Free To Write Whatever, Whenever
Today's writing was about trying to extend what happens in the first part of Rich People's Problems, so the climax of the plot doesn't happen on page 100. It needs to happen on page 200. Closer to 250 would be good.
So, I took what had been the opening chapter and expanded the main character's background into two chapters instead of one. I've already broken up a couple of other chapters, though I haven't finished writing the scenes that will expand them. Hopefully, by the time I'm through editing, rewriting, and expanding, the page count will sort itself out.
It's an interesting problem to have, needing to make the book longer. As noted, I need to add 100-150 pages to the beginning of my book.
I have a fellow author at work; both of us have "day jobs". She and I were chatting on Thursday about our writing, and she has the opposite problem with her current manuscript. Her plot midpoint is happening on page 300, and her book is only supposed to be 400 pages. So, she's spending time this weekend - and I suspect the next couple of weekends - trying to shorten the first half of her book by 100 pages or so. And then she still has to write the rest of the book!
She has a deadline, too, as she has a book contract. I envy her the book contract (she has an agent, too). But I don't envy her the deadline.
Deadlines are one of the reasons I haven't sought out an agent or a publisher. I write on my schedule, and I don't have anyone telling me what or when to write. I don't know Stacie well enough yet to know if her agent or publisher have had any say in what she's writing.
But I do know she's feeling the pressure of the deadline. And will have to write most nights after work to make hers. As she's a mom with a small child, that will be tough. I'm not a mom, and I don't write much during the week, unless an idea takes hold that I just can't not get down as soon as possible.
It's nice to have that freedom.
So, I took what had been the opening chapter and expanded the main character's background into two chapters instead of one. I've already broken up a couple of other chapters, though I haven't finished writing the scenes that will expand them. Hopefully, by the time I'm through editing, rewriting, and expanding, the page count will sort itself out.
It's an interesting problem to have, needing to make the book longer. As noted, I need to add 100-150 pages to the beginning of my book.
I have a fellow author at work; both of us have "day jobs". She and I were chatting on Thursday about our writing, and she has the opposite problem with her current manuscript. Her plot midpoint is happening on page 300, and her book is only supposed to be 400 pages. So, she's spending time this weekend - and I suspect the next couple of weekends - trying to shorten the first half of her book by 100 pages or so. And then she still has to write the rest of the book!
She has a deadline, too, as she has a book contract. I envy her the book contract (she has an agent, too). But I don't envy her the deadline.
Deadlines are one of the reasons I haven't sought out an agent or a publisher. I write on my schedule, and I don't have anyone telling me what or when to write. I don't know Stacie well enough yet to know if her agent or publisher have had any say in what she's writing.
But I do know she's feeling the pressure of the deadline. And will have to write most nights after work to make hers. As she's a mom with a small child, that will be tough. I'm not a mom, and I don't write much during the week, unless an idea takes hold that I just can't not get down as soon as possible.
It's nice to have that freedom.
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