 Fantasy: December 03, 2014 Issue [#6692] |
  Fantasy
This week: Finish the Novel before Editing Edited by: Prosperous Snow celebrating  
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My Novel is a Rocky Road
My novel is a rocky road
(not a bowl of ice cream)
it's full of potholes,
boulders,
ruts,
sinkholes,
dead ends,
and detours.
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I accomplished the main goal of National Novel Writing Month. I wrote more then 50,000 words between November 1 and November 30. I did not finish the novel in November, therefore, I am not ready to edit. The problem I am faced with is a plot that resembles a road under construction. It is full of pot holes, dead ends, ruts, boulders, sinkholes, detours, and side roads that are not on the map. The plot is a mess, but most of the characters are remaining true to the original idea.
I think part of the issue is that once I started writing I entered The Zone and my characters took over. This may explain why the beginning chapters of my novel follow my plan while the later chapters go off the map. The recent chapters, reveal rounded characters, while in the earlier chapters the characters were stilted and cardboard. Is anyone else faced with this type of change in their characters?
I have to finish the novel. I have two options when it comes to finishing. First, I can continue writing without going back to reread the chapters I have written. Second, I can reread the completed chapters before completing the novel. What would you do in a case like this? Does it help to reread finished and unedited chapters before completing the novel? Does rereading those chapters hinder the writing process?
My goal is to finish this novel by the end of December 2014 so that I can begin editing in January 2015. Is anyone else working on completing their novel by the end of the year? If you finished the novel in November are you going to begin editing in December? Is it a good idea to let the novel rest a month before beginning the editing process? Please let me know what you think. Is there any topic you would like discussed in the New Year?
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Excerpt: On a distant planet at the far edge of the galaxy, hot zephyrs gust across blistering dunes sending eddies of acrid dust twisting into an otherwise cloudless sky. A solitary object, distorted by heat waves, hovers like an alien sculpture over the barren sand. The elliptical artifact stands six feet high. Although stationary, its smooth surface moves like roiling thunderclouds.
Excerpt: Alien Grays with eyes aglow
between the crosses, row on row,
stood in the field with dark intent,
(from planet Photon they were sent.)
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#2017600 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: Supergreen, the alien substance given to us by those weird-looking aliens, the ones not from Mars or Venus or anywhere else I’ve ever heard of, but from some place clear out of our solar system -- that Supergreen stuff is great.
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#2017842 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: “Happy birthday,” said the voice.
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#2018024 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: The afternoon was disappearing and I still had not made my way home. It had nothing to do with the rain or the wind as it blew me around but more to do with what I saw. Put simply, I saw the truck as it ran over the medium and role three times before it hit the side of the building landing on the its roof with wheels spinning up in the air. I saw this happening as the sun set, not now when the sun was behind the darkest cloud in the sky. How I saw it, I do not know, but I did, and so I was sitting in a doorway across from the building just waiting.
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Vincent Coffin  writes: ROFL, It happens to me all the time. What I do is simple...I keep writing, kind of wandering down whatever parallel road is headed in the same direction. I've found that a story will sometimes write itself and become better than the plan was to begin with.
Bryant RedHawk  writes: I have tried the architect method and do use it for non-fiction writing, which is where it works for me.
When I am writing fiction (especially fantasy) I find the good old outline method works best to keep me on track.
I am a firm believer in the old adage, Writers write, then revise and correct.
When I try to follow a strict set of blueprints for a fiction novel, it strangles my creative flow. In trying to stick with the "Plan" I find myself not letting the story flow onto the page and my stories suffer great disasters because of the limits I have placed on my creativity.
creatress writes: Don't feel bad. I have learned that it is best to allow stories to tell themselves. All too often, an author will try to force a story into a specific direction and that is the best way to stiffen a story and will overwrite the reader's ability to suspend their suspension of disbelief. At least, that has been my experience. That's especially true when you are working on characterization.
BIG BAD WOLF is Merry  writes: Hmm, lots of branches? Try an Interactive. 
Elfin Dragon-finally published writes: Character creations? I know I'm a bit late with this but...Once I start writing and know I've got a story I think about the characters in the story as individuals. They become close friends, you might say. I ask them what they like, don't like, favorite colors, what drives them, who they love most, who they hate and sometimes what they want out of the story. The last one may sound strange but it does sometimes help me, especially if its a short story.
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