Today's writing was unexpected. Originally, I had a full day of writing planned. Then cleaning the house jumped in. Then lunch with a friend came up. Then a visit to the doctor's office for a delayed 18-month check up on Jeremy intervened.
So a day full of writing turned into a late afternoon filled with writing, complete with inability to go to the preferred writing nook of UVU library. Instead, I stayed at home and, bravely, tackled the keyboard, even though my immediate feeling of being able to write had severely diminished.
Nevertheless, I managed to pound out a little less than 2,000 words--which leads me to the documentation of today.
See, I'll write something and keep it--unless it's a small little phrase or spelling error or something, I save all of my false starts and random tangents. You just never know what might be useful later.
That's the case for today. Long ago (back on 17 Jan 2011, to be precise), I wrote a partial chapter in which Saldrae talked at length about her country, Meleah. I wrote it in part to get a better grip on the country myself, and when I stopped about three pages in, I realized it was too much of an info-dump and too dull to put in there. It served its purpose of expanding my understanding of the world, but, as far as being useful as a chapter, I just had to ditch it. It actually ends mid-sentence, completely cut off, with no resolution or explanation. Just...stopped.
Nevertheless, I kept it. I didn't feel write dumping it into the trash--over 1,000 words? That's a lot of work (upwards or two hours, perhaps) to just dispose of. So I decided to throw it in the folder and let it fester. More importantly, I put it in a folder where I would occasionally see it, thus letting me remember I had written it.
Today, I dusted off that chapter, cut a major portion of it, and threw it into today's work. Some of it was redundant, as I had since shown what she had been telling about (a good problem to have). Some of it was fresh, and it fit in with the rest of the scene. With some tweaks and twitches, I managed to shove it in as a valuable piece of world building and character development. Then, in a fit of unexpected inspiration, the last half page suddenly poured out, spilling across the page in a way that added the last touch of a worthwhile chapter (if I may be so immodest as to claim that): a sudden twist of the plot. Thus setting, character, plot, and major event all tumbled onto the page in one chapter.
The success of the chapter lies in futurity--I may end up changing, revising, or scrapping the chapter entirely when I come back to it during the major revision (this next summer, I'm hopeful). But the point is that it worked well--surprisingly well--and it stuck around because I've this tendency to copy-pasta stuff that I originally rejected.
This isn't the only time that I've done this, nor is it the only book in which this has happened. I guess the take away is to keep everything; you never know when you're going to need it again.
Anyway, today is part of Fall Break, so I got to write during the day, and now I have to get to my writer's group to get feedback on a chapter that I wrote in the middle of May. (For the record, today was finishing about half of Chapter 51--the flashback that'll accompany it (or perhaps interlude) will have to be written later; tomorrow, I hope. The chapter that the group's reading is 36.)
So a day full of writing turned into a late afternoon filled with writing, complete with inability to go to the preferred writing nook of UVU library. Instead, I stayed at home and, bravely, tackled the keyboard, even though my immediate feeling of being able to write had severely diminished.
Nevertheless, I managed to pound out a little less than 2,000 words--which leads me to the documentation of today.
See, I'll write something and keep it--unless it's a small little phrase or spelling error or something, I save all of my false starts and random tangents. You just never know what might be useful later.
That's the case for today. Long ago (back on 17 Jan 2011, to be precise), I wrote a partial chapter in which Saldrae talked at length about her country, Meleah. I wrote it in part to get a better grip on the country myself, and when I stopped about three pages in, I realized it was too much of an info-dump and too dull to put in there. It served its purpose of expanding my understanding of the world, but, as far as being useful as a chapter, I just had to ditch it. It actually ends mid-sentence, completely cut off, with no resolution or explanation. Just...stopped.
Nevertheless, I kept it. I didn't feel write dumping it into the trash--over 1,000 words? That's a lot of work (upwards or two hours, perhaps) to just dispose of. So I decided to throw it in the folder and let it fester. More importantly, I put it in a folder where I would occasionally see it, thus letting me remember I had written it.
Today, I dusted off that chapter, cut a major portion of it, and threw it into today's work. Some of it was redundant, as I had since shown what she had been telling about (a good problem to have). Some of it was fresh, and it fit in with the rest of the scene. With some tweaks and twitches, I managed to shove it in as a valuable piece of world building and character development. Then, in a fit of unexpected inspiration, the last half page suddenly poured out, spilling across the page in a way that added the last touch of a worthwhile chapter (if I may be so immodest as to claim that): a sudden twist of the plot. Thus setting, character, plot, and major event all tumbled onto the page in one chapter.
The success of the chapter lies in futurity--I may end up changing, revising, or scrapping the chapter entirely when I come back to it during the major revision (this next summer, I'm hopeful). But the point is that it worked well--surprisingly well--and it stuck around because I've this tendency to copy-pasta stuff that I originally rejected.
This isn't the only time that I've done this, nor is it the only book in which this has happened. I guess the take away is to keep everything; you never know when you're going to need it again.
Anyway, today is part of Fall Break, so I got to write during the day, and now I have to get to my writer's group to get feedback on a chapter that I wrote in the middle of May. (For the record, today was finishing about half of Chapter 51--the flashback that'll accompany it (or perhaps interlude) will have to be written later; tomorrow, I hope. The chapter that the group's reading is 36.)
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