Three Paragraphs

Just before I finished the first draft I came across some stuff I had written months ago. I remembered writing it in a short period of time. There was little to no editing done on the passage before I came across it again. I was surprised at how much I still liked it.

I had previoulsy cut out whole swathes of the book and completely rewritten passages. The idea was there, but the execution at times left something to be desired. Half the problem was that I didn’t fully know what the book was about or where it was going. The other, was that I had never written in such length and description a fiction work before.

BUT, back to the point, these few paragraphs that I found I liked quite a lot. They made me even chuckle a little. I will not reveal them here. I don’t want them to be like the taglines from movie trailers. You see them fifty times before the movie, so when you see that a particular line delivered in a movie, it feels cheap and used.

Further, it gave me a little hope that the book won’t be complete garbage, that if by some miracle someone pays for this thing, they won’t be utterly disappointed when they close the back cover. I suppose, there are still a few more steps along the way before that happens though.

If you want to look for the place I’m talking about, its towards the end of the first part of the book. It involves coordinating family and eating. Sort of. That’s probably vague enough to not give anything away.

FIRST DRAFT IS COMPLETE!

And just like that, its finished. I really hit a groove and finished off the end of the beginning of the book (the last major hole in the thing). And funny enough, I felt happy and a little proud that it was done. I’m not sure if it will, but to date, the whole project has yet to feel like something I have to do.

I think I can finish this. I think its doable that I can make this into a book. It may be garbage and not worth reading, but it wouldn’t be the first one of those. I suppose that the whole success or failure of the project comes down to how I would define it.

Best case: Somehow this things gets some notice and people hear about it. Enough people read it that someone thinks that I could make some money for them. They pay me to write another book or two. OR, no one pays me, but it still gets the word of mouth and publicity. Then I can go on self-publishing other books and have some sort of audience. Though, the odds of either of these happening are slim.

Medium Case: I sell enough books to make my money back. I get a couple emails, maybe a letter (from someone I don’t know) that thinks the book isn’t complete shit. I can’t quit my job or move anywhere, but I get a feeling of acomplishment. This seems likely given a lot of work marketing the thing. 500 books should get me my money back. It seems like there should be 500 people in this country willing to take a chance and drop down some cash.

Least Case: Maybe a dozen people that know me pick up the book. Probably no strangers, because what’s the point? But I still have written, edited, and published a book by myself. And like the weary carpenter at the end of the day, there is the satisfaction in a job well done. The schenario seems to be the most likely.

So, what do I think? Before I finished this first draft, I would have thought the last situation was the most likely, but after having read and revised the whole thing, I’m leaning more towards the second. I can make it better. I can make the book into something that wouldn’t be a bad read. The question then becomes, can I let enough people know that the book exists? We’ll see, I suppose.

Until the second draft is done, I’m going to stick with the middle definition of success for this project.

Almost there

In my life I have started probably 50 things for every one that I finish. Maybe. Usually its the way I operate, once I can see how something is going to turn out, I let it sit. I’ve got endless pages of sketches, a stack of half-finished paintings, and more than a few table tops sitting in the shop.

I have two points to make in this regard. The first is that I used to think that I knew what the finished result of something was going to be. I no longer think that way. Having made it this far into the GIANT, I have seen major plot points change. The story itself changed noticably thoughout the process of writing it. I had thought, while just jotting ideas down, and sketching things in my notebook that I knew the whole story. I was wrong. So this leads me to wonder how different some of my uncompleted projects could be?

But don’t get me wrong. I haven’t learned anything from this. I’ve got maybe four hours worth of writing time needed to finish up the first draft to this thing. I’ve needed four hours for more than a week now. I’ve certainly sat in front of the computer to write, but I haven’t done much writing. I did watch Unforgiven. I thumbed through a few home design books. I even looked at cabinet hardware (upcoming kitchen renovation). And who knows what else to distract me.

I just never seem to like finishing things where I don’t have some externally imposed deadline. And this worries me. This first draft — there’s still some small holes. But eventually I have to tighten everything up. THEN, I have to go and proofread the whole stupid thing. And that sounds like zero fun. I wonder if I’ll even want to do it? Will I just give up? If I do, will I publish a 7/8 finished book? I would hope not, as that would be a poor reflection upon myself.

“What is the book about?”

was talking to a friend who asked me that question the other day. Here’s how I answered it:

Me: It’s a fiction book.

Her: About what?

Me: [hmm? what is it about?] It’s about the end of the world, and a couple people that try to save things.

Her: So, its a religious thing?

Me: No. [Clearly I’m not explaining this well] No. There’s some religious themes interwoven I guess, but nothing that is strictly religious.

I had previously started to sketch out the little blurbs and taglines, and I have written every word of the thing so far, but couldn’t come up with anything better than that. My first chance to get some buzz going (albeit a tiny little baby buzz) and I blew it.

The truth is, the book is still evolving somewhat. Every time I write another chunk or two of it, I get some new ideas about the thing. I think I’m pretty well set on the plot lines and major events, now I just need to figure out how to describe this thing–which I’m close to having a few sentences that aren’t the written equivalent of my first attempt at kissing a girl (read: awkward and life-scaring).

I do have a couple of good taglines though. I will save them until the book is a little closer to being published and distributed. Plus, I do need to be a solid two drafts into the thing to make sure that everything is solidified. I figure after the second draft is complete, there won’t be anymore major plot shifts.

95k

Closing in on 95,000 words now. I’m writing this as a rich text file, and don’t have a word counter in the program, but I’ve estimaged that for 1 kb = 172 words. Or something close to it.

Originally I figured on 100,000 words for the book, with no real base of knowledge or anything. It just seemed like a good number. Now, though, I think the GIANT is heading towards 120,000 words. I’m just about done with the ending, but still need to do some more work on the frontside.

This all means that there is going to be a massive amount of editing going on. THEN, I have to check 100,000+ words for goofs and typos? Wow, that’s a lot of work. It does seem much easier just to not finish the thing doesn’t it?