Since I started third shift at work, I haven't had the mental strength to work on the novel. I'm hoping that will change this week with the three days off that have been gifted to me.
I tried to go over notes and chapters today, hoping to spark some encouraging words to write a bit before work tonight...no luck. It's times like this (which I'm sure a lot of day workers/night writers...or in my case vice versa) go through the stage of "what's the point?" "At this rate it will never get written.", or, the one that has taken over the past couple days, "Maybe I should spend this time catching up on TV series on Netflix."
<Insert rolling eyeballs here>
I turn 37 Friday. I had asked for a large Birthday cupcake and a new book. Not an ebook, a REAL, PHYSICAL book. I was asked which one and I didn't have an answer. That was last night. Today, as I sit and write this blog, I realized that the book I want to read the most, is my own. I want to know how the MC survives everything, how the conflicts change her, her family, the love interests, etc. I want to know what her overall transformation is going to be by the end of the book so I can go "Awww man! It's the end??, I wonder if another one is going to be written anyways, (because we all know that some authors do that, even when a story must just END), then you get spin offs or short stories but, it doesn't matter, there's the character you love and want to continue the journey with.
Of course when that happens I will probably finally accept the fact that there are other characters that will want their story told as well. (I rolled my eyes at that too.)
There is a story update though, because before all this I was working every free minute I had on getting the chapters worked out. It went from 18, to 20 and now 25 for the first part....I'm putting my foot down at 25.
Right now (insert cynical giggle), there are 25 chapters to the first phase of the MC's life before the First Plot Point. Some will probably think that is wayyyy to many chapters to get to the FPP...Howeva...
During my "reread", I noticed that there is a sneaky minor subplot. And, after a "Ohhh that's why" moment, come to find out this sneaky little subplot is what makes EVERYTHING collide and thus the Second Phase of my MC's life come about.
The chapters are broken down into an estimated 4 to 8 scenes per chapter depending on the rise and fall of conflict within that chapter. Though I will admit there's a couple of chapters that might only have 3 scenes because the shift in POV demanded it.
If one was to break down the first part of this story it could be a novel on it's own. I'm happy with that but, as I have said before, I'm not one for waiting months or even years for the "next" book in a series.
BUT, there are tricks that I've had to learn (and some very hard) when trying to write a story like this. If you take "Story Structure" into consideration, it doesn't work very well with what I'm trying to do. Not saying it's not helpful, just saying I had to tweek it....a lot.
Since the first part of the Story could technically be a novel on it's own, I've had to rearrange a few things to make it flow into the second phase without any time (story time that is) lost. What should be the ending, is actually the FPP, THIS WAS NOT EASY. Nor what I will have to do for the "middle" of the story which some say has 2 parts and others will say...well something else, my point is, the minor subplot from storyline 1, becomes the main Subplot in storyline 2 and the middle is going to be about Learning, survival, enemies, friends, family, lost loves, secrets, etc....the whole shebang.
Right now the difficult thing that is always on my mind is the movement from the end of part 2 to the beginning of part 4. In this story, I consider this part 3 to be the "Lull' that many talk about that happens in certain large novels. But, I'm not fond of that word being used as a descriptor for this part of the story.
The only way I can describe it is: It's like an out of body experience except, the pain of life will still be felt. It's torture for the MC. And, as we all know, torture does things to the mind. The last part of this story will be the .........no it IS, the real story. I have worked for years to get to this part. There have been times when I want to forgo the other parts and JUST WRITE THIS ONE. But, I can't. It would defeat the purpose of giving this character what she deserves.
*********
This long winded blog is to make up for not posting lately. I find that I do this when I feel that I've "lost my way".
I tried to go over notes and chapters today, hoping to spark some encouraging words to write a bit before work tonight...no luck. It's times like this (which I'm sure a lot of day workers/night writers...or in my case vice versa) go through the stage of "what's the point?" "At this rate it will never get written.", or, the one that has taken over the past couple days, "Maybe I should spend this time catching up on TV series on Netflix."
<Insert rolling eyeballs here>
I turn 37 Friday. I had asked for a large Birthday cupcake and a new book. Not an ebook, a REAL, PHYSICAL book. I was asked which one and I didn't have an answer. That was last night. Today, as I sit and write this blog, I realized that the book I want to read the most, is my own. I want to know how the MC survives everything, how the conflicts change her, her family, the love interests, etc. I want to know what her overall transformation is going to be by the end of the book so I can go "Awww man! It's the end??, I wonder if another one is going to be written anyways, (because we all know that some authors do that, even when a story must just END), then you get spin offs or short stories but, it doesn't matter, there's the character you love and want to continue the journey with.
Of course when that happens I will probably finally accept the fact that there are other characters that will want their story told as well. (I rolled my eyes at that too.)
There is a story update though, because before all this I was working every free minute I had on getting the chapters worked out. It went from 18, to 20 and now 25 for the first part....I'm putting my foot down at 25.
Right now (insert cynical giggle), there are 25 chapters to the first phase of the MC's life before the First Plot Point. Some will probably think that is wayyyy to many chapters to get to the FPP...Howeva...
During my "reread", I noticed that there is a sneaky minor subplot. And, after a "Ohhh that's why" moment, come to find out this sneaky little subplot is what makes EVERYTHING collide and thus the Second Phase of my MC's life come about.
The chapters are broken down into an estimated 4 to 8 scenes per chapter depending on the rise and fall of conflict within that chapter. Though I will admit there's a couple of chapters that might only have 3 scenes because the shift in POV demanded it.
If one was to break down the first part of this story it could be a novel on it's own. I'm happy with that but, as I have said before, I'm not one for waiting months or even years for the "next" book in a series.
BUT, there are tricks that I've had to learn (and some very hard) when trying to write a story like this. If you take "Story Structure" into consideration, it doesn't work very well with what I'm trying to do. Not saying it's not helpful, just saying I had to tweek it....a lot.
Since the first part of the Story could technically be a novel on it's own, I've had to rearrange a few things to make it flow into the second phase without any time (story time that is) lost. What should be the ending, is actually the FPP, THIS WAS NOT EASY. Nor what I will have to do for the "middle" of the story which some say has 2 parts and others will say...well something else, my point is, the minor subplot from storyline 1, becomes the main Subplot in storyline 2 and the middle is going to be about Learning, survival, enemies, friends, family, lost loves, secrets, etc....the whole shebang.
Right now the difficult thing that is always on my mind is the movement from the end of part 2 to the beginning of part 4. In this story, I consider this part 3 to be the "Lull' that many talk about that happens in certain large novels. But, I'm not fond of that word being used as a descriptor for this part of the story.
The only way I can describe it is: It's like an out of body experience except, the pain of life will still be felt. It's torture for the MC. And, as we all know, torture does things to the mind. The last part of this story will be the .........no it IS, the real story. I have worked for years to get to this part. There have been times when I want to forgo the other parts and JUST WRITE THIS ONE. But, I can't. It would defeat the purpose of giving this character what she deserves.
*********
This long winded blog is to make up for not posting lately. I find that I do this when I feel that I've "lost my way".