And the writing has begun...
Nov. 6th, 2006 11:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marfiskHum, I guess I've been a little frantic preparing for NaNo and cleaning up a bunch of lose ends, so I forgot to post about this novel.
A quick update then.
First off, the outline is complete and currently at 54 scenes. It was only 53, but one scene has already split into two as often happens. The word count for the outline stands at 9846 and the total world building including the outline is 14,611. As this indicates, I tend to do the majority of my world building within my actual outline. One reason for so much extra is the character building marathon I mentioned in the original post. I took Holly Lisle's Character Clinic and started working through it for my characters. I normally let the elements of the characters come out in their own sweet time, but as an experiment, I found this very interesting. Some things came out that I didn't know, things that helped the novel immensely.
In my original post, I mentioned my concerns about the spoiled princess. Though I didn't explicitly state it, she came across to me as a chic lit type character full of flash and sarcasm. That image became harder and harder for me to hold onto for good reason. She isn't spoiled at all, not in the traditional sense. She's had her father's complete attention for most of her life, but this is because he clings to his memories of her mother, who died when she was two, and she tries to make up for that loss by being his helpmate, his comfort when the sorrow overwhelms.
This didn't change the essential events she undergoes in the story, but turns the nature of certain scenes from a temper tantrum to anger held as a shield from despair. The original thought still comes into play, but it's not true to her, it's how others perceive her. This makes it easier to bond to her as the main character and helps make trouble where things could have run quite smoothly, so I'm happy.
Based on the outline, this novel is running in the 65k-78k range, and based on the content, I'm thinking a YA fantasy. For NaNo, this is ideal because I can bring in a novel that exceeds the goals but not by so much that I'll be drained trying to finish it off in one month. So far, I'm about a third done and the story is moving along nicely. Another character has popped up just to be obnoxious and managed to wend his way through as somewhat of a bad guy in a novel about misconception and culture clash. It was a bad enough situation, but Prince Chori is there to make it worse :).
The question of POVs has been resolved and Faysal is doomed to find his voice in another novel. I love his character, but this novel does not play to his strengths, nor does he play a critical part. Instead, his brother gets the voice as both the Romeo to Hiba's Juliet and the one willing to reach out despite differences that seem overwhelming.
Finally, what makes this novel an interesting experiment is its timeline. As I said above, I don't normally do much world building, but part of the reason for that is because the world becomes alive to me as it stews in the back of my mind, sometimes for a significant number of years. Not so But a Pretty Bauble. No, this story came into being and whipped its way to the front of the line in less than 2 full months. As if that wasn't enough, those two months were chock full of "must completes." For the first time, I look at a scene and wonder what's the taste of it, the feel of it. The room, the people, don't exist until the moment I put my fingers on the keys. This has proved annoying for sure and is making the act of writing more difficult than expected. Still, it's something I need to know. Can I successfully complete a new story in this kind of timeline? Only time (and not a lot of it ;)) can tell. I will say so far with this experiment that it has made my confidence shaky. I know the overall shape of the novel, but not the heft. Without that, I can't see whether or not it's working, something that is frustrating to the extreme.
Anyway, enough blathering. Since I posted it at the NaNo site, I might as well share one small, very raw, snippet for your enjoyment. And the stats are at the bottom of course :).
Faysal = elected nomad leader and brother of the love interest.
Bab = love interest
Faysal shook his head. "This is an old argument, but its time is past. It's too late for talk. They've intruded on our desert and spilled our blood, taken our lives. Now we have to teach them a lesson not even their descendants will forget."
Cloaked in the aura of clan leader, Faysal strode back to the nearest entrance, his moment of grief and weakness cast aside. Bab stared after him, a bitter, sick feeling in his chest. "But what if that lesson costs us everything, brother? What then?" He asked the questions to the wind, for Faysal had already gone back to planning his next attack, the one that would cripple the land-churners forever...except nothing seemed to do that.
And stats:
54 scenes
23 complete - 43% of the novel
31 Scenes remain
37483 Remaining word count
65293 Estimated length - with an average of 1209 words per scene.
27810 Current Total
A quick update then.
