Just this moment, I completed the first draft of my first story.
76 Trombones Led the Big Parade!
Somersaults across the stage.
Fireworks over the water.
Yesssssssssss. Whoa!
Crummy first draft it may be. But it's my first crummy first draft of a book-length story. Two years in the making.
I'd like to thank my husband, may agent, the public, our dog........ Just kidding.
Now, for the real work. Massaging this baby into something worth reading, so that a reader doesn't think of putting it down until finished.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Friday, September 21, 2012
Climax Achieved! Whoo Hoo!
First draft of the story is, as of 10:26 pm tonight, officially written up to and including the Climax!
Moon walk. Slam the football down in the end zone. Yeah, baby. Yeah, baby.
I have been thinking and planning this part of the story -- I almost am willing to call it a book, now -- since before I wrote the first words of the beginning.
It has morphed, changed locations, and changed characters, but always with the same outcome.
At one point, this evening, I was running around outside with the stopwatch on my phone, timing how many seconds it would take to get from point A, to point B, and then to point C. The raccoons, I'm confident, are convinced that the human living here is quite nuts.
That total time, you see, had to mesh with what was happening in the shack, with this person going to this corner, and that person going to that spot, and the like.
After I clicked the keys for the last word on the document, I called my husband, who is on a business trip and who got up early this morning and has been driving to meeting after meeting after meeting all day.
I read the length of the last scene. I put all the drama into every shout and whisper. I performed brilliantly.
And he fell asleep before I finished.
He assured me when I woke him up that it wasn't because of the quality of the prose. The climax was good for him, too. (tee-hee)
Moon walk. Slam the football down in the end zone. Yeah, baby. Yeah, baby.
I have been thinking and planning this part of the story -- I almost am willing to call it a book, now -- since before I wrote the first words of the beginning.
It has morphed, changed locations, and changed characters, but always with the same outcome.
At one point, this evening, I was running around outside with the stopwatch on my phone, timing how many seconds it would take to get from point A, to point B, and then to point C. The raccoons, I'm confident, are convinced that the human living here is quite nuts.
That total time, you see, had to mesh with what was happening in the shack, with this person going to this corner, and that person going to that spot, and the like.
After I clicked the keys for the last word on the document, I called my husband, who is on a business trip and who got up early this morning and has been driving to meeting after meeting after meeting all day.
I read the length of the last scene. I put all the drama into every shout and whisper. I performed brilliantly.
And he fell asleep before I finished.
He assured me when I woke him up that it wasn't because of the quality of the prose. The climax was good for him, too. (tee-hee)
Friday, September 14, 2012
Home stretch to the Climax!
Alexa is back on Earth, and racing to the climax. And I am scrambling to find that perfect wave to carry her -- and the reader -- to the pinnacle.
Very exciting. Yes, it is just the "crummy" first draft. But this is the FIRST instance for me to approach completion of the "crummy" first draft.
Whereas on the space station the workings of the scene came down to physical placement (rock-outcropping post), in this scene or series of scenes the element of urgency comes down to timing of events. The situation that creates the pressure is an event that will happen in x days, then only x hours, then only x minutes: i.e., time.
The setting is in India, basically because India is timeless. One of the main characters is Indian. But the country also provides a fairly predictable societal location in the future, more so than, say, the ever-changing society of North America. If the India of now is very much like it was hundreds of years ago, it will probably have very similar recognizable elements even many years into the future.
I have been to India twice. My second visit included a race to get somewhere before a certain event, and I admit to borrowing elements from that visit (just like I may someday include memories of Paris, London, or Sao Paulo, or even Bartlesville, Oklahoma).
Anyway, I began this journey for Alexa about two years ago, and she and I are finding our way together to the ordained climax. I don't know how ordained is my own path, but whatever it is, I'm having a rollicking good time discovering it.
Very exciting. Yes, it is just the "crummy" first draft. But this is the FIRST instance for me to approach completion of the "crummy" first draft.
Whereas on the space station the workings of the scene came down to physical placement (rock-outcropping post), in this scene or series of scenes the element of urgency comes down to timing of events. The situation that creates the pressure is an event that will happen in x days, then only x hours, then only x minutes: i.e., time.
The setting is in India, basically because India is timeless. One of the main characters is Indian. But the country also provides a fairly predictable societal location in the future, more so than, say, the ever-changing society of North America. If the India of now is very much like it was hundreds of years ago, it will probably have very similar recognizable elements even many years into the future.
I have been to India twice. My second visit included a race to get somewhere before a certain event, and I admit to borrowing elements from that visit (just like I may someday include memories of Paris, London, or Sao Paulo, or even Bartlesville, Oklahoma).
Anyway, I began this journey for Alexa about two years ago, and she and I are finding our way together to the ordained climax. I don't know how ordained is my own path, but whatever it is, I'm having a rollicking good time discovering it.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Fully Into the Chase; On Alexa's way back to Earth
Alexa Jane just took off from the space station, above Earth, barely in time to avoid the bad guys. And she's finally about to return to her home planet, though 950 years after she left it.
The story is now fully into the Chase Scene, rushing toward the climax, and finally finding out why the heck the tiny little crystal is so important.
As part of the process of writing for the first time a book-length story, getting to this point is truly exciting. (I still avoid defining this as a book, until it's at least through the second draft.) In addition to reading to my husband each new scene that rushes onto the page, I have also taken to getting certain friends on the cell phone and reading to them. Sometimes they are appreciative, sometimes not.
One sticking point that had to be solved; where on Earth should she go? I mean, as the writer I can give her any clue/indication I want. I just have to decide where to put her.
This involves:
Are some candidate cities under water, at this point, because of global warming?
What countries/cities would be important enough, 950 years from now, to harbor the people involved?
Where could a so-called space-port be located?
How far from the landing pad, to the action, do I settle this space-port?
It probably shouldn't be in the middle of a metropolitan area -- of now or the likely future.
But I've got to get her into action PDQ
I have some ideas, on each point. And if the rest of the story is any indication, more details will present themselves as they appear on the page.
The story is now fully into the Chase Scene, rushing toward the climax, and finally finding out why the heck the tiny little crystal is so important.
As part of the process of writing for the first time a book-length story, getting to this point is truly exciting. (I still avoid defining this as a book, until it's at least through the second draft.) In addition to reading to my husband each new scene that rushes onto the page, I have also taken to getting certain friends on the cell phone and reading to them. Sometimes they are appreciative, sometimes not.
One sticking point that had to be solved; where on Earth should she go? I mean, as the writer I can give her any clue/indication I want. I just have to decide where to put her.
This involves:
Are some candidate cities under water, at this point, because of global warming?
What countries/cities would be important enough, 950 years from now, to harbor the people involved?
Where could a so-called space-port be located?
How far from the landing pad, to the action, do I settle this space-port?
It probably shouldn't be in the middle of a metropolitan area -- of now or the likely future.
But I've got to get her into action PDQ
I have some ideas, on each point. And if the rest of the story is any indication, more details will present themselves as they appear on the page.
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