rowyn | Tooth work and novelizing

I've been tired and hungry all morning. I took an earlier lunch than usual to address the "hungry" part; it seems to have woken me up some, which is a profound relief. I've been so tired lately that I'm starting to wonder if I should break down and see a doctor about it. Maybe it's too much caffeine, or not enough exercise. Or too much junk food. I must remember to get baby carrots as something to munch on while I'm at work. Twix bars and Reese's peanut butter cups may be tasty, but they're not exactly good for me.

I don't want to go to the doctor. I have to go the dentist this afternoon anyway, to get my permanent crown (hurrah! It popped off on Sunday, and I just popped it back in rather than messing with it; it's stayed on since, but I'll be glad not to have to worry about it anymore.) And to get two cavities filled, which is OK, and one wisdom tooth pulled, which I'm not looking forward to. I don't remember ever having a tooth pulled, and since my wisdom tooth doesn't even hurt, I have the feeling that pulling it is going to be ... unpleasant. Well, I'll just hope for the best.

Not much going on in other news. I'm at the 225 page mark on Prophecy, so I've got a week to work my outline back into shape. I'm realizing just how weak my original outline was when it came to the second half of the book. There's a lot of ground to cover, figuratively and literally (the characters do a lot of travelling), but I skimmed over all of it in the original outline.

The first half of the book is mostly written at this point. The second half has huge gaps. I'm hoping to get a handle on what exactly I want to cover in the second half of the book, which should give me a better idea of just how much longer this is going to go on.

(Note to self: writing a door-stopper novel is not fun. Pick a shorter subject next time.)

Anyway, I'd better get back to work. Leaving in two hours anyway for the dentist visit. I bet writing the doorstopper would be more fun. But at least the trip to the dentist will be over faster.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Just so you don't worry about the tooth-pulling... I had a tooth pulled before, and it wasn't loose or anything. It wasn't what I'd call a pleasant experience, but the sensations, while strange and a bit unsettling, weren't painful, and it was over with very quickly. Here's hoping it doesn't bother you too much.

Skipped the tooth-pulling, actually. The dentist didn't have it down on his list. When I reminded him about it, after I'd gotten the anasthetic for the fillings, he said he had time for it, but I'd need more anasthetic. I said, "Well, it can wait, can't it? It's not bothering me now. And what's the worst that's going to happen -- you'll pull it, right?"

He agreed. I've got another cleaning scheduled for October. Maybe I'll get it pulled then.

I've had a total of 8 teeth pulled in my life.

Fortunately, I don't remember any of it. That's what
general anesthetic is about. ;)

The oddest thing I remember when I had the wisdom
teeth taken out was that I was fighting to see just
how long I could stay concious when they gave me
the stuff. I kept fighting and fighting and fighting
and the next thing I knew, I was fighting to stay
awake, but it was all over. Somehow, during the
period of anesthetic, the thought "Stay awake!"
stayed active in my head.

All of which you may ignore.

Are any of your writings available on the web?

Scott

I've had a total of 8 teeth pulled in my life.

I haven't had any, yet, and I would be just as happy for it to stay that way. :) I think I'll pass on trying to stay awake if I ever go under general anasthetic, too. Funky.

Are any of your writings available on the web?

Well ...

There's an extensive collection of what I've GM'd on Sinai, plus the Mirari logs. (Most of which were co-run by Tuftears and myself.)

I do have a friends-only journal,

unfinishedtales, which has one public snippet from Prophecy on it. It's also got some forty-odd friends-only entries, almost all of which are on a single plotline with the working title of "Silver Scales". I was writing Scales at a terrific clip through most of March, but petered off in April and have hardly done anything with it this month. I may pick it back up in June, however, since I won't be worrying about "Prophecy" that month.

If you would like to be added to the friends list for UnfinishedTales, just let me know and I'll include you.

I can chime in here and personally vouch for Mr. Kellogg. (He has my countenance, as it were, although fortunately for him it does not mean he actually looks like me.)

