I'm partway through the writing of the climax scene of The Seventh Chakra.
To my surprise, there was a major change in one of the Big Moments that had been in my mind since before I'd even written the first word of the draft. It's not a change in what happens, but rather, a change in how it plays out.
In one sense, it's only a slight change, but in another sense, it's a change that completely changes the tone of the climax of the story, and one that I'm happy to have realized.
What comes after this remains to be seen. I look forward to it.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Culmination
The very next scene I'm slated to write for The Seventh Chakra is the book's climax.
I'm kind of jittery just thinking about it. I've written all the things that build up to this scene, and this is where they all come together and the big, epic stuff happens and people finally get their answers as to just what the heck has been going on (people who have read early parts of my draft have said it had a frustrating, Lost-esque tendency to dump questions on top of questions without ever answering earlier ones).
But here I am, fingers perched on the keyboardy doorstep of the Big Moment, and I'm really happy that I made it this far. Happy, yet also nervous, because I don't want to "mess it up," even though logically and intellectually I know that I can go back and change and fix things afterwards.
The other thing I'm not quite sure of, yet, is the dénouement. It's looking like that might be a little on the long side, but hopefully I can make it interesting in its own right.
I'm kind of jittery just thinking about it. I've written all the things that build up to this scene, and this is where they all come together and the big, epic stuff happens and people finally get their answers as to just what the heck has been going on (people who have read early parts of my draft have said it had a frustrating, Lost-esque tendency to dump questions on top of questions without ever answering earlier ones).
But here I am, fingers perched on the keyboardy doorstep of the Big Moment, and I'm really happy that I made it this far. Happy, yet also nervous, because I don't want to "mess it up," even though logically and intellectually I know that I can go back and change and fix things afterwards.
The other thing I'm not quite sure of, yet, is the dénouement. It's looking like that might be a little on the long side, but hopefully I can make it interesting in its own right.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Hunnerd Kay
Last night, while out writing at the neighborhood Starbucks with my fellow writer-friend, I finally managed to hit the vaulted 100,000 word milestone on my draft of The Seventh Chakra.
Already, this makes it longer than my first draft of Thousand Leaves, though I suspect that it might still end up shorter than Thousand Leaves did in the end (around 121K words); it may reach that length, as I think of it, though I doubt it'll be much longer, if at all.
As for the finished product, I find myself wondering how long that will be. I ended up cutting and stripping out huge chucks of my first draft of Thousand Leaves, and yet the final rewrite still ended up being 25,000 words longer. I can see something similar happening with The Seventh Chakra, for some reason.
I also feel compelled to point out that, by this point in the narrative, every major character has been shot at least once (not always on the actual page, but there you have it, all the same). Just to give you an idea of what sort of things you can look forward to.
Already, this makes it longer than my first draft of Thousand Leaves, though I suspect that it might still end up shorter than Thousand Leaves did in the end (around 121K words); it may reach that length, as I think of it, though I doubt it'll be much longer, if at all.
As for the finished product, I find myself wondering how long that will be. I ended up cutting and stripping out huge chucks of my first draft of Thousand Leaves, and yet the final rewrite still ended up being 25,000 words longer. I can see something similar happening with The Seventh Chakra, for some reason.
I also feel compelled to point out that, by this point in the narrative, every major character has been shot at least once (not always on the actual page, but there you have it, all the same). Just to give you an idea of what sort of things you can look forward to.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Progressing Towards the Finish Line
I mentioned previously that one of my resolutions for 2009 is to have my first draft of The Seventh Chakra completed by the end of March. Now that a week of 2009 has passed, it's looking like that should be an actual realistic goal.
Back when I was working on my first draft of Thousand Leaves, during the Spring of 2006, I was stalled around the 50,000 word mark. Then, one day, while I was at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, I had this beautiful epiphany where I suddenly just knew where all my plot threads were going and how they came together to reach the climax of the novel. To this day, it's one of the most amazing things that's happened to me as a writer. From that point, it took me just about a month to finish that draft (another 50,000 words or so).
With The Seventh Chakra, I've stalled several times, and I haven't had any more magical epiphanies (that'll teach me to rely on fickle inspiration!). At long last, though, I'm only about a chapter away from the book's actual climax, and from where I am now, I can see how the rest of the book plays out.
Well, for the most part. Today, on my way back from lunch, I actually had an idea for (what I hope is) an awesome scene with one of my characters. It's actually the very next scene in the sequence I'm writing, which goes to show how far in advance I don't plan things, sometimes. Despite having only just decided on this scene, though, it feels right, and I'm quite excited to write it.
That's the thing about being a writer that always gets me: surprising myself. It happens way more than you might think.
Back when I was working on my first draft of Thousand Leaves, during the Spring of 2006, I was stalled around the 50,000 word mark. Then, one day, while I was at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, I had this beautiful epiphany where I suddenly just knew where all my plot threads were going and how they came together to reach the climax of the novel. To this day, it's one of the most amazing things that's happened to me as a writer. From that point, it took me just about a month to finish that draft (another 50,000 words or so).
With The Seventh Chakra, I've stalled several times, and I haven't had any more magical epiphanies (that'll teach me to rely on fickle inspiration!). At long last, though, I'm only about a chapter away from the book's actual climax, and from where I am now, I can see how the rest of the book plays out.
Well, for the most part. Today, on my way back from lunch, I actually had an idea for (what I hope is) an awesome scene with one of my characters. It's actually the very next scene in the sequence I'm writing, which goes to show how far in advance I don't plan things, sometimes. Despite having only just decided on this scene, though, it feels right, and I'm quite excited to write it.
That's the thing about being a writer that always gets me: surprising myself. It happens way more than you might think.
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