The Glorious 50k

As you can see (check out my progress icon to the left) I have reached the indomitable 50k. It really doesn't feel like all that much, though. Perhaps that's because, unlike last year, I'm not even halfway through my novel. No matter, though. I WILL press on. This story has so many more places to go, my head is spinning.

Last night was an amazing one--the prose was pathetic, but the plot development was amazing. I was trying to incorporate some conflict as my characters were returning from leave, and then it hit me: a terribly wonderful idea that would give me a few extra chapters of excitement before I had to get Trey, Sheila, and Gio back to the 12th. This idea was borne partially out of my aggravation at a certain sergeant--I don't even know his name yet, and probably never will--who was driving their jeep. I decided that I wanted to get rid of him. And then a dozen other angles of the idea appeared from nowhere, sprawled in front of me, and I snatched them up before they could escape. The idea was far too good to let it get away from me.

I left my dear friends stranded last night, and though I'm antsy to see how the rest of this plot point unfolds, I decided to take a break today. I managed to convince myself that I deserved it after conquering 50k. Not to mention, it is Thanksgiving. I've resigned myself to the fact that I won't reach 75k by the end of the month, and I'll be lucky if I get the entire book done by Christmastime. So that's my goal--finish it before Christmas.

And then what am I going to do? As soon as I write the last word of the first draft (and those words will not be "The End"--finishing, after all, will only be the beginning), I'm closing the document and won't open it again for a month. No, that wasn't a typo--a whole month. After the otherworldly frenzy of writing almost every day for almost two months, I'll definitely need this break for sanity's sake, but there are other reasons as well: 1) I don't want to wear myself out trying to get this story perfect like I've done in the past, 2) I fear my characters' wrath (if you had to go through half of the things that they do, you probably wouldn't be very happy, either), and 3) I need to become fairly unattached to the story so that I'll be able to see its strengths and its weaknesses objectively.

When that month-long sabbatical comes to a close, I'm going to open the document and print it. Then I'll read through the entire thing as quickly as possible to get an overall view of the story. By that point I should have a good idea of what needs to be changed, added, and deleted, and what parts of the story need the most work. After that, my focus will go to research--I'll be searching every nook and cranny for the information I need.

Not all. I must then incorporate that research to make it as glisteningly realistic as possible. For the very last step, I've left the prose. I'm sure you can guess what this step is going to involve. (Hint: A lot. I'm capable of writing decent prose, but first drafts are always terrible for me.)

Now I really should end this post, don't you think? I keep forgetting that the longer these are, the less people are going to want to read them. . . .

Anyway, good luck to all fellow Wrimos. I can't wait to see y'all at the finish line.