on the writing of unpleasant things, or not as the case may be

Finally figured out what's been preventing me from finishing the opening chapter of Miledrop, which was that I couldn't see how to get Cori from where she was to where I needed her to be without doing something really unpleasant to her in the process. I've tried for a week or so now to come up with other ways of solving the problem, up to and including removing Cori entirely from the book (that half-finished chapter has been deleted and reinserted into the main file at least five times -- ah, the joy of daily backups).

So yesterday evening after work I spent time engaging in my most productive plot-noodling technique -- curling up in bed with the kitties and taking a nap. Believe it or not, that seems to work great for me for thinking out writing problems, and even when it doesn't I'm usually sleep-deprived enough that it's not a waste. Anyhow, sometime yesterday evening it hit me that there was a way to make it work. I committed about 1500 words to it today so far and the first chapter is (while very rough-drafty) definitely done and satisfactory.

Yay! Now that I know Cori is in the book and on her way, I can get back to Daran's intro in chapter two and make sure he's also heading in the right direction.

Also, I got to kill off a very minor but seriously unpleasant character from Novel the First. Double yay! It always vaguely irked me that he never got his comeuppance. I may have exercised some overkill in his demise, but by the time he gets it he really deserves it. Nice to have the bodycount ticker already in play by the end of the first chapter (-:

Since this is seeming to be really a novel, We have adjusted Our nomenclature to demote the stalled-but-not-dead Arcx from position of Novel the Second to Novel the Third, and make Miledrop (again, awaiting a better title) officially Novel the Second.

Thus, stats:
Miledrop
7,700 / 100,000 words

With luck that'll start going up more quickly now. My goal is to have a finished first draft by late summer, which if I re-enlist in the whole novel_in_90 concept as a minimum should be more than do-able. All my shorter-than-novel-length works that aren't helplessly broken are off on submission, and so not distracting me.

Onward!

(no subject)

There's a new story up over at the Town Drunk, The Great Deeds of Payven Larum by Rod Santos. For a first story it's pretty darned entertaining. It suffers from some awkward spots and a flatness in the pacing, but it shows definite promise. Great opening line.

Anyhow, if you need a chuckle, it's worth your time.