I put my submission in the mail today, determined to get it out of my sight in the event that I'd be tempted to tinker with it outside of the contest time line. With the contest now safely behind me, I have the temerity to think I understand what I did right, and what I did wrong. This will probably be good for a laugh in a few months when I have some legitimate perspective on everything.
Rights:
1) The research that I did helped a great deal. I know that I bitched about it as I settled into the last minute panic before the contest began, but it really did help. I was able to add the parts of history that I thought were most interesting where they were most fitting, and that's not a bad thing. True flavour in a Fake setting. It's like real apples on the top of an apple pie filled with that horrible canned filling... except not disgusting... I hope.
2) Working with someone else was incredibly encouraging. Even though Ryan was a province away, having his word count there in the sidebar was enough to make me feel the push of friendly competition. Also, he was quick to call me if he thought I was stuck -- or not posting onto TextFIGHT enough -- and to talk about his own frustrations. Knowing that we were in this together was a life saver.
3) Talking to Kaz about my worries and needs before the week-end began made everything a lot better. He stayed out of my hair, and when I would snap, "NO READING" as he walked by the monitor, he was able to brush it off as temporary insanity. He also did lots of cooking and supplying of food. That was awesome, and he has already hinted that next week-end might be a good time to do the same for him.
Wrongs:
1) I had some indistinct names. I named one of my character's Johnny, and then half-way through the book I decided that I meant that his name was Charlie. It was a boring name from the get go, and if I had picked a name with some meat to it, I wouldn't have been flip-flopping all over the place. Seriously. I thought I had the problem fixed, and then when I sat down to write the penultimate scene, I reverted back to Charlie. It was an irritation that was easy enough to fix with the find/replace tool, but annoying nonetheless.
2) I should have known that I needed more substance to my outline. If I were to do this again (oh so doubtful) I would make sure to have an outline with extra scenes that I can choose to exclude if I want. Then I wouldn't be worried about my word count from day one.
3) I doubted my original plot. After day one, I was feeling wishy-washy about what my outline was telling me to do, and so it was like I was working on two different books for a while there. This made my editing job a lot more difficult in the end, and all of my fixes pushed things back inline with my original idea. I would have saved myself a lot of time and hassle if I had just stuck with my instincts.
4) My historical setting was a pain in the ass. I know I was going to go all metaphorical on its ass, but I kept thinking about what the setting was really like in the 1920's. I wish I hadn't done that because it was an extra hoop that my mind had to jump whenever I wrote anything: dialogue, descriptions, everything.
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6 comments:
Ah Ril, sometimes we think very alike.
I too mailed that damned thing this morning because if I didn't I was afraid I'd succumb to perfidy.
I have my retrospective post coming, but I can barely use words at this point.
Maybe tomorrow.
I think it's like what they say about getting mugged: if you came out of it alive, whatever you did was probably right.
G-
I feel kinda sad and left out now... just `cause I sorta did this along with you because I was doing the 3-Day album, and now you guys'll be doing NaNoWriMo and I won't because I swore to Ryan and various other people that I wouldn't do any more big projects (except for the stuff I already have going) for the rest of the year.
G-
See, the thing is, Ms. G...
In the last year you've written two full novels, shortlisted in 3 Day , and finished an album.
I don't think you need to find impetus for your creative output.
That said, if you want to do NaNoWriMo, I say do it. It's low pressure.
But if you do, I think you should approach it AS play. Do it for the fun of writing something you WANT to write. For fun.
And if you make it, great, and if it isn't fun, stop.
We who love you would just like you to lower the ol' stress level from 11 to...oh...let's say 7.
At least for a the winter.
I'm trying to break a ten year streak of pure laziness as a writer.
You've got fuck-all to prove there.
3-Day Novel: Like getting mugged. I think they could use it as an advertising slogan, don't you?
I think it would be terribly fun if you joined in with the NaNoWriMo business. If you think you can keep your sanity, Miss Busy Pants.
Busy in the good way. Not the slutty way.
Unless you've changed a great deal since I've seen you last.
My next goal for writing is to write a YA novel.
I do have sequels in mind for both the Anna and Collie series (onward to Saskatoon, as I move east across Canada with this series)and for the book about the Dominion (onward to... ah... the Strait of Gibraltar. About which I do not know enough. Not nearly enough.), but an author friend recommended YA to me because you've got a built-in market in Canada, and also it's fun to write.
People care less about genre and literary snootiness. You're just trying to tell a good story to people who are really, really into books. Tweens and teens who read are usually tweens and teens who love to read.
Also, if you hit 50,000 words in YA, you're done.
But September and October are so nuts (I have cancelled my birthday, for example, because I don't have time to celebrate it) that I was thinking I might take a break in November. I guess I'll have to see how I feel around mid-October.
G-
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