Friday, March 20, 2015

Monthly Update on Novel

I'm about two-thirds through the novel, just getting to the climax of Act II. The plotting got complicated enough a few weeks ago that I created a spreadsheet to keep track of the flow of dates and events. Chapters had been alternating between 2100 and 2150 and I had to make sure that everything was lining up properly. I'm glad I checked. I was way off. I ended up moving all of the events from 2150 to 2115, which allowed the timelines to merge perfectly a few chapters ago. Whew!

I've done two major rewrites so far. The first happened at the end of Act I when I realized that the secondary character arcs were much less developed than the main one. To fix the problem, I separated the book into three files, breaking out the chapters into three independent stories. My goal was to make each storyline compelling in its own right, giving each character the depth and motivation needed to drive their actions. It turned out to be a really effective approach. I'll probably go through that process one more time when I have an end-to-end draft.

The next rewrite happened just a few days ago. The plot had moved in a direction that resolved some of the major conflicts too early and wasn't setting the stage properly for the big finish in Act III. I ended up going back through the entire book and rewriting quite a few scenes to set up what proved to be some major changes in the way Act II would end. It feels back on track, and I hope to finish Act II over the weekend.

I took a break a few days ago to play around with some cover art concepts. Don't worry. This isn't the final version. What I want to end up with is something that gets across that it's a fantasy trope within a cyberpunk setting, with a kick-ass female lead.

Anyway, if I continue at this pace, I should have a full draft some time in June. I'll check back in before then for another update.




4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm impressed. Truly. The writing process is not easy generally. Sounds like you have great momentum and a great process! Looking forward to your book launch!

Cecil Hirvi said...

Are you considering crowdsourcing your book cover?

You are a fine graphic artist but you might get some interesting covers from others including me!

Hold a contest or something...build a little interest.

xoxoo

Cecil Hirvi said...

Consider crowdsourcing your book cover art. Hold a contest or something...

I would love to try my hand at it too.

Looking forward to reading the full novel.

xoxoxo

Botgirl Questi said...

Michele: I agree that the writing process is not easy. That's why it's so satisfying, right?. :)

Cecil: Crowdsourcing the cover is an interesting idea. I wasn't planning on doing the final version myself.