Tag Archives: novel

Multiple Climaxes Revisited

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I just finished the third draft of my latest novel.  I believe it is quite clean and ready for the eyes of family members and friends.  While reading it this time, I realized that I had organized the book in strange way.  I knew I gave it multiple climaxes.  That was on purpose.  What I didn’t realize was that each one was a different kind of climax.  First comes to the action climax.  Then comes the emotional climax.  Lastly comes to the story’s climax.  Each one has its own purpose.

I am very happy with the progress I have made on this novel–considering I’ve only really been working on it for three months or so.  I can’t wait to have someone else read it.  I’ll focus on something else tomorrow (probably the memory challenge).  After than, I am taking a road trip to see and old friend halfway across Colorado (I’m thinking about taking the long way past Colorado Springs to see how bad the fire is).  Until then!

Much Love,
Richard

Pre-Peace Corp Writing Goals

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A lot is changing in my life.  There’s only one problem.  Many of these changes won’t take place until January.  I need to fill the gap between then and now.  I’ve though of a lot of different ideas–from traveling to working.  In the end, the best idea I can come across is to immerse myself in my writing.  So I created a list of writing goals I want to accomplish over the next 200 days or so.  Here they are:

Writing Goals

  1. Finish Editing my fourth novel
  2. Do final editing on Stitch [Novel Three]
  3. Do final editing on The Saints [Novel Two]
  4. Do final editing on The Fire Saviors [Novel One]
  5. Write a fifth novel
  6. Do final editing on fifth novel
  7. Compile a collection of 50-100 poems
  8. Do final editing on Poem Collection
  9. Compile short Stories/Flash Fiction
  10. Do final editing on Story collection
  11. Join Every Writing Club in Northern Colorado/Go to them
  12. Finish Memory Challenge
  13. Do final editing on memory challenge
  14. If money allows, print one set of books “Before Peace Corp Writing”
    1. The Fire Saviors [Novel One]
    2. The Saints [Novel Two]
    3. Stitch [Novel Three
    4. Novel Four
    5. Novel Five
    6. Poetry Collection
    7. Story Collection
    8. Memory Challenge

A Long Day of Moving and Editing

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I spent four hours of my day helping my mother move out of her office.  After the role I played in getting her fired (or reassigned, as they put it), it was the least I could do.  As I walk away from today, I have a renewed understanding for why I hated working in an office and would prefer never to be a part of one again.  Politics is frustrating enough in a family or set of friends…it’s simply Hell at work.

I’ve started working on the third draft of the novel.  Since there are so few changes necessary, I am breezing through it.  There are 52 chapters in all…and I just spent the past 90 minutes getting through the first five.  A part of me just wants to finish off the draft over the next two days so I can focus on some other projects (like actually starting the Memory Project) while other people look it over.  I’m at least going to continue editing for the next 80 minutes (I hate that the coffee shop in this town closes at six).  Maybe I will continue working at home.

With Love,
Richard

Writing Various Ages

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As I come close to finishing the second draft of my novel, a certain thought keeps coming to mind: what ages am I capable of writing?  I used to believe it was almost impossible to write beyond your age.  I now know that not to be true.  I am now 23 and the core of my novel center around three characters in their late twenties.  Nowadays, my thoughts revolve around the more extreme ages.  Throughout the novel, I bring in random characters in their forties and fifties…but I worry that I can’t make them as well rounded as the other characters because I haven’t gone through that part of my life.

Then there is youth.  With this novel, I feel like I have done a good job with my youngest character.  She is 14.  When I think about it, however, I am not sure if I could go much younger.  I love reading books with young characters…but I don’t know how to develop such a character.  How do you enter the mind of youth?  I talked at length with one of my friends about this.  She just read “Room.”  It’s a book that centers around a five year old.  I can’t even imagine.  Maybe that’s another boundary of my abilities that I need dismantle through hard work and writing practice.

With Love,
Richard

Editing While Stressed

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I spent a very frustrating morning at the DMV.  After realizing that I would accomplish nothing today, I decided to declare defeat until a later date.  The stress of days like today is palpable.  My job is to try to focus that energy.  As I felt like bursting into tears, I went to my coffee shop instead.  I’ve been editing for the past hour and will continue to do so for a while (free refills on drip coffee is pretty much the best thing int he world).

Refocusing stress into the perfectionist mindset that is necessary for editing is beautiful.  I remember always trying to erase my stress by jumping in a hot tub or going for a walk.  I still do that from time to time.  But this is so much better.  I feel like I am using that stress to do something productive.  I am now almost halfway through the second draft of my novel.  I’m going to get back to it.  I’ll talk to you guys tomorrow.

With Love,
Richard

Novel Number Five

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As I drove home today, I realized that a strange series of events I’ve been mulling over in my mind would be the perfect opening sequence for a novel I’ve been wanting to write for years.  I just spent the last hour rewriting the outline.  I really want to do this now.  I’m still going to spend a good deal of my writing time editing…but I think I’m going to try writing this book as well.

