Last update before the Wedding

No writing done so far today.  I don’t really expect to do any later on either.  There won’t be any updates until at least Monday after today because of having to attend a wedding.  It should be good.  I’ve only ever been to two weddings, one of which I was a baby at the time and don’t remember.  This will probably be a much more extravagant wedding than any of those, so it will be an interesting experience.  When I come back it will be full speed ahead on the writing.  Though I am considering getting Grand Theft Auto 4 next week.  Hmm.  Maybe medium speed ahead then.

Damn it, no.  Full speed ahead.

This will be the first break since starting the blog as well.  I’m committed to writing a daily update to this, but I have to draw the line for certain occasions.  Ie those that I don’t have an internet connection available.  The truth is, if the hotel had adequate wifi I might be tempted to bring a laptop with me and let the world know what I’m having for dinner at the reception.

But they don’t so it’s a moo point as Joey from friends and later Joey would say.

A distinct lack of progress

When I said that I would write as much as I could this week I had no idea it would be this little.  Maybe it’s the fact that I have no target to meet that I’m subconsciously not trying, I don’t know, but I’m really struggling.  Despite the fact that I have had a number of good ideas to help bridge the gap left by having to drop the key scene I talked about before.  I was worrying at the start of the week that I might not have very much left to finish the story, but thankfully I don’t think that’s true at all now.  There were a couple of threads of the novel that maybe because I hadn’t been focusing on them at the time I seemed to think that I could somehow tie them up in just a few more chapters.  That’s not the case at all.  Well, I suppose I could, but it would be quite shit.  One thread almost certainly has to come to an end in the next chapter or two, and I somehow presumed that another thread had to as well.  But it definitely doesn’t.  That one needs to boil a bit longer if it’s going to work properly.  And that needs to work for the entire novel to work really.  Patience really is a virtue.

So in spite of everything that still needs to be done, I am writing at a pace that suggests I only have a few more sentences left to take this thing home.  If I set this week’s target at 500 words I may struggle, let alone 5000.  Nevermind, I have already effectively written this week off in my head and possibly next week as well.  That is probably the problem, I realise that, but I will worry about it if after next week I am still struggling.

Seriously, then you’ll know what worrying is.

Details

I’m definitely starting to notice a trend with me.  If there’s a question that I know I will need to find an answer to down the line, I will inevitably leave it until I come to write the part of the story dependent on that knowledge before I actually start to look into it.  I’m a tool.  Why do I keep doing this?  It’s a medical based question (again) and it seems like such a small thing to want to know that I can almost convince myself that it doesn’t really matter if it’s not what would happen in real life.  Almost.  It’s not that I’m shooting for OCD-levels of accuracy in the novel.  It’s really not.  I still see the book as a comedy, albeit a dark one so I’m not looking for Kathy Reichs level clinical descriptions or anything. But I don’t want people to be able to pick holes in it Prison Break style either.  It’s a small thing but it’s important enough that it would drive me nuts if I included it without ensuring that it was true to life.

So I need to find the answer basically.  First stop: the girlfriend.

Targets

I didn’t get much writing done today.  I finished the chapter I had been working on but that was all of a hundred or so words.  I have three days now as I leave for Ireland on Thursday and realistically probably won’t get any writing done again until Tuesday, though there’s an outside chance for it being Monday.  I’m probably not going to set myself any kind of target for this week and next.  I’ll certainly be aiming to write Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week though.  I just worry that three days is too little time considering I normally have seven days.  I don’t want the quality of writing to suffer just to make an arbitrary number.  For the next two weeks I think I will just try and write as much as I can and also try and get a clear idea of how I am getting to the finish now.  I have a good idea, it’s just getting the details now and the best order to do things.  Two weeks should be enough time to figure out all that stuff though.

If it’s not then I might start worrying.

Finding another way

2062.  5087 for the week so I made it in the end.  Next week will be tough since I effectively only have four days as I’m in Ireland for a wedding at the end of the week.

I made the call to dump the section I was planning on writing.  I think I have a have a way around it now and have at least been able to carry on with the part I was writing.  I actually used the actual concept for what I had planned by having the main character outline it and then proceed to highlight all the ways that it wouldn’t have actually worked.  It’s basically an in-joke to myself but I think it works in and of itself.

