Plan C: Confessions of a First-Time Novelist

The turning point.

2009-09-26T14:38:00.000-07:00

Not surprisingly, I have been swallowed by the mammoth beast that is the senior year semester.

Good news, though, on the Plan C front:

The past few weeks, I've been working on "retrofitting" parts of the story, and through it all, I'm learning so much about the novel writing process. As a result, hoping that my depictions of academia will ring a little more true than they have thus far.

Some of the more major aspects of the work are being tweaked as I realize just how much this book is "character-driven" versus "plot-driven." What does that mean? It means that, according to my professor, my novel will "stand or fall" based on how genuine - how real - my characters are. I wholeheartedly agree.

I'm telling you, this directed research is a novelist's boot camp. Never before have I felt so sure that I have have little-to no-idea what the heck I'm actually doing. Never before have I so seriously doubted my basic competency as a creative writer to tackle a project like this. Each meeting reveals to me just exactly how much I do NOT know about my craft. This may sound like I'm whining about a negative experience, but out of the nagging self-doubt comes the challenge to do the absolute best I can and to NEVER settle for less than 110% out of myself.

But perhaps, most significantly of all, I'm learning so much about how I have to BELIEVE in what I'm doing. If I don't, who will? I have to love this book enough to be willing to do whatever I can humanly do to make it good. To be willing to make sacrifices where I need to - and to figure out exactly what's truly important in my work. Nothing worth creating out of this is going to come quickly or easily.

It's been a stretching experience - one of extreme highs and lows - but, through it all, I think that it's been teaching me more about diligence and patience than I could have ever imagined it could. But through it all, I know that I'm only further discovering where the passions of my heart lie.

And, as a result, I know that I'll never be the same again.

Back to the land of the living!

2009-08-29T15:42:00.000-07:00

After the blur of writing that was JulNoWriMo, it's good to have emerged out the other side. If I ever thought that trying to write 50k in a month would be a simple undertaking, I was certainly mistaken. Even greater kudos to those who went above and beyond the requirements! The WC amounts that some people made in July were astounding. And inspiring.

It was definitely an important experience for me, if not difficult - one that allowed me to add over 50,000 more words to my Plan C manuscript. At current estimation, it will take me about 25-30k more words to completely finish my zero draft, but, hey! It's definitely a start.

Current Plan C Word Count: 52,632+

Current Page Count: 236

Current Chapter Count: 20

Since getting back to California, things have certainly been busy. Busy, but good. On Wednesday, I met with my new academic advisor and the professor who's going to help me with my directed research. We talked about how the program will proceed - as it's directed research, and I'm the only student taking part - we could pretty much design our own course, with certain guidlines in place, natch.

Alas, one of the first things he asked for was my as-of-yet mostly unedited Plan C novel file. I cannot adequately describe the inner turmoil it caused me to willingly hand it over. One of the thoughts that had sustained me during my JulNo trek was the idea that no one would ever read my zero draft before I would have a chance to correct it. Well, so much for that!

And, as I sent him the file a few days ago, I know that he's already started reading it, too, for he asked me a few questions at the meeting, particularly about my characters Dyana Trigg, Dr Cornellius. Frayne, and Ridley Devon. One of the first he asked: "Tell me about Dyana." Awkward. (These characters have existed primarily in my own mind for so long that it's weird to discuss them with others. The feeling is kind of hard to describe.)

Already, I'm becoming painfully aware of the logical fallacies, plot gaps, general errors of the book as it stands - not because of anything that he has said, but more as a result of my own perfectionism. It's a disease, I swear. I suppose that this will be like ripping off a bandaid - dreadfully unpleasant, but hopefully quick. Although, the draft is currently pretty awful, so...

I'm taking this directed research for two semesters - the first is called "Novel Drafting," the second "Novel Finishing." What does that mean? It means that I'm going to have a complete working draft of Plan C by DECEMBER 11TH. The spring semester willl be spent fine-tuning the book and making the more minute edits that will be needed to making it generally readable (and, hopefully, on the way to becoming publishable).

I handed over the most recent revision of Plan C chapter one, which I'm thinking of tacking up here next. I've printed out chapter two and have begun making corrections on it. Halfway through the chapter, the JulNo content begins, so the quality's gonna take a dip. Ah, well. Time to stop whining. I have lots to be thankful for. I'll be able to graduate with my first finished novel. That will be pretty cool. And I'll learn a lot while I go. Right? Even thought it's gonna hurt.

