I woke Ted up and cried on him and told him everything that happens in the hundred pages I’ve written since he read the manuscript, and he opined that the thing my main character does that I’m not comfortable with is in fact exactly what she should and in fact has to do. He came up with a couple of good ideas that help explain something else, and then he made dinner and re-arranged the living room. Ted is a hero.
So what I’m doing now is going back through the manuscript to see if I can strengthen things that lead to the decision that makes me twitchy, and what I’m discovering is that quite literally from the first chapter, the support for it is already there. You’d think I knew what I was doing, or something.
The step after that, then, is to take what I’ve written in the last few days and intensify the emotional impact. Right now what I’ve got is good, but it’s also too distanced, too remote, which works in one way and doesn’t in another. I could tell when I was writing it that it wasn’t *right*, but at the moment getting through was more important than perfection. Now I’m feeling the pressure of actually needing that to be stronger material in that section, because without that strength I’m not happy with the Problematic Scenario.
And ideally what will happen is that fixing those chapters will either resolve the issue I have (Ted’s belief that it’s in character and appropriate helps, because he’s usually right about these things) or while I’m fixing them I’ll figure out what other choices I have. I expect this will take most of tomorrow. There’s no way I’ll finish NNWM by the end of November, and I probably won’t finish the book by the end of November either (god damn it), but hell, I’ve already deleted fifty thousand words from this book, which must count for something, right? (Ok, probably only…ok, actually, probably at least 50K. This is *not* a good way to write a book.)
Yeah. This is the exciting life of a writer, folks. This is what the glamour looks like. :)
If it will lift your spirits … I’ve seen Heart Of Stone in the local Krogers.* So it’s in as many places as possible to attract readers.
Last books I saw pushed into Krogers that were “genre romance” were‘s Guardian mass markets. So I consider this a good sign. And, come to think of it, I saw some books as well. :-)
Also if it will help, I just picked up Heart of Stone. };)
YOU CAN DO IT!
And actually, more often than not, I’ve found that when writers think they need something they go back and find that they’ve all ready set it up.
TRUST YOURSELF.
smooches, Robin
I’ve long said that most of the people who think of writer’s lives as glamorous and/or exciting do not do very much of the thing itself. When they find out how much work it really is, that winnows out a great many of the people right there who are best off in another hobby. Then you have all the folks who are decently talented, but can’t find the stamina to put their ass in a chair and write consistently. And so on, and by the time you’re done winnowing everyone out, you have the Golden People — who, when you get down to it, are not all that different from their fellow non-writers except that they put their butt in a chair and write.
So, I salute you just for the fact that you do that alone, where so many other people never do!
Yeah for super hubbys!
Oh, and I work at the local Borders where we have just run out of Heart of Stone! I had to order it for my sister today since there were no more on the shelves.
**I loved it, BTW, and can’t wait for more Grit!**
Hugs – Yell if there is anything I can do – bring you ice cream, take you out walking, distract you, insist you go back to work – whatever. OK? Just yell.
Go, go, go Power Writer!
btw, what is the conversation, approximately, of a typed page and a printed novel page? Is there anyway to estimate that?
Glad you discovered the structure for what needs to be done is already there, and Ted is a very excellent bear!