WIP 2 - 10K Mark

Small steps certainly do add up. Since starting WIP 2 on March 1st, I have kept up with daily goals, and so now the book has reached 10K mark, which I am very happy about. If I stick to my word count, then by end of March, I should reach 20K. Well, my goal is 19500, but I will try for 20K anyway. 

While I have been writing this WIP, I have incredible urge to do a hand-written first draft. The main reason is because this is a half-and-half. I am writing whatever I can during my commute in the morning on a notepad, then I type it up. It seems bit of a waste of time, because I am not editing at this point, simply auto-typing the words. But I feel that since I have already got this WIP going on computer, I don't want to stop typing up. 

However, I might try writing a next WIP first draft only by hand, and see how that works out. I have never done that. It's always been bit of a mix and match. 

Anyway, so at this rate, I am hoping to get first draft finished by end of July. 

How are your WIPs coming along?

Unstructured Approach to Structuring

Editing - how I love it, and hate it, and feel everything in between for it. The editing for main wip is going...on some days I might say it's going well, but on other days, like today, it's just going.

However that is not a deterrent by any means because every weakness or every problem found now is something that I won't have to deal with later, and certainly not something that an agent or a publisher will ever get to see. So I am okay with finding faults. Faults are fixable.

My key concern is structure. Overall the structure is solid - but the problem is that there are several places in the second half of the book where I need to add new scenes. I am not exactly sure what scenes, and I am not exactly sure where, but I know that some additional requirement is needed, and I also know that some scenes could use other scenes in betwee them to make the transition smoother.

Initially I was going chapter by chapter. For first nine chapters it was okay, because they don't need anything added, and they don't need any structural changes. (I hope). Chapter 10 was so-so, but it was because of Chapter 11 that Chapter 10 came under the whole kaboom of change.

So there I was, looking at Chapter 11, staring and staring, and wondering what should go where, and it all seemed just so hopeless, and annoying, because I just wanted to do the damn edit, not wonder about what I should do. Then I looked at Chapter 10 and Chapter 12, because they had to link with Chapter 11, and while I was at it, I looked at Chapter 13 too. Then just for the convinience of looking at it easily, I pasted it all in one document, and started playing with it. And selecting things that I definitely wanted to keep (only looking at plot points here, not necessarily exact words). It was still quite frustrating not knowing what to add.

So just for the hell of it, I copied remaining chapters in a second document, and as I was doing it, the light bulb went off. This unstructured approach is the way to move forward, at least for now.

What I have done now is to combine both documents which is about 40000 words. I am going through it in completely unstructure manner, at random, selecting what I definitely want to keep, editing what catches my eye, and making note where new scenes could be inserted. While usually more orderly method is more efficient, I feel that in this instance, because I need to be aware of the whole picture rather than one scene, it is better to treat the whole second half as one, because if I add a new scene somewhere, it won't just affect the scene after it, but perhaps another scene which is no where around it. This approach is also making the editing slightly more fun and not nearly as frustrating because I am not endlessly staring at one screen, not knowing how to move.

This has also taught me an important lesson: there is no such thing as edit-proof. This WIP was written with an outine, and there are actually no plot holes, and yet I feel the need to add the new material because it will make the book stronger. It's the kind of stuff that one can't plan for. So the control freak in me just have to work with the chaos.

Daily Edit - Tried it?

Finding out what my writer likes is bit like shopping for clothes. Clothes may look great in the shop, but unless you try it, can't be sure if they are just right for you. Just like that, different methods of writing, editing, planning may sound great, but because my inner writer only gives opinion after the fact, I have to provide her with the options so she can tell me what she liked, what she didn't like, and what she loved.

This is all part of discovering the way I work - unless I try new things, I might settle for something that works fine, and miss out on something that may work even better. So settling is a no-no.

So the next experiment I am planning is that with my next WIP, I intend to try daily edit. Write new words, then review them next day, before writing the new words. I don't know whether this will work, because I am concerned that inner editor might want a total control and may never move on - but it's worth an experiment, if it will give me even stronger first draft.

Do any of you do this? Does it work for you?