The thing is, the only way for this story to work is by making it fit into the literary genre.  That means approaching the novel from a third person present standpoint–something I have never been good at.  This will be good practice.  I’m starting to wonder why all my favorite authors stick to a single genre.  I like trying them all like I’m at a buffet.  Sci-fi here. Mystery there.  First person here.  Third Person there.  I love them all…so long as I get to express myself in a new and interesting way.

With Love,
Richard

66,073 Words in 42 Days

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At 4:45pm today, I have completed my fourth novel.  It took me 42 days to write and is a total of 66,073 words.  That means I wrote an average of 1,573 words every day over the past six weeks.  Although the novel is slightly shortly than I would like it, I will probably take care of that in the editing.  I will wait until tomorrow to figure out how to edit this monster.

Tonight I will rest and celebrate.

8 April 2012: 600 Words
9 April 2012: 2,700 Words
10 April 2012: 4,300 Words
11 April 2012: 4,800 Words
12 April 2012: 8,700 Words
13 April 2012: 9,900 Words
14 April 2012: 10,700 Words
15 April 2012: 11,600 Words
16 April 2012: 13,800 Words
17 April 2012: 15,900 Words
18 April 2012: 17,500 Words
19 April 2012: 20,000 Words
20 April 2012: 21,100 Words
21 April 2012: 22,100 Words
22 April 2012: 25,300 Words
23 April 2012: 27,100 Words
24 April 2012: 28,500 Words
25 April 2012: 30,200 Words
26 April 2012: 31,500 Words
27 April 2012: 33,300 Words
28 April 2012: 34,700 Words
29 April 2012: 36,300 Words
30 April 2012: Halftime Break
1 May 2012: 38,300 Words
2 May 2012: 39,900 Words
3 May 2012: 40,700 Words
4 May 2012: 42,500 Words
5 May 2012: 43,400 Words
6 May 2012: 44,300 Words
7 May 2012: 46,600 Words
8 May 2012: 48,000 Words
9 May 2012: 48,900 Words
10 May 2012: 51,000 Words
11 May 2012: 52,300 Words
12 May 2012: Fourth Quarter Break
13 May 2012: 53,700 Words
14 May 2012: 55,100 Words
15 May 2012: 56,400 Words
16 May 2012: 59,800 Words
17 May 2012: Two-Minute Warning
18 May 2012: 64,700 Words
19 May 2012: 66,073 Words

Finishing in Style

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Most writers have a certain scene stuck in their head when they write.  I know I do.  I feel compelled to write because I can see certain parts of my story so clearly.  I know exactly what needs to happen before I can write the scene that I’ve thought about for weeks.  Sometimes it is the beginning of the story.  Sometimes it’s a random part.  Sometimes it is the climax.

I had four of those scenes stuck in my head when I started this project.  Now that I am in my final two weeks of writing, I have written out three of those four scenes.  Nothing is more satisfying that being able to write out a scene in such a way that gives it justice.  It’s a surprisingly hard thing to accomplish.  Sometimes these scenes have been in my mind for years.  When you finally write it out, you don’t want to get a detail wrong.

Damn.  Writing with passion complicates everything.  Hmmm…sounds about right.

With Love,
Richard

50,000 Words in 33 Days

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I have hit 50,000 words in what will be my fourth novel.  Of late, I have done some research and determined that it will fall under the “Commercial Fiction” section (although that section is rather broad).  With 20,000-30,000 words left to work with, I can feel the end of the story building up.  All the characters are in the right spots.  The storyline has progressed beautifully.  I don’t think I’ve even been so happy with my own story before.

Considering I did not have an extensive outline as I wrote this book, I know the edit job will be a bit of a a hassle.  I am already making note of a few of the problems that I have created.  Some of them will be annoying.  Others will be easy.  I’m just glad that it doesn’t bother me all that much yet.  When I was younger, I used to not be able to move on until I took care of every problem in the story.  It’s the main reason why I never finished anything when I was younger.  It’s fascinating how much progress you make in your own writing style with each and every piece you produce.

Much Love,
Richard

Final Chapter Outline

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I finished the second climax of the novel today.  It puts me past 45,000 words.  When I finished, I realized how barren my outline was for the rest of the novel.  Just a few points here and there. I spent a great deal of time finding historical references to make the final 25,000-35,000 words realistic and fascinating.  I think I spent more time outlining than writing today.  But I am in luck.  The final outline is complete.

With this novel, i have accomplished several goals that I have aimed for.  One: I am writing something I would love to read.  Two: I have a stroyline is not linear throughout.  Three: Love is not the central theme.  Four: Only a single character contains characteristic similar to me (and he actually isn’t involved in the story itself).  All in all, I feel like this novel is my most successful one yet.  And I haven’t even finished it.  I still predict that I will be done before the end of May.