David Macinnis Gill's Blog: Thunderchikin Reads, page 25
March 7, 2011
Starting at the End
When it comes to blogging on a regular basis, I often feel like one of the Weasley children" "Where have you been? Beds empty! No note!" It's been a couple of months since my last post, and I can say in answer to where have you been is–Mars.
Last I left y'all, the fast draft of INVISIBLE SUN was just finished. IN the days that followed, I cleaned up the most egregious typos, made some global changes, noted new chapters that I discovered need writing and sent the very rough manuscript to my editor. She replied with equally global notes and set me on the task of cleaning up the story. Six weeks later, it's back in her hands. While I await the next round of notes, I'm playing a writing game called Plan the Sequel to the Sequel. One of the many things I learned writing Invisible Sun is that it's a lot easier to write a sequel if there are little plot gems dropped into the previous book. These gems can be expanded into new story lines. It makes sense that if you know what the next sequel is going to be, you can drop some little gems in your current manuscript. That's what I've decided to do now–plan the sequel to the sequel so that I know where the story will go. At this point, I know only how the sequel to the sequel will end, so I'm beginning at the end. Does that make any sense?
In another post, I encouraged readers who had unanswered questions from Black Hole Sun to email those questions to me. I extend the offer again, one last time, for those of you who are dying to know about x or y or z. I can't promise to answer all the questions (cause some are SEKRIT), but I'll give it the ol' Regulator try.
December 20, 2010
Fast Draft Day 20: Done
60,020 words. That's the final word count of Draft 1 of Invisible Sun, the sequel to Black Hole Sun. This is an alpha draft, unfit for human eyes, except for my own. There are many holes in the plot, a few missing scenes, and even a character who did not exist in the outline but now has become a major player.
What's next? I'm taking a couple of days off to read, play video games, and watch movies. During that time, I'll outline those missing scenes and do a couple of writing exercises to make connections among the characters. After Christmas, I'll turn it over to my beta readers for quick impressions. After revisions, the manuscript will be sent off to my editor, who will turn it inside out and upside down.
Between now and publication date some in early 2012, I will do many passes on the manuscript. Scenes will be cut. New ones will be written. The plot will change. Some characters may die, and others may live. The length of the book will swell then shrink until it reaches about 75k words. There's a lot of work ahead. but I love to revise, and this draft gives me a place to start the work I adore.
This will be my last post about Fast Draft for Invisible Sun. Thanks for reading along.
December 19, 2010
Fast Draft Day 19: Fail
Only 700 words today. Quota fail. A combination of Christmas shopping, football, and a stomach virus come limited the time and energy for writing. It happens. So you forgive yourself, remind yourself that you're still ahead of track, and that you have one more day to reach 60k words.
Date/Words/Total
12-19/700/58513
12-18/3028/57813
12-17/3111/54758
12-16/3187/51647
12-15/3027/48460
12-14/3016/45433
12-13/3190/42417
12-12/3001/39228
12-11/3070/36227
12-10/3007/33157
12-9/5584/30150
12-8/3003/24566
12-7/3043/21563
12-6/3075/18520
12-5/3110/15445
12-4/3093/12335
12-3/3014/9242
12-2/3131/6228
12-1/3087/3087
December 18, 2010
Fast Draft Day 18: Crank
3028 words for the day. No insights left.
Date/Words/Total
12-18/3028/57813
12-17/3111/54758
12-16/3187/51647
12-15/3027/48460
12-14/3016/45433
12-13/3190/42417
12-12/3001/39228
12-11/3070/36227
12-10/3007/33157
12-9/5584/30150
12-8/3003/24566
12-7/3043/21563
12-6/3075/18520
12-5/3110/15445
12-4/3093/12335
12-3/3014/9242
12-2/3131/6228
12-1/3087/3087
December 17, 2010
Fast Draft Day 17: Grind
One word after another makes a sentence makes a paragraph makes a page.
Grind, grind, grind.
Date/Words/Total
12-17/3111/54758
12-16/3187/51647
12-15/3027/48460
12-14/3016/45433
12-13/3190/42417
12-12/3001/39228
12-11/3070/36227
12-10/3007/33157
12-9/5584/30150
12-8/3003/24566
12-7/3043/21563
12-6/3075/18520
12-5/3110/15445
12-4/3093/12335
12-3/3014/9242
12-2/3131/6228
12-1/3087/3087
December 16, 2010
Fast Draft Day 16: Details
Lots of little details here and there and everywhere.
Date/Words/Total
12-16/3187/51647
12-15/3027/48460
12-14/3016/45433
12-13/3190/42417
12-12/3001/39228
12-11/3070/36227
12-10/3007/33157
12-9/5584/30150
12-8/3003/24566
12-7/3043/21563
12-6/3075/18520
12-5/3110/15445
12-4/3093/12335
12-3/3014/9242
12-2/3131/6228
12-1/3087/3087
December 15, 2010
Fast Draft Day 15: Backfill
Today, I wrote one new scene and spent the rest of the time back filling other scenes with setting details and short descriptions.
Date/Words/Total
12-15/3027/48460
12-14/3016/45433
12-13/3190/42417
12-12/3001/39228
12-11/3070/36227
12-10/3007/33157
12-9/5584/30150
12-8/3003/24566
12-7/3043/21563
12-6/3075/18520
12-5/3110/15445
12-4/3093/12335
12-3/3014/9242
12-2/3131/6228
12-1/3087/3087
December 14, 2010
Fast Draft Day 14: Oof
Wow. I'm tired.
Date/Words/Total
12-14/3016/45433
12-13/3190/42417
12-12/3001/39228
12-11/3070/36227
12-10/3007/33157
12-9/5584/30150
12-8/3003/24566
12-7/3043/21563
12-6/3075/18520
12-5/3110/15445
12-4/3093/12335
12-3/3014/9242
12-2/3131/6228
12-1/3087/3087
December 13, 2010
Fast Draft Day 13: Monday
Sometimes, Mondays are better than weekends.
Date/Words/Total
12-13/3190/42417
12-12/3001/39228
12-11/3070/36227
12-10/3007/33157
12-9/5584/30150
12-8/3003/24566
12-7/3043/21563
12-6/3075/18520
12-5/3110/15445
12-4/3093/12335
12-3/3014/9242
12-2/3131/6228
12-1/3087/3087
December 12, 2010
Fast Draft Day 12: Marathon
It would've been easy to not write today. I'm ahead of quota. Lots of stuff happening. Too many distractions. None of these make the deadline go away, so I keep slogging until the quota was met.
Date/Words/Total
12-12/3001/39228
12-11/3070/36227
12-10/3007/33157
12-9/5584/30150
12-8/3003/24566
12-7/3043/21563
12-6/3075/18520
12-5/3110/15445
12-4/3093/12335
12-3/3014/9242
12-2/3131/6228
12-1/3087/3087
Thunderchikin Reads
- David Macinnis Gill's profile
- 134 followers
