[TheZot] Busted (Was: A story in search of a title)

[TheZot]

I've been trying to work past some writer's block lately -- I have this horrible habit of wanting to know how a story goes from beginning to end, with details, foreshadowing, and all sorts of fiddly bits before I actually write the thing. Which wouldn't be bad if I wrote novels for a living, I suppose, but since I don't I have a hell of a time going from 'sketching it out' to 'actually writing something'. And once the first draft is written I poke and fiddle and take forever to finish the editing. Being something of a perfectionist about this stuff doesn't help.

 

So, in an attempt to just kick my ass in gear, I've been brain-dumping a story. I dunno for sure how it's going to end up or where it's going (got some ideas, but nothing solid) but I'm just going along for the ride and hoping for the best. Once it's done I may go back and flesh it out, but for now I'm happy putting the bones together in the right order.

 

It's going up on my blog -- first chapter is here for those folks who want to follow along. (Figured I'd post since not everyone's up for reading blog blather under normal circumstances )

 

Feel free to ignore the title, or not. While I do need a title, I'm holding off until I'm sure what kind of story this is before I pick one. I think. That's the plan, at least.

[TheZot]

For those folks not following along at home, everything through chapter 6 is up for your reading pleasure. And yep, we've got a title. Woo!

[canundra]

I really like it. I'm glad you're getting over your writer's block

[TheZot]

Apparently I am -- I just counted, and I'm at eleven thousand words as of the end of chapter 12. Not too bad for less than two weeks of spare-time writing. The story's still kind of mushy, which isn't much of a surprise as it's very much a first draft.

 

I still need to find out if it's a murder mystery with some romance, or a romance with a murder mystery in the background. Maybe that'll be clear soon.

[canundra]

Well, whatever it is, I'm enjoying it a lot.

[TheZot]

Right, I think I've figured out what's going on. (Well, mostly. There are some details still to be worked out, like who dunnit and what exactly they did, but those are minor things)

 

This is one part romance and one part supernatural thriller. The rewrite's got some challenges to it. I've never done suspense before, so I'm not entirely sure how the pacing should go. I think I'm going to stick with the lead-in I have, but I've got some foreshadowing that really needs to be added.

[Bondwriter]

Reached chapter 39. Why did I shy away from it in the blogs in the first place? I would have liked it as a serial. Great story. I'm not sure it will need that much rewrite. It reads well as it goes. A few stitches here and there, maybe, but I'd advise against playing around too much with it.

[TheZot]

Reached chapter 39. Why did I shy away from it in the blogs in the first place? I would have liked it as a serial. Great story. I'm not sure it will need that much rewrite. It reads well as it goes. A few stitches here and there, maybe, but I'd advise against playing around too much with it.

Ah, shying away from the blogs is often a sensible thing. Besides, this way you get to read the whole first draft from end to end and not have to wait!

 

It doesn't need a huge rewrite, but the dialog for the guys needs to be made more consistent, there's a fair amount of rough work that needs smoothing out, and the fact that I didn't have any idea someone was going to die until I was a couple of weeks into it needs dealing with. (Plus motivations are rough, and there are just some general consistency issues that need taking care of)

 

Standard second draft stuff. Clarity, conciseness, and cleanliness -- you should pick it up, start reading, and then realize you hit the end and need to get up for work in a couple of hours and not realize it ate your evening.