Currently have 3.4k left to write to win my AugNo goal, and I tentatively set a 10k goal for SeptNo - the latter of which can still be raised if I need to. That will give me an extra 13.5k or so to the 52.5k that I already have... making at least a 65k manuscript. That's still kind of a low number, and I don't know that the storyline will be completely finished even by then. But at least I'm able to put a due date on the complete draft of this novel, which is pretty thrilling!

RANDOM THOUGHTS: My first critique group meeting is next Thursday in Spring Valley. Still deciding if I want to take chapter one or chapter two with me this time... might settle on the latter, as that one hasn't been touched by anyone yet. Toward the end of September is the San Diego Christian Writers Guild Conference. I'd really love to go to that, especially with everything that's happened this short year. Don't know that I currently have the fundage, but who knows.

Sorry, this is an extrordinarily geeky post (and LENGTHY), but... it's been a long few weeks, and I'm pretty excited with what's going down. :D

Till next time,
-R

T-Minus Three Days...

2009-06-27T14:21:00.000-07:00

Well, as I had hoped would happen this spring, I'm finally just a few short days away from one of the biggest writing events of the year - JulNoWriMo!

I will be completing my first full rough draft of [i]Plan C[i] in 31 days in at least 50,000 additional words - a daunting overtaking, to be sure, but there's no time to finish it like the present.

I'm feeling a nervous apprehension. It is going to be a CRAZY experience, one unlike anything I've ever attempted thus far; however, I'm certain that it will grant me the needed momentum to bring this story to life.

To prepare, I've typed up a rough description of the events I plan to cover each day over the month of July. Each is very sparsely described (only about three lines to detail close to a full chapter), as I plan to leave myself the allowance to make alterations to the plot as needed - or, as NaNoWriMo's Chris Baty would put it, plenty of room for "Exuberant Imperfection."

I, of course, will do my best to keep running word count tallies (and chapters, if the numbers are available) when possible. Can't wait to see what happens next! Wish me luck!

Till next time,
-R

The time grows nigh...

2009-05-29T20:51:00.000-07:00

Further details to come...

Huzzah!

2009-03-03T19:36:00.000-08:00

So, update:

I took a hiatus from writing Plan C in the month of February. I know, boo. This was mainly because I was still undiagnosed with stress migraines as well as bombarded with the most insane midterms week thus far in my college career. But now, thankfully, the craziness has ended, and I can now get back to work over spring break next week.

Coincidently, I ended up being unable to attend last months critique group due to inclement weather and my poor sense of direction. (re: I got lost.) On the positive side of all of this, I still have five printed copies of my first chapter to submit on Thursday, and I didn't feel compelled to commit academic suicide to finish chapter two before now. Chapter two, however, is forthcoming and should be completed by the start of April!

And, finally - in other, more exciting news - I have learned about JulNoWriMo! (www.julnowrimo.com) Similiar to NaNoWriMo, this competition takes place in July! This is PERFECT because it will be smack dab in the middle of summer break, and I shouldn't have too much other than work to consume my time. Mark my words, I'm going to do this! Also, appropriately enough, this July will be exactly a year since I first began planning the novel. It's like KISMET!

Anyway, more intensive spurts of novel writing should take place within the next week. I've definitely missed working on it and can't wait to work with my characters again!

Till next time,
-R

Things are rolling along!

2009-02-03T18:07:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm very pleased to announce that I was able to reach a certain level of productivity over Christmas break! I completed a preliminary draft of my first chapter while I was home, and since classes have been back in session, I've been able to work on part of the chapter two rough draft!

Word Count: 3,675 / 4,623
Page Count: 14 / 18
Current Chapter: 2

As you might have noticed, I've added a second set of digits to the tabulated word and page counts. This second amount includes any additional prose writings that go above and beyond the current, chronological chapter work. (These are excerpts that might be included in later chapters... somewhere.) So far, I have nearly a thousand extra words that I've been playing around with when the inspiration as struck me.

On Thursday night, I will be meeting with my critique group for the first time with a completed chapter. I'm excited to hear the feedback on my work - and a little nervous as well. I'll be sure to update as soon as I can on any further developments - and perhaps possibly put up a few small excerpts!

Until next time,
-R

Happy 2009!

2009-01-05T13:22:00.000-08:00

Well, another new year is finally upon me. It is my fervent hope to make this one the most productive yet! I've been trying to take advantage of winter break (particularly this past week) to make some major headway on the planning stage of my novel, as well as completely finish the initial draft of my very first chapter. It has been an exciting, if not unnerving, process!

