Retention

The only sacred parts of this story are the people who dwell within it. However, the past events that have fashioned their existence also reside in the current events that shape the story. The story itself must remain, and the chapters must be kept - modified, no doubt, but they are important, valuable. There can be no going back on what the story 'is', as I've spent a lot of time ensuring what it must 'not be'.
The beginning is good, but needs revising thus: the first chapter needs more of a kick and the ensuing chapters must run more fluidly along. New chapters will be necessary, but maybe only one or two.
This is not a short story, so any 'slowing' must occur later. Much later. Yeah, I know, you're getting bored reading all of this and waiting for the agent stage, but that part will be long and painful if I get it all wrong. Who wants to be told it isn't up to scratch by the very person who would get you published? You do want to read the book, don't you?
But it's good. I'm not sulking at my inadequacies, whatever they are. Just a wind of change, not a storm. There's no wreckage... well, maybe just my ego ;-)
I'll put some music up while you're waiting :-)  And, if you're good, and very patient, I'll start the Christmas countdown from the 1st of December.
Knew you'd like that x

Catching The Light

An Antoine Dufour acoustic piece that I listen to now and again.
It's also a phrase that lends itself to writing, where you really do try to capture pieces of light in thought form and present them to the reader in your own individual way.
Then you are judged, and light can soon become darkness if your switches don't work.
I've been rather caught up in this world I've created, and though I've tried to bear the reader in mind in everything I've done, I guess I may have lost sight of where I was going. Maybe... maybe not...
Given I'm a Dean Koontz follower, I do believe that the nature of the beginning of Sole Survivor has influenced my choice of beginning, as has When Darkness Falls. My story is different, but not so that there are no intertwineable threads. Perhaps, though, this is not what my story needed at this point.
I'm going to redo parts of chapter one and then explore an alternative movement after about the fourth chapter, leading back to the introduction of Maya, the hero's companion. A contemporary name in 2012 if ever there was one ;-) The introspective pieces possibly can be held back until later. That's all I can say right now.
This will take a bit of planning and even more doing.
But it doesn't have to entail destroying anything, nor setting off in a different direction. I know what I've seen. I can only change so much before the story becomes something else, so I need to be careful of these changes.
The midpoint is not that far away, in truth. Writing up as many chapters as are available will also help to secure a stronger vantage point, from where I should be able to view a more clear event horizon. Then I may not be sucked into the black hole that is the literary rejection pile! :-)
Time, that's all it takes. Just time...

Post Mortem

I could be forgiven for ending my foray into writing by burning the lot, and declaring that I'm just not up to it, that it's taking too long, that I'm lost... and so on.
But it's a truism you should finish what you start. And I've hardly started, with the halfway stage not even remotely on the horizon. At least I'm thinking and working on it, which is positive.
The main problem I have is that nothing really urgent happens from the third chapter for about 3 or 4 chapters. The chapters are informative and have a place in the narrative, but something is needed to show more about the hero's purpose and lend more urgency to the script.
I need to write more chapters. And I need to determine the best path from the second chapter to the third etc.
Is the first chapter the right one, or should it be the second chapter? I think the current first is good, so changing it to something else is not the way. The ending of the second chapter means that the hero should really go some place - and he doesn't: he goes somewhere else.
Hmmm...  think I know the order now. I hope!
Bacardi, coke, ice, slice of lemon... think... chill... think... chill...  Dave Pimm, I could kill you, but you might just have saved my story lol

Calling It Right

Got my first 'Reader Feedback' today. It's a tough world, and that's all I'm gonna say.
Lots of thinking to be done, and more thinking. And writing, and more writing, too.
The thing I must do, before Christmas and New Year, is write as much as I have in front of me as possible. The key is to write up all the chapters in my notes. Every one needs to be down on paper, scanned and input to my laptop. The story is a jigsaw puzzle, a patchwork quilt. Nobody's written it before, so there's no template for me to use, except for the cribs from my own historical reading - fiction and non-fiction.
Nobody gets it right first time. The greats usually only get it right once. Most don't get it right at all. Got to remember that. Don't wanna be part of the 'most'!

Time Flies

Just got off the phone with Noel the Ultimate Proofreader. We'd been chatting for over an hour and it seemed like five minutes! We didn't talk about writing very much, mainly as there was nothing to report. I haven't written chapter 16 yet, and Noel hadn't read the stuff I sent him. There's plenty of time and I'm in no rush to make a mess of things.
I'm beginning to move into this chapter 16, though, and it won't be long. Come the New Year, I'll be happier about things becoming more open in my life. Just that, if I hadn't closed everything down, I'd have got nothing done. A strange journey for me, as I always seemed to be socialising with the world. Now I seem to be socialising with the net. Getting to the midpoint of the tale will be a huge moment. Decisions can be made with more clarity. I'm working towards that and it will happen.
The poem for the beginning is taking more shape, too. It will be there for an agent to read, needed or not. As will the prologue.
Still looking... still revising...