Getting bigger than I expected
For the last three weeks, I've been writing almost every day for at least an hour. I've had some ideas and needed to go back and re-work some older bits, and I'm really happy with the direction things have taken.
Most of the advice I've heard from successful authors is to write first thing in the morning. I tried that, but it doesn't work for me. For some reason, my mind just isn't in the right place. I've found that I do my best stuff late in the evening.
When I first started writing about this character, it quickly became apparent that I was starting closer to the end of her story. The more I thought about her, the more her backstory kept unfolding. I can definitely pick up my original bit as a continuation of her story at some point, but right now that's putting the cart way out in front of the horse.
Originally, this was going to be a short story, but as of right now I'm up to 34,047 words. 40K is generally considered the limit for what can be considered a novella, and I think that's where I'd like to stop this particular story. I have a LOT I want to do with this character and her world, and the number of side characters is growing. I'm realizing that getting her where I ultimately want her to end up is going to be a lot longer story than can fit in one novella. I need to break it up into smaller chunks, and it's really looking like novellas are going to be the way to go. I can think of at least three beginning to end stories, all connected, and that's just getting things going.
I'm going to finish the section I'm on, which I think I can do in less than 1000 words, and then I'll go back to the beginning and start cutting things out and working more on her development. Then I'll feel more comfortable picking it up again, moving things closer to the “end” of this first part of her story, and calling it a first draft. Luckily, I have a close friend in the indie publishing business who has offered to read it and give me notes. I'm getting more and more convinced that I need to take her up on it.
#Novella #FirstDraft #CharacterDevelopment
- Tom