As I mentioned earlier, I'm currently working on two new projects while submitting The Book. The first is the sequel to The Book (we'll call it The Book II: Electric Boogaloo). The second, in case The Book doesn't sell (in which case there's not a helluva lot of use for a sequel, right?), is a Totally New Project.
There are a number of cool things about doing two projects at one time - first, I'm in the same first draft stage on both of them, so it's just about getting the words down on paper. I write super fast at this stage - about 1000 words an hour for a couple hours at a time - and the only plotting I worry about is "what comes next?" Transitional material, connective tissue, plot developments that, you know, actually make sense? All happens later. Right now, it's just about what comes next.
TNP is a "normal" young adult book, so no supernatural stuff in there, and it's also the first thing I've written in first person in a long time. I normally stay away from first person - I prefer third person limited, and that's what I'm using in The Book and Electric Boogaloo - but this one seems to require first person, so that makes it interesting. You know, for me. :) We'll see how interesting it is to everyone else once I've been through about half a dozen more drafts and revisions.
Anyway, because I'm a good ways in, I decided to read what I'd written of the TNP before I started writing yesterday. Since I write so quickly, a lot of times I don't actually remember what I've written unless I've been spending a lot of time with the book recently. I open the file and start reading, a little nervous. I haven't started something new in a while. The iea of looking at it again, even with the small amount of distance I have on it, makes me nervous. I hope it doesn't suck.
Forty five minutes later, I actually have to get up from my chair and walk around the room a little bit, pushing my hair back from my face.
It doesn't suck.
In fact, it's good. Really good.
It's rough, of course, WAY rough, and who the hell knows if I'll be able to sell it, like, ever, but it's good! It's something that I would pick up and keep reading.
I feel a little like Dr. Frankenstein in the movies, clutching his hair and screaming "IT LIVES", only in a non-scary and only happy way.
TNP LIVES!
(Electric Boogaloo lives, too, but I've already had that moment with The Book, so it's not as dramatic.)
There are a number of cool things about doing two projects at one time - first, I'm in the same first draft stage on both of them, so it's just about getting the words down on paper. I write super fast at this stage - about 1000 words an hour for a couple hours at a time - and the only plotting I worry about is "what comes next?" Transitional material, connective tissue, plot developments that, you know, actually make sense? All happens later. Right now, it's just about what comes next.
TNP is a "normal" young adult book, so no supernatural stuff in there, and it's also the first thing I've written in first person in a long time. I normally stay away from first person - I prefer third person limited, and that's what I'm using in The Book and Electric Boogaloo - but this one seems to require first person, so that makes it interesting. You know, for me. :) We'll see how interesting it is to everyone else once I've been through about half a dozen more drafts and revisions.
Anyway, because I'm a good ways in, I decided to read what I'd written of the TNP before I started writing yesterday. Since I write so quickly, a lot of times I don't actually remember what I've written unless I've been spending a lot of time with the book recently. I open the file and start reading, a little nervous. I haven't started something new in a while. The iea of looking at it again, even with the small amount of distance I have on it, makes me nervous. I hope it doesn't suck.
Forty five minutes later, I actually have to get up from my chair and walk around the room a little bit, pushing my hair back from my face.
It doesn't suck.
In fact, it's good. Really good.
It's rough, of course, WAY rough, and who the hell knows if I'll be able to sell it, like, ever, but it's good! It's something that I would pick up and keep reading.
I feel a little like Dr. Frankenstein in the movies, clutching his hair and screaming "IT LIVES", only in a non-scary and only happy way.
TNP LIVES!
(Electric Boogaloo lives, too, but I've already had that moment with The Book, so it's not as dramatic.)
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