Even Newer Post Your Progress Thread.

[Hobbit]

Spring cleaning.... (actually, that should be 'Summer cleaning' here.....)

The first thread was 16 years old, and 236 pages long...
The last thread was 6 years old.... which makes it not so new.... so here's a new one. (conversations from there can, of course, be continued here.)

However, the purpose is the same. The idea is that everyone posts updates of their progress on the latest story/novel/poem/whatever.

Mark

 

[RedMage]

I finished the first draft of my Lake Proper novella today! I wrote 1,274 words over two scenes today, bringing the whole thing to a close at 25,310 words. A great novella length, if I do say so myself.

Now time for read through and edits.

 

[RolandsFarblood]

@RedMage
Congratulations! 25,310 sounds like a very satisfying length for a novella, especially after the long scene you were wrestling with the other weekend.

I’m in a less measurable phase at the moment. Rather than adding lots of new words, I’ve been going back through existing material, tightening structure, checking continuity and deciding what actually needs to stay. It never looks as impressive in a word-count update, but sometimes removing or reorganizing something feels like more progress than adding another thousand words.

I’m curious how much distance you usually give yourself before starting the first full read-through. Do you go straight back in, or let the draft sit for a while first?

 

[RedMage]

Editing and revising are difficult phases in which to track word count changes. I've heard that lament from so many writers, and I've often expressed it myself, lol. They're a vital stage though, unless you're only writing for yourself (which is totally okay!).

I've chosen to dive right into a first round of edits. I wrote this with the plan for a series of novellas, and this is the third in the series as I have ideas for two earlier stories. My preference is to start writing at the beginning and work through to the end, and I attempted to do that here. However, I struggled with developing the earliest idea (I now have a better concept, but it's been sitting by the wayside for a bit while I worked on this third story). That said, I have placeholders, information on characters and locations--from towns to the MCs' favorite restaurants--and other elements that I explored for the first time in writing this third story but which, ultimately, belong in the earlier stories. The reason I wrote this one first is that it popped fully formed into my head and I had to create the others after deciding the characters had more story to them.

Thanks for asking @RolandsFarblood! It's been my plan to post this novella for critique--and I think I will still do that--but your question has encouraged me to consider largely setting this aside and turn toward writing those two earlier story ideas (which have become much more developed while I wrote this third story).

 

[Jonas Stark]

I'll post progress here, instead of the motivation thread lol

213k words logged since June 5th (I have problems), but finished the first draft of what will now be a two-parter, and currently outlining for the next book (which is suspiciously also looking like a two-parter already) while the ideas, plot lines, and characters are fresh.

Next step after getting those beats in is...worldbuilding! I need to make a couple maps to help me sort out where the war is going for the next couple books and to make sure I can ground myself before I attempt to write in a way that grounds the reader.

Then editing a draft for submission for a book I finished in 2011 lol, but that's for November. I've done a couple heavy edits over the years, but feel I'm better positioned to get this thing edited up and ready for submission...or self-publishing, depending on how the querying process goes.

@RolandsFarblood I'll chime in here as well. I usually let my drafts sit for a good long while before I go back and edit, mostly just to avoid any bias I might be holding about my thinking and mindset, a period of sobering up if you will. I've been extreme at times (7 years in one case), but usually I prefer to let them sit for at least six months, maybe even get another something done in the meantime before I go back and edit.

@RedMage congrats on completing your draft! It seems like shifting gears on your projects is serving you well! 25k words is a classic novella length