Writing Batteries Recharged

[jacey]

It must have been seeing bluehairsue yesterday and going to the NaNoWriMo meeting, but I got a double dose of writerly enthusiasm. I redid the synopsis for of Empire of Dust for maeve_the_red changing basic details of the MacGuffin (which was an easy fix and will be an easy fix in the book, too). heleninwales and bluehairsue, I'll send you the new version within the next couple of days.if you haven't started your beta read yet. It doesn't make a huge difference to the plot or the characters, but it does make a bit more pseudo-scientific sense in the storyline. (i.e. the technobabble is a little less unbelievable even though the science is still so soft it's dripping off the bottom of the page).

So I got up at 8.00 this morning (an unheard of time for me, especially on a Sunday) to finish reading and start writing the last bit of the magic pirate adventure quest novel. I've written 3k words so far today and worked out most of what's going to happen in the 'stuff happens and then the good guys win' outline of the last two chapters.

In re-reading it I was amazed. It didn't read like a first draft at all - especially a first draft done at the rate of 50k words in 21 days under NaNoWriMo conditions. (I did my 50k words in November even though I was away for a week!) In fact, I think the book might seriously have legs. I was gobsmacked. I'm not saying it's deathless prose or anything, but it works better than something written so quickly has a right to. (Hey I long ago got to grips with the idea that I write sensible consecutive words with stories attached, rather than beautifully elegant prose and streamlined plots - like mevennen.)

It could even work as YA though the protag is 33 and it's got a couple of f*cks in it (the word not the action) an a couple of f*cks in it (the action not the word). Though they do happen on the page, they are not graphic. (BTW can I say f*ck on LJ without the net ghods stomping on me?) I think the protag being 33 is more of a contraindication than the f*cks for a YA these days.

Anyhow. It's 10.50 and I'm just about to make a big cup of coffee and start again.

Comments

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

I do not consider swearwords to be adult content and will continue to use them on my LJ.

As for the 'written quickly, written slowly' thing - I don't think you _can_ tell. There's rushed, of course, and dragging/forced, but what's right for one book might not be right for the next; and the more you write the more you'll be aware of your faults to you're accommodating everything you've learnt in the long and painful revision of the last one into the draft of the next.

YA seems to be where a lot of stuff is happening at the moment, so I wouldn't rule it out. I think your pirate book sounds like fun, so good luck with it.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

This is very flattering but actually I greatly admire your ability to construct a story that people want to READ and that makes sense. Which mine sometimes do not.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Gosh, thanks.

Actually yours always seem to make sense to me... unless there are some out there that you're not telling me about!
:-)

Of course, all I need now is for publishers to want to publish!

[bluehairsue.livejournal.com]

I haven't started EMPIRE OF DUST yet (nearly finished MOVING A MOUNTAIN, though) so send me the tweaked version and I'll ditch the old one.