How much of a bad ass is Conrad right?
Fuck I'm gonna hate killing him.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Got first feedback from my beta
"Die in a fire"
Ok thats not really what she said. She may have used up all the red pixels on her LCD with as much of my writing as she shit all over.
Its good though because this is how we learn.
I'm about to read her stuff though, so the bitch is gonna get it as good as she gives.
:)
Ok thats not really what she said. She may have used up all the red pixels on her LCD with as much of my writing as she shit all over.
Its good though because this is how we learn.
I'm about to read her stuff though, so the bitch is gonna get it as good as she gives.
:)
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Finished section 1 of the Telamon
Sigh, after stopping at chapter 16 and realizing I needed to change some things, I ended up rewriting the whole damn thing from scratch.
Finally finished it though. This draft came in right around 14000 words. whew.
Looking forward to the next section.
Finally finished it though. This draft came in right around 14000 words. whew.
Looking forward to the next section.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
A note to myself.
After thinking about the apocalyptic angle. To hell with the whole squid red herring bullshit.
Keep the evangelist, but have him simply have recruited military, officers, etc etc in plans for one major internal civil war. He promises that it will bring about the apocalypse.
Interestingly he's right. As soon as his members who are part of america's military launch strikes against themselves, and suicide bomb, north korea, iran, soviet union, etc, all launch attacks on other parts of the world. America itself is nuked.
An all out war does ensue, but its brief. Before long, the dust settles and people realize what they've done. 2/3rds of the human race has been destroyed, and all thats left are fragments of society.
Should probably figure out who does what where and how...
Keep the evangelist, but have him simply have recruited military, officers, etc etc in plans for one major internal civil war. He promises that it will bring about the apocalypse.
Interestingly he's right. As soon as his members who are part of america's military launch strikes against themselves, and suicide bomb, north korea, iran, soviet union, etc, all launch attacks on other parts of the world. America itself is nuked.
An all out war does ensue, but its brief. Before long, the dust settles and people realize what they've done. 2/3rds of the human race has been destroyed, and all thats left are fragments of society.
Should probably figure out who does what where and how...
Rewrites, rewrites, REWRITES
Over the course of this draft of my book, I've prided myself on how organically I'd let the story develop. Now, stuck on chapter 16, I realized every time I go to write, I don't know what's supposed to happen. I know what happens in chapter 20, but how to get there.
I was flopping around like a god damn fish on a dock.
So I sat down, wrote three words.
Simplify
Clarify
Identify.
Under each of these three words I wrote what my problems were.
Simplify:
"Too many factions in the park, not enough time to develop them."
Clarify:
"Why the hell does MC even give a shit about his wife. What major turnaround happens at the end to make him spend the next 60 thousand words chasing after her?"
Identify:
"Who is doing what here? If rhodes is going to take over the shelter, why not just kill them all?"
Guess what happened?
As an author we sometimes have to make tough decisions and realize that our little baby changed as they became a toddler, and didn't turn out the way we wanted, and we have to take over and mold them the way we want.
The result?
1. I reduced it from 4 factions in the amusement park to 2. 1 isn't even really a faction, the others are the survivors.
2. Mitch and his wife are not on this vacation because their marriage is on the rocks. They're on an anniversary and love each other dearly. (This also solved the problem that my MC looked like a pussy and his wife was a bitch, which was remarked on by a critiquer.)
3. Conrad, the security guard who disappeared in chapter 3 comes back to save the shelter people from the survivors and negotiates their exile with clever use of a hunting rifle.
This meant rewriting chapters 1 and 2. It meant slight changes in 3 and 4. And I wrote some backstory to explain who rhodes and why he wanted to kill the people in the shelter.
I spit through all those changes and the last 4 chapters in 2 nights.
So, sometimes you have to take a step back, analyze the problem, and make those decisions.
I was flopping around like a god damn fish on a dock.
So I sat down, wrote three words.
Simplify
Clarify
Identify.
Under each of these three words I wrote what my problems were.
Simplify:
"Too many factions in the park, not enough time to develop them."
Clarify:
"Why the hell does MC even give a shit about his wife. What major turnaround happens at the end to make him spend the next 60 thousand words chasing after her?"
Identify:
"Who is doing what here? If rhodes is going to take over the shelter, why not just kill them all?"
Guess what happened?
As an author we sometimes have to make tough decisions and realize that our little baby changed as they became a toddler, and didn't turn out the way we wanted, and we have to take over and mold them the way we want.
The result?
1. I reduced it from 4 factions in the amusement park to 2. 1 isn't even really a faction, the others are the survivors.
2. Mitch and his wife are not on this vacation because their marriage is on the rocks. They're on an anniversary and love each other dearly. (This also solved the problem that my MC looked like a pussy and his wife was a bitch, which was remarked on by a critiquer.)
3. Conrad, the security guard who disappeared in chapter 3 comes back to save the shelter people from the survivors and negotiates their exile with clever use of a hunting rifle.
This meant rewriting chapters 1 and 2. It meant slight changes in 3 and 4. And I wrote some backstory to explain who rhodes and why he wanted to kill the people in the shelter.
I spit through all those changes and the last 4 chapters in 2 nights.
So, sometimes you have to take a step back, analyze the problem, and make those decisions.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)