Monday, January 30, 2012

Slow but steady

I'm still rewriting the dark fantasy story I've been talking about for two weeks. I had hoped this would be the post where I could say, "Hey! I finished another story. Look at how awesome I am!" But--and not for the first time--my ambitions have exceeded my reality.

Not that I'm beating myself up over it. No, ma'am. There's a chance this might be my best story yet, and if it needs a little more time to gel then that's what it needs. Right now I'm rewriting the climax through to the end. Everything else I'm pretty happy with at this point.

Also, to put it in perspective: The first draft was 2,900 words. It's now at 4,300 words. And many of those initial 2,900 words are different/better than before. I wonder if I'll ever be able to sit down and write a story without ripping it apart and putting it back together again because it's really inefficient to write this way.

The week is looking fairly busy. I'm venturing downtown to see some friends tomorrow night. I'm going to a reading on Wednesday, and Thursday is writing with other friends. I also owe five pages to my novel revision class for Saturday. I'm struggling with this because my story is in abysmal shape and I should rewrite those five pages to be more in line with the rest of the work. I sort of switched genres mid-way through the WIP. No big deal, right? Ugh.

My philosophy for the month: If I flounder enough, maybe I'll stumble into something that resembles progress.

Flailing, for the win!

5 comments:

Tim Sevenhuysen said...

Progress is progress, whether you're splashing your way through the shallows or doing the front crawl out in open water!

Folly Blaine said...

Ha. Too true, Tim. :)

Dawn said...

Some people like the T-Rex dance as our official writers' group dance. Me, I'm a fan of the flail as well. :)

Anonymous said...

Something that resembles progress -- I like that. And no beating yourself up. Whip that story into shape and get it out there!

Folly Blaine said...

Dawn: Ha. Maybe a flailing T-Rex dance is what we need.

Milo: Thanks. :) The story grew another 400 words this morning. The end is definitely in sight now.