Please excuse the tardiness of the post. I wound up wrestling with plot threads last night and only hit a groove after I was very, very tired, and I essentially fell asleep at my keyboard.
Now I’m awake, and bringing you the chronicle, time-shift style.
The characters have hijacked the story. Entirely. I now have almost no idea where this thing is going. Occasionally, I reach over into the bin of material I already wrote, and those days result in low net word counts, because I’m taking a scene that was written with another context in mind and retooling it for the existing storylines.
My subsconscious obviously knew what it as up to, since so many of these scenes are working perfectly in their new digs, but repainting the set where they’re taking place is a different kind of work, and it feels much more like work than does just writing from scracth.
Odd, that. I can remember a time where I didn’t have the confidence to write a book like this without a lot of scaffolding.
Anyway, I clocked another modest net gain today of just over a thousand words.
Starting word count: 37,543
Ending word count: 38,638
38,638 / 120000 words
jdsawyer
After a childhood in academia, J. Daniel Sawyer declared his independence by dropping out of high school and setting off on a series of adventures in the bowels of the film industry, the venture capital culture of silicon valley, surfing safaris, bohemians, burners, historians, theologians, adventurers, climbers, drug dealers, gangbangers, and inventors before his past finally caught up to him.
Trapped in a world bookended by one wall falling in Berlin and other walls going up around suburbia and along national borders throughout the world, he rediscovered his deep love of history and, with it, and obsession with predicting the future as it grew aggressively out of the past.
To date, this obsession has yielded over thirty books and innumerable short stories, the occasional short film, nearly a dozen podcasts stretching over a decade and a half, and a career creating novels and audiobooks exploring the world through the lens of his own peculiar madness, in the depths of his own private forest in a rural exile, where he uses the quiet to write, walk on the beach, and manage a production company that brings innovative stories to the ears of audiences across the world.
For news and free stories, sign up for his occasional newsletter. Or find his contact info, podcasts, and more on his home page at http://www.jdsawyer.net
How do the changes fit within your structure? Do you find it’s gone off the rails entirely or does what’s happening with the characters still fit within your “jazz” structure outline? Is it too early to tell?
Noble Bear
Well, I’m definitely playing jazz, but it’s a much wilder form than before. One particular character escaped certain death and is heading towards being a major disruptor in what I had planned.
At this point, I’m just letting go of the plan. There are five or six things that still have to happen in order for the series to fit continuity with the Suave Rob books and The Resurrection Junket, but those shouldn’t be too difficult to hit even with the great disruptions.
jdsawyer
Great to hear you back and casting Free Will. It was just what I needed to cheer me up after undoubtedly the toughest work week of my career.
OzGuvnor
Sorry to hear it’s been a rotten week–but very glad we could brighten it!
jdsawyer
Comments are closed.
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RT @dsawyer: New Abomination: Blogging Antithesis: Day 21 https://t.co/hbUZ9lOhm5
How do the changes fit within your structure? Do you find it’s gone off the rails entirely or does what’s happening with the characters still fit within your “jazz” structure outline? Is it too early to tell?
Well, I’m definitely playing jazz, but it’s a much wilder form than before. One particular character escaped certain death and is heading towards being a major disruptor in what I had planned.
At this point, I’m just letting go of the plan. There are five or six things that still have to happen in order for the series to fit continuity with the Suave Rob books and The Resurrection Junket, but those shouldn’t be too difficult to hit even with the great disruptions.
Great to hear you back and casting Free Will. It was just what I needed to cheer me up after undoubtedly the toughest work week of my career.
Sorry to hear it’s been a rotten week–but very glad we could brighten it!