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I know I say this pretty much every day, but why, oh why, does rewriting have to be so hard?
The first draft of TSPB was 250 pages, 100,000 words. I consider that to be too long, and there were a lot of useless characters and strange subplots everywhere. So I cut the characters and modified the plot.
Now, here's the current dilemma. Without the subplots and, actually, one part of the main plot, the story is going to end far too soon - or, if not, the characters are definitely going to get to the next plot point far too quickly. And I don't know what to do about it! I know what happens next, I think I know where I'm going, but the pacing is off and I can't fix it! I hate this I hate this I hate this aaaaargh.
And, Pyrae, I need your expertise. I've been reading the tips over at NaNoEdMo (which you should read if you haven't). This is, according to the guy who does tips, the only absolute rule of writing:
Your first paragraph must let the reader the know about the tone of the entire piece, must be a microcosm of the whole damn novel.
But I can't do that. I can't. It's supposed to start calmly, with only the slightly sinister government-choosing-jobs thing. But by the end everything just explodes into blood and war and angst and I don't know how to convey that in the first paragraph. *sob* I need heeeeeelp...
ETA:
I don't know what to do about this, either.
The whole idea of my story, I think, is that it's a completely surreal situation. There are no real explanations of how things got so bad, no science at all, just the consequences of unseen events that force my characters to act.
But at the same time it's trying to be realistic. And in a real war like the one these characters are in, not everyone would survive.
The thing is, I think, that I've almost always felt that Zacharias should die. He's been lucky, so far, but really he's not the great spy he pretends to be, he's just a sixteen-year-old arrogant prat who doesn't know what he wants or who he loves. That's the thing, I guess. He's sixteen. He has allergies. He wears glasses. He doesn't hit people, he pinches them. He's completely freaked out by hospitals. He doesn't know how to comfort people and doesn't want to be comforted himself. He feels real to me, even if he isn't. And if this story was real - if this world was real - he would die. Because he's indecisive, he's melodramatic, and he isn't suited to this.
He might be able to save others. But in the end, I can't see him saving himself, and I don't think Joseph would be able to save him, either.
Here's the thing about Abhorsen, which is a brilliant book (spoiler warning, skip paragraph if ever intending to read story): Nick dies. And for one and a half very long books, he's been dying. We knew he would die. I, at least, didn't want it to happen. I wept for him, I laughed when he was saved, but then he died anyway because it would have been horribly wrong if he had lived. I mean, he came back, and I was laughing and crying then too, but it just felt right that he died.
It feels right to me that Zacharias should die. I don't know how to make everyone else feel that way, too, though, and that's another thing that torments me.
The first draft of TSPB was 250 pages, 100,000 words. I consider that to be too long, and there were a lot of useless characters and strange subplots everywhere. So I cut the characters and modified the plot.
Now, here's the current dilemma. Without the subplots and, actually, one part of the main plot, the story is going to end far too soon - or, if not, the characters are definitely going to get to the next plot point far too quickly. And I don't know what to do about it! I know what happens next, I think I know where I'm going, but the pacing is off and I can't fix it! I hate this I hate this I hate this aaaaargh.
And, Pyrae, I need your expertise. I've been reading the tips over at NaNoEdMo (which you should read if you haven't). This is, according to the guy who does tips, the only absolute rule of writing:
Your first paragraph must let the reader the know about the tone of the entire piece, must be a microcosm of the whole damn novel.
But I can't do that. I can't. It's supposed to start calmly, with only the slightly sinister government-choosing-jobs thing. But by the end everything just explodes into blood and war and angst and I don't know how to convey that in the first paragraph. *sob* I need heeeeeelp...
ETA:
I don't know what to do about this, either.
The whole idea of my story, I think, is that it's a completely surreal situation. There are no real explanations of how things got so bad, no science at all, just the consequences of unseen events that force my characters to act.
But at the same time it's trying to be realistic. And in a real war like the one these characters are in, not everyone would survive.
The thing is, I think, that I've almost always felt that Zacharias should die. He's been lucky, so far, but really he's not the great spy he pretends to be, he's just a sixteen-year-old arrogant prat who doesn't know what he wants or who he loves. That's the thing, I guess. He's sixteen. He has allergies. He wears glasses. He doesn't hit people, he pinches them. He's completely freaked out by hospitals. He doesn't know how to comfort people and doesn't want to be comforted himself. He feels real to me, even if he isn't. And if this story was real - if this world was real - he would die. Because he's indecisive, he's melodramatic, and he isn't suited to this.
He might be able to save others. But in the end, I can't see him saving himself, and I don't think Joseph would be able to save him, either.
Here's the thing about Abhorsen, which is a brilliant book (spoiler warning, skip paragraph if ever intending to read story): Nick dies. And for one and a half very long books, he's been dying. We knew he would die. I, at least, didn't want it to happen. I wept for him, I laughed when he was saved, but then he died anyway because it would have been horribly wrong if he had lived. I mean, he came back, and I was laughing and crying then too, but it just felt right that he died.
It feels right to me that Zacharias should die. I don't know how to make everyone else feel that way, too, though, and that's another thing that torments me.
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Or not, you know, whatever.
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If I wasn't a Christian, I would so worship you.
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And alas, nae, for you have seen the episode with jack getting older, and taking picuters of my ass.
you lied to me..
horrible. i fell distraught.
Adios
and as GALADRIEL put it: i shall go into the east and remain galdriel...or something like that.
Adios
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