Chapter 30.6: More progress

I doubt any of the few readers who come here -- and who aren't family members -- actually care about the progress of my novel. But it matters to me, of course, so if I feel like mentioning it then I will.



That said, as of last night I have written 312 pages. I intend to put in another 5-7 tonight; hopefully I'll get as many as 15 the rest of this weekend. If the 16 chapter I have left to write (total of 71) average about 5-7 pages each, then that's 80-112 pages left. To me, that's a light at the end of the tunnel. When I reach that light, I'll see several weeks of revision, re-reading, more revision, and a lot of cutting. In other words, the light at the end of the tunnel just shows how much work is left to do -- though it'll feel good to get out of the tight space. The temptation will be to add to the book -- develop the characters even more, make the various settings smell, sound, and taste different. If that description isn't already there, I'll need to do a lot more work, but it won't be through adding more pages.



Right now I've got 94,000 words-plus. Ideally, I'd like this book to be no more than 100,000 words, and preferably closer to 90,000. In other words I've got significant cutting to do already. Some of the scenes may need to be removed entirely. In fact, it's likely to happen. Stephen King's book "On Writing" suggests a rule of thumb for revision: "first draft - 10 percent." That sounds like sage advice, and I will use it as a guide. In my case, it could be closer to 15 percent that I cut. But I'll get there when I get there.



Why am I boring anyone with this entry in the first place? I'd like to think that an aspiring writer might be able to pick up a point or two on the process of writing a novel from a person who is struggling through it. In my case, this book has been in my mind now for about 10 years, though I've only actively pursued it since early 2002. Last year I made the most progress, overhauling the entire book, literally going back to Chapter 1 and removing what I could tell didn't matter. It also meant that my original Chapter 1 became chapters 1-5, with elements of another chapter or two not in succession. Entire passages of 30 pages became background fodder, concised into a paragraph or two, or simply relegated to a dusty floppy disk with a note on the label: "backstory removed."



More progress came this past fall when I actually planned the rest of the book, rather than following my intent of "seeing where the characters take me." What a load of crap that was! Where the characters were taking me was an insane asylum because I wasn't getting anywhere. Truth be told, the planning allowed me to see where the characters were going. In the writing, things changed. For instance, two chapters became one; it just made more sense that way.



My advice for an aspiring writer, however, would be to go to the library, get a good book on writing (the aforementioned "On Writing" is approachable), and read it through. The tools are all there. Get to work.