I realize I’m double-posting today, but hopefully no one minds! Today marks the end of February, which is the shortest month––and yet it felt really long to me. Maybe it’s because the weather has been so nuts. A couple weeks ago the temperature was getting into the negatives, and today it’s 62˚ (Fahrenheit that is, but still)! But I’ve also been really busy with writing and editing this month, so I have a lot of stuff to talk about for my WIPMarathon post this month!
If you’ve been following my WIPWednesday posts, you probably know this already, but I FINALLY FINISHED MY FIRST DRAFT OF I CHOSE THE MONSTER. It took me almost three years, but I finally wrote those beautiful words “The End”.
… Of course, now comes the worst part: Editing. But I’ll get to that in a second.
Last WC/CC: 150,258 words / 54 chapters
Current WC/CC: 154,339 words / 56 chapters
And before anyone says “Wow Brigid you know that’s way too long, right?” … I KNOW, I KNOW. I’m not insane enough to ever pitch a book that long, haha. 😛 My first drafts tend to be extremely long––it always happens. After a few rounds of edits, I’m confident I can get it down to a reasonable length.
WIP Issues This Month:
Besides the obvious “oh god my manuscript is ridiculously long”––a bunch of things. Obviously I am glad that I finally finished the first draft of this monster (pun totally intended). But I only felt good about it for about half a day. As soon as my head hit the pillow that night, the worries started bursting in my head. I don’t even know where to start, but just some of the major issues:
- There’s not really any central conflict. The first draft is very “episodic,” with the characters pretty much doing the same things over and over.
- At the moment, the characters are not very fleshed-out. I think I’ve only scraped the surface, and the characters need a ton more development.
- The world-building also needs a lot of work. The story takes place in the future, but it doesn’t feel very different from present-day. Also I think the Morts (the zombie-like creatures the characters are facing) need more defined characteristics, since it’s pretty inconsistent right now.
I can complain all day about all the things I have to fix, but the more important question is: What am I going to do about it? Well … I’m trying to get it together, and to try to tackle all these things one at a time.
This month, I started by making an outline of all the scenes I wrote in my first draft, and I’ve started brainstorming and taking notes on some potential changes to the plot in the next draft. I may need a bit of a break before I really start on the next draft, but at least I’m still keeping the ideas rolling.
What distracted me this month while writing/editing:
I did a lot of reading this month––which isn’t a bad thing of course, but it did cut in to my writing and editing time a bit.
I also felt a little burnt out after finally getting to the end of the first draft, and I was torn about whether I should get into edits right away or not. I’m still kind of torn about that, so … I don’t know. Guess I’ll just go with the flow!
Goal for next month:
Hmmmm, good question. I feel like it’s kind of up in the air right now, but I guess I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing––in other words, doing some light edits on ICTM while brainstorming bigger changes for the next draft. By the end of March, I would like to have at least tried to rewrite a scene or two, though. We’ll see. But I’m also considering giving it a bit of a rest for a couple more weeks and maybe working on The Resurrectionists instead. So, I don’t quite know––it’s a surprise, woohoo!
Last 200 words:
Well, obviously I’m not sharing the last 200 words of the book! 😉 But I’ll go with an excerpt from a chapter I’ve recently been editing:
Aim. Shoot. Miss.
The target glares from a distance, judging me with its critical red bullseye. Bullet holes pepper its surface, but that’s more from other people practicing on it than from me. I’ve only made a few weak dents at the corners.
Crack.
The weapon jerks in my hands again, and the bullet bounces off the edge of the target with a faint ping. I let out a long sigh, lowering the gun.
Across the training ground and through the fence, the wasteland beyond shimmers in the heat. An occasional tuft of grass dots the ground, but most of it is barren and dusty. Barbed wire curls around the top of the fence, glinting menacingly.
This place feels like prison, but I don’t know why they bother trapping us here. If someone were to escape this place, where the hell would they go? There’s nothing out there.
How about you guys?
How are those WIPs going? Comment and let me know! 🙂