Head...Meet Desk.
Have you ever had the urge to slam your forehead against your keyboard repeatedly? Well, I'm having one of those days right now.
It's not a bad day--just frustrating.
The final two chapters of EGB need some major work and, to be honest, I don't feel much like working on them. I will, of course, but the frustration of sitting just this side of the finish line is apt to drive me mad. I have to hand it to Vlad, though. He's revealed things that I hadn't quite expected him to--both for this book and the rest of the series. At times, writing is a lot like interviewing witnesses after the fact. It's a great writing day when I can be typing along, only to sit back in my chair and say, "Whoa. I never saw that coming."
As much story as there is, I really thought Eighth Grade Bites would be longer. It's creeping close to 40,000 words right now, and Young Adult fiction is usually between 40,000 and 60,000 words. (Oh sure, JK Rowling got away with something like 76,500 for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, but she's a goddess and I'm...well, I'm not anything yet) All I can really do is tell a good story and attempt to entertain my readers. And if I do that in 40,000 words, well...I guess I've done my job.
I think I'll go take out my frustrations before I continue working. Those sheep have it coming.
It's not a bad day--just frustrating.
The final two chapters of EGB need some major work and, to be honest, I don't feel much like working on them. I will, of course, but the frustration of sitting just this side of the finish line is apt to drive me mad. I have to hand it to Vlad, though. He's revealed things that I hadn't quite expected him to--both for this book and the rest of the series. At times, writing is a lot like interviewing witnesses after the fact. It's a great writing day when I can be typing along, only to sit back in my chair and say, "Whoa. I never saw that coming."
As much story as there is, I really thought Eighth Grade Bites would be longer. It's creeping close to 40,000 words right now, and Young Adult fiction is usually between 40,000 and 60,000 words. (Oh sure, JK Rowling got away with something like 76,500 for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, but she's a goddess and I'm...well, I'm not anything yet) All I can really do is tell a good story and attempt to entertain my readers. And if I do that in 40,000 words, well...I guess I've done my job.
I think I'll go take out my frustrations before I continue working. Those sheep have it coming.
posted by Heather Brewer at 8:17 AM
2 Comments:
I know it's frustrating, Heather, but hang in there - you're on the final lap. You might want to go back through the manuscript looking for senses - have you touched on all of them? Does the reader hear, see, smell, touch? sometimes those last couple of emotions get forgotten; making sure you touch on them might add a bit to the manuscript. But most of all, try not to worry about the wordcount. If this is the story you want to tell, and you've told it in the way you need to, then that's all you should concentrate on!
Thanks for the tips, Melanie! I think I'm doing fairly well on the senses and on avoiding too much exposition. So here's hoping I'm finally figuring out what works and what doesn't. This is the second draft; I'll do one more before querying. Thank the gods for readers!
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