I have not been posting much at all, because pretty much all of my creative energy lately has been going into rewriting Novel #1.
I believe i have stated somewhere before that I meant to just rewrite the first 2 chapters, because they are the ones that felt most embarrassing. But...just after Christmas, they picked me up and carried me, and said, "While we're on a roll here, let's rewrite Chapter 3." and then, "Hey, there is a much more sensible and logical way for Chapter 4 to play out..." and then, "Heck, with the above chapters, the OLD Chapter 5 makes no sense, so, honey, you are rewriting Chapter 5."
So that's where i am right now; three pages into Chapter 5 and feeling good. I have changed my ambitions: to rewrite Book 1. Long ago, which I later collapsed (mainly because of LaTeX limitations, of all things; my knowledge of LaTeX formatting does not let me insert sub-title pages in the middle of a book), Novel #1 had 3 "books" in it; "a three-volume novel of more than usually revolting sentimentality." So basically, it still has a three-act structure. If I were desperate, those three acts could even be published separately, although Act 2 does lead into Act 3, the way Act 2s are wont to do.
Why am I feeling good?
Because I had forgotten the RUSH of writing. The rush that makes me walk with a pleased grin on my face and dance by the traffic light because I had just seen exactly how the dialogue will form, and it now makes a great deal more sense than it did before.
(I have posted the drafts of at least the first two rewritten chapters to![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
zigzitsa - if you wish to read them and are not a member of the zigzitsa club, please request that I make you one. I am currently formatting Chapters 3 and 4 to also go up there. I am very tempted to put up the chapters as they used to be, as well, for comparison. Although I am now ashamed. Think not how bad you were then; think how good you are now.)
Because now, not only does the world make more sense - I make it more clear how this world is different from all the other fantasy worlds submitted to publishers every year; and I am amazed that, wow, I actually know what is going on during each "spell" (I am even avoiding calling them "spells" now) and I know pretty much what the magic can achieve, what happened in the world before, and how everything works the way it does work. I figured out how healing worked a few days ago. For five years previously, healing's important role in the story was backed by a hand-waving argument. Now it is backed by complex vector-field equations no one except I needs to see, but they are there. Also, the actions of the people in the world make a lot more sense; I have grown in the intervening years; I can better imagine how I would act in their place.
I am still remembering the lovely heavy expensive beige paper which said, in the best writing ever done since their phrasing did not leave me pissed off and ax-murdering, that they do not think it is likely my work would be a bestseller at this time.
I am trying to keep that from my mind. I know that if I wrote to sell, rather than writing for love, I will hate my work. Therefore, my goal is to enjoy the rush while I work on Act I - and then try again. If worst comes to worst and everyone rejects me, I can self-publish; not a recommended option, but an option. I try to keep from recalling that, when summarised in a sentence, the plot is not stunningly original; neither is Eragon, and I know that my magic structure, languages, world back history and character complexity for both heroes and villains is superior to his. Or so I am convinced.
In other news: Athaira and I had coffee on the 3rd. We speculated over coffee, inspired by a title of a book I have not read. After that dialogue, my worlds have a religion.
I will take another post to explain how else I am having fun.
I believe i have stated somewhere before that I meant to just rewrite the first 2 chapters, because they are the ones that felt most embarrassing. But...just after Christmas, they picked me up and carried me, and said, "While we're on a roll here, let's rewrite Chapter 3." and then, "Hey, there is a much more sensible and logical way for Chapter 4 to play out..." and then, "Heck, with the above chapters, the OLD Chapter 5 makes no sense, so, honey, you are rewriting Chapter 5."
So that's where i am right now; three pages into Chapter 5 and feeling good. I have changed my ambitions: to rewrite Book 1. Long ago, which I later collapsed (mainly because of LaTeX limitations, of all things; my knowledge of LaTeX formatting does not let me insert sub-title pages in the middle of a book), Novel #1 had 3 "books" in it; "a three-volume novel of more than usually revolting sentimentality." So basically, it still has a three-act structure. If I were desperate, those three acts could even be published separately, although Act 2 does lead into Act 3, the way Act 2s are wont to do.
Why am I feeling good?
Because I had forgotten the RUSH of writing. The rush that makes me walk with a pleased grin on my face and dance by the traffic light because I had just seen exactly how the dialogue will form, and it now makes a great deal more sense than it did before.
(I have posted the drafts of at least the first two rewritten chapters to
zigzitsa - if you wish to read them and are not a member of the zigzitsa club, please request that I make you one. I am currently formatting Chapters 3 and 4 to also go up there. I am very tempted to put up the chapters as they used to be, as well, for comparison. Although I am now ashamed. Think not how bad you were then; think how good you are now.)Because now, not only does the world make more sense - I make it more clear how this world is different from all the other fantasy worlds submitted to publishers every year; and I am amazed that, wow, I actually know what is going on during each "spell" (I am even avoiding calling them "spells" now) and I know pretty much what the magic can achieve, what happened in the world before, and how everything works the way it does work. I figured out how healing worked a few days ago. For five years previously, healing's important role in the story was backed by a hand-waving argument. Now it is backed by complex vector-field equations no one except I needs to see, but they are there. Also, the actions of the people in the world make a lot more sense; I have grown in the intervening years; I can better imagine how I would act in their place.
I am still remembering the lovely heavy expensive beige paper which said, in the best writing ever done since their phrasing did not leave me pissed off and ax-murdering, that they do not think it is likely my work would be a bestseller at this time.
I am trying to keep that from my mind. I know that if I wrote to sell, rather than writing for love, I will hate my work. Therefore, my goal is to enjoy the rush while I work on Act I - and then try again. If worst comes to worst and everyone rejects me, I can self-publish; not a recommended option, but an option. I try to keep from recalling that, when summarised in a sentence, the plot is not stunningly original; neither is Eragon, and I know that my magic structure, languages, world back history and character complexity for both heroes and villains is superior to his. Or so I am convinced.
In other news: Athaira and I had coffee on the 3rd. We speculated over coffee, inspired by a title of a book I have not read. After that dialogue, my worlds have a religion.
I will take another post to explain how else I am having fun.