First off, the outline is complete and currently at 54 scenes. It was only 53, but one scene has already split into two as often happens. The word count for the outline stands at 9846 and the total world building including the outline is 14,611. As this indicates, I tend to do the majority of my world building within my actual outline. One reason for so much extra is the character building marathon I mentioned in the original post. I took Holly Lisle's Character Clinic and started working through it for my characters. I normally let the elements of the characters come out in their own sweet time, but as an experiment, I found this very interesting. Some things came out that I didn't know, things that helped the novel immensely.
In my original post, I mentioned my concerns about the spoiled princess. Though I didn't explicitly state it, she came across to me as a chic lit type character full of flash and sarcasm. That image became harder and harder for me to hold onto for good reason. She isn't spoiled at all, not in the traditional sense. She's had her father's complete attention for most of her life, but this is because he clings to his memories of her mother, who died when she was two, and she tries to make up for that loss by being his helpmate, his comfort when the sorrow overwhelms.
This didn't change the essential events she undergoes in the story, but turns the nature of certain scenes from a temper tantrum to anger held as a shield from despair. The original thought still comes into play, but it's not true to her, it's how others perceive her. This makes it easier to bond to her as the main character and helps make trouble where things could have run quite smoothly, so I'm happy.
Based on the outline, this novel is running in the 65k-78k range, and based on the content, I'm thinking a YA fantasy. For NaNo, this is ideal because I can bring in a novel that exceeds the goals but not by so much that I'll be drained trying to finish it off in one month. So far, I'm about a third done and the story is moving along nicely. Another character has popped up just to be obnoxious and managed to wend his way through as somewhat of a bad guy in a novel about misconception and culture clash. It was a bad enough situation, but Prince Chori is there to make it worse :).
The question of POVs has been resolved and Faysal is doomed to find his voice in another novel. I love his character, but this novel does not play to his strengths, nor does he play a critical part. Instead, his brother gets the voice as both the Romeo to Hiba's Juliet and the one willing to reach out despite differences that seem overwhelming.
Finally, what makes this novel an interesting experiment is its timeline. As I said above, I don't normally do much world building, but part of the reason for that is because the world becomes alive to me as it stews in the back of my mind, sometimes for a significant number of years. Not so But a Pretty Bauble. No, this story came into being and whipped its way to the front of the line in less than 2 full months. As if that wasn't enough, those two months were chock full of "must completes." For the first time, I look at a scene and wonder what's the taste of it, the feel of it. The room, the people, don't exist until the moment I put my fingers on the keys. This has proved annoying for sure and is making the act of writing more difficult than expected. Still, it's something I need to know. Can I successfully complete a new story in this kind of timeline? Only time (and not a lot of it ;)) can tell. I will say so far with this experiment that it has made my confidence shaky. I know the overall shape of the novel, but not the heft. Without that, I can't see whether or not it's working, something that is frustrating to the extreme.
Anyway, enough blathering. Since I posted it at the NaNo site, I might as well share one small, very raw, snippet for your enjoyment. And the stats are at the bottom of course :).
Faysal = elected nomad leader and brother of the love interest.
Bab = love interest
Faysal shook his head. "This is an old argument, but its time is past. It's too late for talk. They've intruded on our desert and spilled our blood, taken our lives. Now we have to teach them a lesson not even their descendants will forget."
Cloaked in the aura of clan leader, Faysal strode back to the nearest entrance, his moment of grief and weakness cast aside. Bab stared after him, a bitter, sick feeling in his chest. "But what if that lesson costs us everything, brother? What then?" He asked the questions to the wind, for Faysal had already gone back to planning his next attack, the one that would cripple the land-churners forever...except nothing seemed to do that.
And stats:
54 scenes
23 complete - 43% of the novel
31 Scenes remain
37483 Remaining word count
65293 Estimated length - with an average of 1209 words per scene.
27810 Current Total
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Date: 2006-11-07 11:59 pm (UTC)Valerie
no subject
Date: 2006-11-08 12:46 am (UTC)