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My novel Perdition's Flames has basically been stagnant for quite a while. I started a rewrite of the early chapters before the novel was complete, and I've heard from ... basically every source that there is that this is A Bad Thing™. Editing while writing makes Jack an editor, not a writer.
But the reason I stopped writing it was that something was wrong. I got to a point in chapter 9 when I just didn't know what was happening next. I knew—and know—what generally needs to come next. Who is to die, who is to be severely injured, who is to get captured, who is to do the rescuing and how and why ... I even finally came up with the motivation for my bad guy to be doing all this. (Note: Because It's Real Evil™ is not a good motivation.) I even realized I had to add a new character from the beginning. And I told myself that this was why I was editing the first few chapters. To add this new character in at chapter 9 would mean I was putting a kindergartener into the 9th grade; a one-dimensional character introduced into a three-dimensional universe with ... I'll be honest: my existing 2-dimensional characters. (I intend to add that third dimension in the rewrite(s).)
I even sort of believed it.
But I was doing a little introspection today and I realized that—and this could be just as wrong as my other 'realization' was—most of my problem is that I have no idea what the bad guy is up to. I'm fairly sure the current nine chapters take place in only three consecutive days, but do they? Has the bad guy had time to do everything I've had him doing in that short amount of time?
I need to make a timeline. And this is (probably) not just me doing more stalling in the name of world-building. This is me realizing something Mike Stackpole1 said the other night on Second Life: usually when something is wrong at the end of the book, it's really because you started the book with something wrong there. Fixing the beginning can fix the end. But also keeping in mind something else he said, which is that the ending is fluid. A lot of time, while you're writing, you come up with a better ending than the one you started with. And all those clues and red herrings you threw at your protagonist(s) and readers are now basically worthless.
It wasn't the beginning, because rewriting the beginning is only netting me a small gain: I'm adding a needed new character, I'm fixing some other problems ... but the real, underlying problem still exists, which I think is why I'm even stalled on the damned rewrite.
So. I'm going to make a timeline. I have the antagonist, some bit players, victims, and protagonist investigators (it's an urban fantasy mystery), and I have no idea what they're doing or when. Or even whether they all have time to do them simultaneously.
Plus, this will help me, too, on having to come up with actual backgrounds for a couple of the less well-developed characters. Like poor Derek, who is my 9th-chapter addition. :)
Here's hoping that this time, I'm actually right.
Reason for stopping: I lost the thread.
But the reason I stopped writing it was that something was wrong. I got to a point in chapter 9 when I just didn't know what was happening next. I knew—and know—what generally needs to come next. Who is to die, who is to be severely injured, who is to get captured, who is to do the rescuing and how and why ... I even finally came up with the motivation for my bad guy to be doing all this. (Note: Because It's Real Evil™ is not a good motivation.) I even realized I had to add a new character from the beginning. And I told myself that this was why I was editing the first few chapters. To add this new character in at chapter 9 would mean I was putting a kindergartener into the 9th grade; a one-dimensional character introduced into a three-dimensional universe with ... I'll be honest: my existing 2-dimensional characters. (I intend to add that third dimension in the rewrite(s).)
I even sort of believed it.
But I was doing a little introspection today and I realized that—and this could be just as wrong as my other 'realization' was—most of my problem is that I have no idea what the bad guy is up to. I'm fairly sure the current nine chapters take place in only three consecutive days, but do they? Has the bad guy had time to do everything I've had him doing in that short amount of time?
I need to make a timeline. And this is (probably) not just me doing more stalling in the name of world-building. This is me realizing something Mike Stackpole1 said the other night on Second Life: usually when something is wrong at the end of the book, it's really because you started the book with something wrong there. Fixing the beginning can fix the end. But also keeping in mind something else he said, which is that the ending is fluid. A lot of time, while you're writing, you come up with a better ending than the one you started with. And all those clues and red herrings you threw at your protagonist(s) and readers are now basically worthless.
It wasn't the beginning, because rewriting the beginning is only netting me a small gain: I'm adding a needed new character, I'm fixing some other problems ... but the real, underlying problem still exists, which I think is why I'm even stalled on the damned rewrite.
So. I'm going to make a timeline. I have the antagonist, some bit players, victims, and protagonist investigators (it's an urban fantasy mystery), and I have no idea what they're doing or when. Or even whether they all have time to do them simultaneously.
Plus, this will help me, too, on having to come up with actual backgrounds for a couple of the less well-developed characters. Like poor Derek, who is my 9th-chapter addition. :)
Here's hoping that this time, I'm actually right.
| Project working title: Perdition's Flames New words: 0 Current total words: 345822 Goal: 750003 |
Reason for stopping: I lost the thread.
- Why, yes, I am dropping names. :)
- I qualify this because some of those 34,500+ words are the rewrite of chapters 1 and 2, so there's some doubling.
- 75000 ... I don't know, I'm just guessing. At chapter 9, I think I'm actually roughly 3/4 of the way done, which doesn't look too good for 75000 words as a goal. I may end up being closer to 50,000, and then during the rewrite, I can add subplots or something to get it up to 'novel' range.
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