.
***
Well, as it most often does, the real title of my WIP occurred to me as I was writing today: Nightfall. (I know, I know, but it occurred naturally and you can’t copyright a title anyway.)
It was a strange day for me, schedule-wise, as my wife was home part of the morning instead of the afternoon.
Still, I had a good writing day. It was one of those “keep coming back” days. And as luck would have it, I probably will finish this novel tomorrow.
Of Interest
See “Business Musings: An Example of Writerly Cluelessness (Negotiation/Contracts)” at https://kriswrites.com/2018/08/29/business-musings-an-example-of-writerly-cluelessness-negotiation-contracts/. See especially the twelve “what you need to learn” points toward the end.
See “Writers Conferences – Finding Your Tribe” at https://killzoneblog.com/2018/08/writers-conferences-finding-your-tribe.html. As much for a possible story idea as for the stuff on conferences.
See “Master Business Class Reminder” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/master-business-class-reminder/.
Talk with you again soon.
Fiction Words: 3858
Nonfiction Words: 680 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 4538
Writing of Nightfall (Nick Spalding 1)
Brought forward…… 17778 words
Day 1…… 1449 words. Total words to date…… 19227
Day 2…… 1611 words. Total words to date…… 20838
Day 3…… 3169 words. Total words to date…… 24007
Day 4…… 3077 words. Total words to date…… 27084
Day 5…… 2146 words. Total words to date…… 29230
Day 6…… 3882 words. Total words to date…… 33112
Day 7…… 2511 words. Total words to date…… 35623
Day 8…… 3244 words. Total words to date…… 38867
Day 9…… 3858 words. Total words to date…… 42725
Total fiction words for the month……… 60844
Total fiction words for the year………… 309141
Total nonfiction words for the month… 19210
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 117496
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 426387
Calendar Year 2018 Novels to Date………………………… 6
Calenday Year 2018 Novellas to Date…………………… 2
Calendar Year 2018 Short Stories to Date……… 11
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)………………………………………… 32
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)……………………………………… 6
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………………… 193