Sunday evening

[ksmith]

Started out hot. Then a line of unforeseen t-storms pushed through, and for a few lovely hours the air was drier and cooler. Then it heated up to 90F. At least it didn't reach 99F, as was predicted earlier.

Finished a chapter, and was happy to find that I could use a scene already written. I continue to condense--the scene that was part of the rewritten Ch 18 was part of the old Ch 22. Ch 19 will, I think, require a ground floor rewrite, but the next chapter could combine parts of two others.

Pacing. That little voice in the back of your head that tells you that you need to move things along. That voice that tells you that as much as you like some scenes, one particular sequence, you may need to cut it all out and introduce what information you need to get out there some other way. I need to get these folks off Elyas and on their way to Shèrá. I may need to cut one sequence where they have a stopover at Guernsey Station just because I don't think I can spare the pages. Too much happens on Shèrá, and I really can't afford to gloss it over. It's the culmination of the whole damned series, after all.

But I can see the major signposts, and some of the markers in between, and that's exciting. I hate to say that I like this book, because it can be considered a curse of sorts--you're not supposed to be satisfied with your stuff, ever--but I think I like this book. I wish it had a title I liked as well.

I have to check the pronunciation/spelling/where the hell did I put those accent marks page on my website every once in a while. Sad, but true. Writers forget things you wouldn't think they'd forget, and remember the damnedest.

I suppose I need to think about getting ready for the week ahead now...

Comments

[battle-of-one.livejournal.com]

I believe you can like your work without being satisfied with it. :)

And pacing. Alas. One of those things that is sometimes a little hard to see on our own; it takes other eyes.

But look at you go! I'm looking forward to being able to report I'm that far into my new one. It seems worlds away.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I believe you can like your work without being satisfied with it. :)

Yeah, that's it. Could I have told the story differently, sure. Made Jani more what I think she is? If I began the series today, would I have set it up the same way?

And pacing. Alas. One of those things that is sometimes a little hard to see on our own; it takes other eyes.

I confess to not really being sure how to define it. I have defined it in my own mind as the rate at which the big and little cats are let out of the bag--I usually try for a semi-major event at the quarter point, a biggie at the halfway point, and finishing the book within a couple of chapters after the Big Moment, much like what I've read of screenplay pacing. I have not gone back and looked at my books to see if I have actually followed that plan that closely, but I mean well and I have a Good Heart.

Then there's the little voice in the back of my head, one for every occasion. I have one that tells me that nothing has happened in a while and I need to make something happen now. I've dubbed it the Pacing Fairy.

But look at you go! I'm looking forward to being able to report I'm that far into my new one. It seems worlds away.

I have been working on this book for Way Too Long. I first wrote the outline in the summer of 2003, which gives you some idea. But the parts seem to be clicking into place. The more of the first draft I can reuse, the faster things will click.

I want this thing to click like a roomful of wind-up dentures.

[battle-of-one.livejournal.com]

Could I have told the story differently, sure. Made Jani more what I think she is? If I began the series today, would I have set it up the same way?

Always those questions will linger, the roads not taken, but we can drive ourselves crazy with that. It's detrimental enough doing that in life, and in writing it's the same I think. Also, I believe the body of work artists produce is their life story in a way, if not literally then especially in other ways. We grow as people and we learn, so whatever perceived 'faults' we see in our work, they're just a marker or part of our development as artists, and thus hold a rightful place in what we do over time.

I confess to not really being sure how to define it. I have defined it in my own mind as the rate at which the big and little cats are let out of the bag--I usually try for a semi-major event at the quarter point, a biggie at the halfway point, and finishing the book within a couple of chapters after the Big Moment, much like what I've read of screenplay pacing. I have not gone back and looked at my books to see if I have actually followed that plan that closely, but I mean well and I have a Good Heart.

I think those are definitely good guidelines, and deviation from them isn't necessarily anathema. Personally I think I need to follow that a little more closely with my own work, I just tend to hate dealing with structure that explicitly. It's tedious, but then I'm just flaky sometimes with my writing that way; the nuts and bolts of it like that don't thrill me like, say, developing characters. It's like, you want a formula but not make it formulaic, because then it can get predictable and I don't want my readers to be too comfortable...for me, anyway, it's annoying if I go and watch a movie and find its skeletal structure too transparent.

I've dubbed it the Pacing Fairy.

That is perfect and is actually exactly how I tend to work. A lot of instinct, which can be good and bad, I recognize that, depending on how I apply it.

I want this thing to click like a roomful of wind-up dentures.

LOL! That is brilliant. May the clicking continue!!