Tooth work and novelizing

[rowyn]

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.

Comments

[level-head.livejournal.com]

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.

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[rowyn]

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. :)

Re:

[level-head.livejournal.com]

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.

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[rowyn]

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*

Re:

[level-head.livejournal.com]

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