I find my writer's block attempting to stymie me at every corner, but I have managed to fill in a few of the "big picture" holes, one of which that has completely changed the direction of the second half of the novel. However, I am pleased by this particular brainstorm - it is more plausible than what I had before, as well as a much larger obstacle for my protagonists to have to work through! (An ultimate solution, unfortunately, is, at this time, still pending. Of course.)

As a new system in this blog, I hope to keep a running tally of word, page, and chapter count. Hopefully, it will help to keep me more accountable so that I will write as often as I can. For now, it's a humble beginning, but it will soon grow.

Word Count: 1,127
Page Count: 4.5
Current Chapter: 1

My next critique group meeting is on February 5th, so my tentative goal is to have the first two chapters completed by then. Wish me luck!

-R

Next year: NaNoWriMo

2008-11-29T20:14:00.000-08:00

One of the difficulties of balancing a full-time schedule of college classes, work hours, and (the semblance of) a social life is that, inevitably, something ends up getting shortchanged. Unfortunately for me, my writing project is the thing that I've ended up having to place on the back burner for the past several weeks. However, I do have a few positive bits of news to report!

Over the past few months, I've had an opportunity to attend a few sessions of my new writing critique group, and I've managed to receive some amazing encouragement and feedback. Best of all, I've received the motivation I need to start actively moving past the mere planning stage. Outlining is extremely helpful to me, but, at the same time, it tends to keep me a bit stuck. I find it too easy to begin to distance myself from my work and keep painstakingly plotting for every little contingency. Not only does this begin to suck the spontaneous pleasure out of the project, but also I find myself afraid that I may never actually move beyond pages of endless plot summaries and character profiles.

Thankfully, I received the stimuli I needed to start actually writing the thing. Even though I've been working on my outline sporatically since July, I still have a (significant) few more holes to get filled in, but I suppose, at least for this first draft, that I'm going to try to tinker with and explore my characters and let them begin to reveal aspects of themselves as we go. (Those who have worked with creating and writing original characters will understand how this process works.)

With that said, my major goal for this coming Yuletide season (and extended break from college classes) is to complete the first one or two chapters of Plan C. Can I do it? I think so! I've started to jot down a rough outline of the first 1 and 1/2 chapters as well as having begun a working draft for the first few pages. I just wish that I was finished with the last few (academic) writing projects of the semester...

Until next time...
I'd much rather be novel-writin'.
-R

Not to write, for many of us, would be to die. - Ray Bradbury

A Little Bit of History (or: Let's Get This Party Started!)

2008-10-04T00:45:00.000-07:00

After procrastinating on starting this blog for a few days (procrastination is the writer's curse!), I've finally decided to buckle down and get to it. Although this may not be the most original way to for me to kick off a new blog, any story has to tell its beginning, and this is mine.

I am a junior who is currently attending a small private college in Southern California. I'm majoring in English with a great enthusiasm - throughout my life, reading and writing have always been my first loves. Even as a small child who was under or around the age of 10, I would compose a variety of stories that, at the time, drew upon characters from various fandoms I enjoyed. A few choice and memorable examples of these would be Beauty and the Beast or Super Mario Bros. (Yes, really.)

For a time during high school, I was caught up in actively writing (rather terrible) fanfiction for a few fandoms that were currently popular at the time. Please pardon if I decline to mention them here because they, unfortunately, are probably still circulating around the perpetual time capsule of the Internet. Trust me, they're quite amateurish and not worth drawing any attention to here. However, I am very much thankful for the experience because it really provided me with my first opportunity to write short fiction for a reading audience of more than one. (The "one" being myself.) It was definitely my initial exposure with putting my ideas out there into the void for others to evaluate, and I definitely learned some valuable skills about the craft (most of which I'm still in the process of refining).

In the immediate year or two after graduation, I finally began concocting a few original characters of my own. They have gone through quite a few different stages of development before they became the "people" that they are now. It's been exciting to see the nuances and angles that they have received since they were first conceived of and, so far, their reception by others has been unexpectedly positive. It is my hope here, in this particular little section of the World Wide Web, to continue feeding the current spark of writing inspiration that I have. My first serious undertaking in novel-writing, currently entitled Plan C, is off and running at full force.

At current, my schedule (with college classes, homework, work, ministry, and a passing semblance of a social life) is pretty jammed, so this page may be updated only infrequently. Mostly, it's important to me, as a writer, to document this amazing and completely unpredictable experience.

But above all, I'm working on this project for the fun that comes with creating a living, breathing soul made of ink and paper. Finally, I'll be able to flush few of these crazy characters out of my head and onto the written page (Cornellius Frayne, I'm talking about you.) Of course, if, along the way, others enjoy reading what I might have to say... that would be pretty rewarding, too!

Until next time,
-R