At the same time, Scott, I think you will enjoy Rowyn's "Silver Scales" -- It is both light-hearted and literate, and the pathway she has made is well-begun indeed. I enjoy the characters, and learning about their world.

You risk only being disappointed by the fact that there is not yet any more, and there is no guarantee that there ever will be. By signing up for this, one must agree to not hassle Rowyn about "unfinished tales" -- she is actually a prolific writer with several projects going at once, but must be free to decide how to allocate her efforts.

===|==============/ Level Head

Thank you for the recommendation, Sir Level Head: you are much too kind. :) And I would be quite happy to add Mr. Kellogg to the readers list, even without your express recommendation -- if he wants to be added, that is.

By signing up for this, one must agree to not hassle Rowyn about "unfinished tales"

Did I stipulate that no hassling was allowed? I can't recall, now. I thought I just made it clear that hassling me would be useless at best, and counter-productive at worse. I'm on a schedule for Prophecy, and I have a day job. That's all the firm commitments I can handle ... sadly.

Well, I did not actually say that you demanded this, my dear. But the background of that journal makes it clear enough and entirely appropriate.

And I may have added to your "things to think about" list today... ];-)

===|==============/ Level Head

And I may have added to your "things to think about" list today.

Indeed. Whenever I am low on subjects to reflect upon, I can certainly count on your assistance. :)

One more comment -- to a writer not working to fill a particular space, ANY subject can be long or short; it is entirely within your control.

===|==============/ Level Head

You are, of course, absolutely correct. And I know you're right.

I keep trying to think if there's a way that I like to, well, cut this puppy down. Part of the trouble is that, from the very beginning, I've considered this an epic novel, of world-spanning scope with a cast of, well, dozens. Of significant characters, anyway. Having decided this was the sort of novel I was going to do, deciding now, at the half-way (well, two-thirds, I think) mark, that I don't want to write an epic after all, involves a lot of re-tooling on my original concept.

It might well be easier to finish writing my intended novel than to figure out how to make the same concept take up less space. :) I may sort of rush through some of the scenes that I once intended to linger on, however. (Like the big stupid battle near the end that I don't know how to write anyway.) I keep telling myself, "Once I've got it all written out, *then* I can figure out what I want to change from there." Like a shark: just gotta keep swimming, or else it'll die. :)

Here's an idea. Perhaps one of the several stories interwoven in the Epic could be teased out of place and published as its own work. It could then expand and linger, and your target would be somewhere in the 100k-125k words range.

The rest of the book can then, later, treat that story very lightly -- or maybe even give up another thread or three and become several interconnected works set in the same world.

===|==============/ Level Head

That's certainly something to consider when I'm trying to figure out how to get this thing published.

But, in fact, *finishing* the book is more important to me than *publishing* the book. I do want to publish it eventually -- that's very important to me, too. But it's even more vital that I prove to myself that I can see a project through.

I could recast the book (it might even be more coherent that way) with some of the background material as its own story. However, it wouldn't make producing a complete novel any faster. Right now, I've got about 114,000 words written. I'm estimating, based on the current plot outline, that I'll write another 56,000 words or so before I've got a more-or-less coherent book out of this.

There are ... um ... depending on how you count it, between five and ten major plot threads in the novel. Some of these could be made to stand on their own, but none of them comprises the majority of my current writing. The longest of the threads probably isn't more than 30,000 words. So I'd still have a lot of writing to go if I wanted to separate it out and make it its own novel. (Not to mention the thought-power involved in giving it "an ending" that doesn't match "*the* ending" as currently conceived.)

I'll probably have a better idea of whether I want to trim down to one big book, or pad out to a couple of smaller ones, once I'm done. 56,000 words isn't so many. Really.

*crosses fingers*

You are right; it is not. And it is within an acceptable range for a first published novel, though a bit on the large side of that range.

===|==============/ Level Head

Tooth work and novelizing

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