I’m glad I dropped the idea though, even considering the importance I had placed on it up till now as a key plot element.  The more I think about it, the more holes I can pick it in which isn’t a good sign.  I sort of think I always thought it was a bit too contrived a set piece and perhaps I presumed I would be able to somehow overcome that when I started writing it.  It basically involved a character breaking into someone’s house, which isn’t of itself that unrealistic.  What was unrealistic was the logic in the reasoning behind the break in and how it fits in with other events.  I just can’t see how it could have worked now.  I think it’s going to be a good thing that I’ve dropped it as the replacement story is a bit more character driven and subtler in it’s buildup.  It also gives me a potentially more satisfying way to set up the ending as well.

Silver linings are great.

Stumbling block

Well I’ve passed the 50,000 word mark.  Not by a great deal as I’ve just hit what might be a fairly crucial stumbling block.  Basically after doing some research for the bit I am about to start writing I have concluded that I now have two options as far as I can see.  The first is to go ahead with the original storyline idea and do something that wouldn’t be accurate in real life, or I basically drop the part and come up with something else.  Considering that the part to be dropped was a fairly lengthy piece it would leave a gaping hole that needs to be filled.  With what I don’t know.  Unfortunately, the more I think about it, the more I realise just how difficult a time I would have leaving it in knowing that it’s wrong.  I know that kind of mentality is fine if you’re writing Prison Break but it drives me nuts and I would be hypocritical to continue the way I’m going.  I need to have a serious think about this.  I may not make this week’s target after all because I can’t really write any more until I come to a decision on this.  It’s like Sophie’s Choice.

Well I presume it is, I’ve never seen that movie.  Of course you wouldn’t have known that if I hadn’t told you.  I just don’t want to lie to you is all.  I respect you way too much.  Not like those Prison Break writers.  Bastards.

No Writing Thursday

No writing done today, due to television related commitments.  My course is finished now so I will have tomorrow and Saturday to make the target.  So even though I sit tantalisingly close to the 50,000 word mark I won’t make it until tomorrow.  It’s amazing to think that in another two and a half months I should have the first draft of this bad boy.  I’m really anxious to get to that stage.  I want to get rewriting.  It feels good getting this far, but I got this far before and gave up.  I know that’s not happening this time but still, it’s a sobering thought that as far as I’ve come, I’m not done yet.  Too sobering.  I’m going to have a beer.

Even quicker update

877 words.  3025 for the week.  167 words to go to hit the 50,000 word mark.  I actually started to get a bit of a rhythm going tonight, which I was glad to get back.  I could probably manage another 167 words but I came to a natural end on the part I was writing so I’d rather wait till another day to switch to something new.  Plus I’m quite tired so I’m going to bed now.  Night.

Quick Update

Not much written so far tonight which is unfortunate.  I guess I know what I’m doing this Saturday.  It’s a tough bit I’m writing.  It’s the continuing from yesterday’s bit that I think will have to be rewritten again.  Maybe even a few times.  It’s an emotional scene, and I’m not sure how good I am at those.  Still, if I can just get a draft of the thing down at least I can use it as a template to rewrite it.  Hopefully.

Not getting much done writing this but wanted to get it in before the apprentice.  Back to the writing I go…

Titles

1075 words today.  After feeling inspirational yesterday, today’s writing feels forced and I’m pretty sure most of it will be rewritten at some stage.

I don’t know if I’ve talked about this before, and I can’t be bothered searching for it (you do it if it matters that much to you), but up until today I have yet to have any real ideas for titles for the novel.  I used to consider myself quite good at coming up with what I considered to be good titles for novels, even if I never actually wrote much for any of them.  Now that I have a good chunk of a novel written I can’t seem to come up with a title for it.  Today though, sitting on the bus on my way to a training course, I had an idea for one.  I don’t think it’s that bad.  I’m not 100% sold on it right now and could feasibly wake up tomorrow and decide that it’s complete rubbish.  But right now I may have the title.  “What is it?” asked no one.  I’m not saying.  I’ll tell you all when it gets accepted by a publisher.  Only a year or so to wait then.

That’s arrogance right there.