I haven’t started writing my new novel yet. I said I would start it in February, but I did not. Nope. I did not start it.

I have characters, plot, tension and most of the scenes outlined (according to the snowflake  method) but with the expectation that I will still need to grow and expand the story during the writing process. Still no title I like, but basically everything else is in place to at least start this project. So what’s wrong?

The initial enthousiasm is gone (of course it is). So now I’m facing the prospect of working hard for several months, maybe a year, at a single project. I imagine this is a common dilemma for writers accustomed to writing short, but I’m wondering what is really a better use of time and effort – writing a single 100,000+ word novel that may never see publication, or in the same amount of time writing twelve or fifteen or twenty short stories, some of which will almost certainly be published somewhere.

What to do? What to do?

Yep, I have them - compounded today with the Sunday blues! I’m in survival mode now: first survive January, then survive February, then survive March, and so it goes for every me, every year.

Anyway, I thought I should post an update on my writing, even if it’s just a record for my future self to read on some warm spring day. And I thought I should put in place some deadlines for myself, in order to insure that I complete these projects. No, I don’t really think fake deadlines are any more effective than the other tricks I play on myself, like making my alarm clock run 15 minutes ahead, or hiding away fifty dollars for when I need it, while pretending I don’t know I have it. But maybe posting my fake deadlines here in an open forum will bring the full force of public shame upon my head if I fail to meet stated deadlines. So with that bright hope, here goes:

Beamstar - That’s my sf novel about killer satellites. I completed the draft months ago, and for writing it by the seat of my pants, I was happy with the way it turned out. But it needs revision (aka, lots of rewriting) and I am not doing it, not now. The deadline here is a bit hazy: 2009.

Short stories – I’m working simultaneously on two, which is something I usually don’t do. They’re both fantasy, though one has sf elements. Deadline: the end of January for both.

And… drumroll… 

A new novel! Yes, that’s right! I don’t really  have a title that I like yet (I keep trying out titles, then rejecting them), but it is a fantasy. I’m using the snowflake method to develop the story. I first heard about this last summer from Mary Garcia and I’ve wanted to try it ever since. I’m on Step-5 right now, and it’s going very well so far. My goal here is to complete up to Step-9 by the end of January (though I’m not sure about using spreadsheets) and then to begin writing in February, sticking to a strict word-quota plan. Once the actual writing begins, I will publicly state my deadline for completion of the first draft.

So that’s it. Please feel free to heap scorn upon me if I fail to meet my made-up deadlines.

One of the problems (actually, the biggest problem) I’m having with the revision project is the whole issue of character motivation. The protagonist’s actions get him into trouble, and as the author, I know why he does what he does (or at least I thought I did), but I don’t think it would be clear to a reader. Likewise with the villains, and really (let me be honest) the entire cast of minor characters. Why do any of them do what they do? What determines motivation? So basically, I’m facing the task of not just revising what I already wrote, but actually writing in new information, even entire new scenes.

E. Hartshorn over at Random Walks toward Publishing has started an interesting discussion about revising your fiction in order to sharpen character motivation. If this is an issue for you too, then you should go over and read what she has to say.

I’ve noticed that my short stories tend to be very character-centered, but with my novel it’s all about the plot, that marvelous and surprising unfolding of events.

Of course I want both of these to be fully developed – it’s only that my focus seems to shift according to the length of the work. I wonder if it’s like this for other writers.

One thing about my draft that I am now changing is the relationship between the hero and the villain. The villain is actually much older than the hero, and I am adding details to show that the two have an important connection that goes back almost to the beginning of the hero’s life, and of which the hero is only partially aware. As the story unfolds, the full truth of this relationship is revealed to the reader, and of course, the hero has to discover it as well. I think this adds another layer of interest to the story.

And NO, in case you’re thinking it, the villain does not turn out to be the hero’s father!

…at the draft.

After a month-long break (okay, okay, more than a month!) I’m back. And of course, I’m talking about Beamstar. There’s just so much work to do, and I hardly know how to go about it! I’ve divided the novel into five sections of about 20,000 words each, and I’m taking them one at a time. I’m only using pen on paper now, listing all the things that must be added, deepened, explained. I do not consider this writing, or even revising. I consider that I am wasting time.

Ah, well.

Major areas needing revision in the first part of the novel: world-building, character motives, and backstory.

