Been a bit but I’ve been finishing up the last of Mom’s stuff and frankly, it takes a while to get to “new normal” after someone dies. No apologies here–it takes a lot out of you and exhausts you in ways you never thought possible. You gotta give yourself time for whatever you need and if that means letting other things go, then that’s what happens.
However, I’ve got a new writing project, a novel and totally unrelated to Project Threshold. It’s something I’ve been pushing around on my plate for the better part of a year or more and in the last few weeks it finally jumped to the forefront.
I’ve started writing. I probably spent a couple of weeks getting my cast of characters (which is still building and changing), my plot idea–really rough, but I know what I want to do with it and ultimately where it’s going to end. And who will make it.
Yeah, horror based. Again, I like the psychological horror, so while, yes, there will be blood and bodies, that’s the sideline. I like the build up, the effects the story has on the main characters and how they keep trying to get themselves out of this mess 🙂
One thing that struck me this morning while I was writing…a lot of writers talk about word counts or pages. On social media they talk about how many words they knocked out or the number of pages their manuscript is at.
I get it.
And yes, it’s a way to prod yourself along. Woohoo, I got 1300 words written today, so if I’m writing a 100K novel, that’s roughly .013% 🙂 10K and you’re a tenth done…and so on.
Except. I get the appeal, but it also keeps you focused on how much you have done and how far you still need to go. What looks like a way to keep yourself motivated actually keeps you focusing on the numbers instead of the important thing.
The story.
I’m only a few thousand words into my story but I realized I look at my next novel in terms of okay, this is the set up phase. I’m still setting the story, the background, introducing characters and putting things into motion. Next comes moving into the guts of the story: establishing the antagonist and just what kind of adversary it is. Also, revealing more about the MC’s and what they’re strengths and weaknesses are.
Somewhere in there, you get to the halfway point and that’s where you need to start building toward your climax. In small and subtle ways, but you set up the idea that your MC’s are in over their heads and they have to figure out how to stop the ‘big bad’ while still keeping themselves intact. It’s also where you throw in your twists and reveal more of the “real” plot.
I finished this morning (okay, you got me–it was more like 11am, but morning for me, when I can choose the timing, it’s stay up til 2, sleep til 10am and then start my day :)). When I finished for the moment, I didn’t look at the word count or the page count. I sat there trying to decide what happens next. What’s the next chapter, the next few pages and who do those words and pages need to focus on?
That’s how I proceed. I only keep track of the word count/page count in order to keep me on pace with the story. As I said, for a 100K novel, at around 50K words you need to start shifting toward the climax of the story. Start herding the story toward the end. You can get off on minor tangents that advance the story, or even set up the end but you can’t derail things.
This is my side tangent here but I am still of the mind (and I don’t remember who taught me this), but every word sentence, paragraph and chapter needs to advance the story toward “The End”
Side tangents are fine ONLy if they advance the plot in some way. Description is great if it relates to the plot, but if you spend two pages off on a tangent on honey bees and it doesn’t relate directly to the story in some way…it doesn’t belong. I love all things related to the ocean (and fear a few…), but I don’t insert any of that knowledge I’ve picked up if it doesn’t pertain to the story. If it’s some MC’s side passion, it gets a sentence at most and ONLY in order to reveal something about their personality that does relate to the crisis at hand.
If details have no bearing on the story, leave them out or save them for another story where it does.
Side tangent achieved.
I think authors get too caught up on how far (or little) they’ve come in writing a novel. Don’t worry about the number of words or pages other than using them as mile markers for where you’re at in the story. If you’re on page 25 you should be tossing out tidbits (relevant) about your MC’s that will affect something later on. If you’re on page 300, you better make sure you’re gearing up for the big showdown. Either that, or you know you’re going to have to go back in later and cut some irrelevent lines and side tangents that don’t mean anything.
My suggestion here is that focusing on your word count or pages written can distract you from focusing on the story itself. If you’re in the “zone” on your story, the pages will come and the number of words will rack up on their own.
Let that happen on its own.
You keep your head down on what Natalie is up to and how the previous day’s horror is affecting her, shaping how she’s going to behave a hundred pages down the road. Is Greta going to listen to that intuition or is fear going to get the best of her at some point? Or, is Hershel’s knowledge going to be enough to keep himself safe or did he just get drawn in because of his overwhelming fascination with the pattern he discovered . . .
Dont’ beat yourself up if you do focus on word counts. Just remember it’s not the be endall and it can be a negative thing. Keep the story itself at the forefront of your focus and you’ll be fine.
Craig