Wednesday, November 26, 2008

NaNoWriDayTwentySix

It should be getting easier now: the finish line is in sight, less than 5000 words away, but rather than sprinting for it, I find myself wading through treacle. The problem is that the story is basically finished. In fact, I was writing the plot so sketchily and so quickly to start with, that it ended at about 14k; I managed to add a twist and get the next act under way, but ran out of steam again about 30k later. The last few days I have just been padding some scenes out, occasionally cheating a little, desperately clutching for an extra word wherever there is one to be found.

There is an epilogue, summarising a sub-plot which suggested itself too late in the process to go back and add in without completely reinventing the timeline and rewriting from the ground up. I could easily make the word count that way, but time no longer allows for it.
There is another scene I would like to have put in earlier, so I might add that either in sequence (although it will make no sense), or as an epi-epilogue, so that I can use it properly when I rewrite.

Yep, that’s right: when I rewrite. Before mid-October I had no real intention of writing this story at all, but now it’s done, I can see the potential in it. It needs a lot of work to beat it into any kind of shape, but right now I think it might be worth doing - later.

Much later.

3 comments:

Matthew Celestine said...

Hey, Steve, just to distract you; what is your favorite Gerry Anderson series?

UKSteve said...

Well that's the randomest question I've been asked so far today. If my novel wasn't set in an entirely fictional universe I would probably set my characters about discussing the merits of Supermarionation. Well, maybe if I get really desperate...

Anyway... despite being part of the Terrahawks generation, I don't remember a thing about it. I was never a big fan of any of them really, but, oddly, I do have happy memories of Fireball XL5 reruns from my childhood. That is probably the only one I would make any effort to watch right now.

Matthew Celestine said...

Thanks. Fireball XL5 is pretty good, if you can get past the puppet's permanent smiles.