I’ll be posting about the revision process here, but with less frequency than I posted during the summer. I do enjoy writing about writing, but I’m busier now than I was then, and the blog is of lower priority than actually working on the book.

I just hope it doesn’t take long, because I am sick of living in the world of Beamstar and I want to move on. Other worlds await.

I’ve decided to post the opening of my as-yet-unrevised sf novel Beamstar. The excerpt below represents the first 400 words of the novel, and is followed by a scene break. Please feel free to comment.

*   *   * 

            The disaster happened without warning. It happened this time in a small village far across the wide sea from the great and populated land of Ofrelia, with its teeming cities and ports. It happened far from Briwor College with its learned old men and young scholars. It happened in a place that most citizens of Ofrelia knew only as the wild backworld. It happened in a place of no consequence.

            It happened in the morning, as a mother of nine children stood washing breakfast dishes in her sink. She was angry at her eight sons, and had scolded them before sending them out about their morning chores. She was angry because one of them – she did not know which – had apparently said something hurtful – she did not know what – to her youngest child and only daughter, and now the child had run away.  She had no doubt gone to her hiding place – maybe in one of the caves along the sea, or in the hills overlooking the village, or in the abandoned palace with its cracking terrace – her mother did not know where this secret place was.

The child’s nurse, a handsome robot with concern for the child programmed for perpetuity into his dark eyes, had offered to go looking for the girl. But the mother was feeling peevish and irritated with her daughter, too, that morning, and she commanded the robot to stay in the house. Let the girl sulk, and come back when she would. 

            And then it happened. In one six-thousandth of a second, a point in the sky – a point visible only through a telescope – pulsed. And in one six-thousandth of a second, the mother at her sink, her husband still lying in his bed with a broken leg, her eight sons at their chores, and twelve hundred other inhabitants of the targeted village were reduced to a thin vapor. When the attack came, it came in a space of time smaller than an instant, and so the mother never knew it, and thus she never had time to wonder if her daughter was safe.

            Meanwhile, the child, whose name was Yola, finished sulking, and returned home when the sun was already high. She found her village a ghost town, and her house empty, except for her robot. He wrapped the frightened girl in his padded arms, and told her that now, he would be her parent. 

*   *   *

I purchased this workbook to help with the revision of my novel. The title is Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook, but it’s geared toward revision rather than writing, as it assumes you already have a completed draft to work with. This workbook is meant to accompany a book with the same title, but it seems to have all the same information, so I felt that it was sufficient in itself. The 34 chapters offer advice on developing character, plot and technique. I’m still reading it through, but it looks as though it may prove helpful.

Does anyone know of any other good resources for the revision process?

I began writing Beamstar without having a plot or an end in mind, and with the world-building only partially complete. I just thought the story would work itself out in the writing. In fact, it did. So now I know that I can trust the creative process. That’s a good thing to know.

Here’s what I tried so far, and what I want to try:

1. My first attempt at novel-writing was based on the plot-point method. This produced 40,000 words of disconnected “key scenes” and fizzled out.

2. My second try was the make-it-up-as-you-go-along method. It worked, but it was hard, and yes, I did feel lost at places along the way. In the end, I managed to produce a completed and coherent 102,000 draft soon to be revised.

3. For my third novel, I will try the “snowflake method,” invented by Randy Ingermanson, and which I first read about on Mary Garcia’s weblog. However, I won’t be starting this new novel until after I have revised Beamstar. This next novel will be fantasy, and the preliminary ideas are already beginning to come together. I’m looking forward to it.

But not yet.

For now, I’m resting. I went back to full-time work today   so I have a bit of adjusting to do this week. Also, I think I’d like to write a couple of short stories before revising my current draft. So it may be several months before I’m ready to write this next book.

I’d be interested in hearing what methods other writers use.

Well, okay.

It took longer than I thought to finish the first draft of my novel. In fact, I just typed the words “The End” a little while ago. It ran to just over 102,000 words, of which the last 2000 were long and slow, since by then I was kind of running out of steam, and I actually stopped writing for a couple of days at that point.

I thought I’d feel joyous and euphoric right now, but really I feel kind of blah. And I thought I’d be rambling on about it, but I don’t feel much like talking about it at all. Not that there was anything necessarily wrong with the story, I’m just supersaturated.

Now I intend to set this draft aside for a while before beginning the revision process - I’m thinking anywhere from 2 to 6 months, I’m not sure. Also, I’m wondering how many revisions the typical novel runs through.