stormdream (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} stormdream) wrote,@ 2009-06-21 01:53:00 |
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Depressing? Well, maybe...
Finished doing the type-in on Lusitania.
I didn't realize how late it had gotten. As I was plodding through the last thirty or so pages I actually had to take a break because the whole thing was such a downer. It tilts up somewhat at the end, but it's certainly not a Happily Ever After for anyone involved.
The story has changed quite a bit since its roots, first as The Flying Dutchman and then as various incrnations of Nemo. The addition of the Lusitania is really what drew everything together and made the story whole.
It also gave me a plot. Which, you know, is a good thing.
There's a few tweaks I still have to make and probably one more run-through on the screen before I decide what to do with it. The story has a gigantic, glaring problem right off the bat: the length. It clocks in at 124,000 words. I'll probably trim it down slightly in the tweaks, but I sliced and diced pretty mercilessly. The stuff that remains is the meat.
Pitching a 124k first novel. Ha ha ha.
I've read various reports about what the "acceptable" length for a first novel is. Typically it runs 80k-120k, so maybe I can slide under the door. In this economy, though, who knows? Then there's the great fun of putting together a query letter, formatting the damn thing correctly, and writing a synopsis. Ugh.
Honestly, I'm proud that I was able to cut it as much as I did. My favorite books tend to be doorstoppers, so I seem to write that way. That I was able to punch out this entire complete story that still manages to feel just a little bit epic (well, to me, anyway) in less than 200,000 words (which I seem to reach at an alarming rate) does make me smile. Which is good, because it's been a horrendously shoddy day otherwise.
This is the first novel I've finished that I actually do think I want to query, if only because I've got to start somewhere and this is the first one I've finished and mostly polished that's been of (fairly) reasonable length that I don't completely hate. All right, maybe hate is a strong word...
I do think it qualifies as different.
So there's that. Am still surprised by how much the ending bums me out, but I'm not sure if that's leftover from today's crap. I'll take another look at it tomorrow, with fresh eyes, and figure out what to do with it.
Finished doing the type-in on Lusitania.
I didn't realize how late it had gotten. As I was plodding through the last thirty or so pages I actually had to take a break because the whole thing was such a downer. It tilts up somewhat at the end, but it's certainly not a Happily Ever After for anyone involved.
The story has changed quite a bit since its roots, first as The Flying Dutchman and then as various incrnations of Nemo. The addition of the Lusitania is really what drew everything together and made the story whole.
It also gave me a plot. Which, you know, is a good thing.
There's a few tweaks I still have to make and probably one more run-through on the screen before I decide what to do with it. The story has a gigantic, glaring problem right off the bat: the length. It clocks in at 124,000 words. I'll probably trim it down slightly in the tweaks, but I sliced and diced pretty mercilessly. The stuff that remains is the meat.
Pitching a 124k first novel. Ha ha ha.
I've read various reports about what the "acceptable" length for a first novel is. Typically it runs 80k-120k, so maybe I can slide under the door. In this economy, though, who knows? Then there's the great fun of putting together a query letter, formatting the damn thing correctly, and writing a synopsis. Ugh.
Honestly, I'm proud that I was able to cut it as much as I did. My favorite books tend to be doorstoppers, so I seem to write that way. That I was able to punch out this entire complete story that still manages to feel just a little bit epic (well, to me, anyway) in less than 200,000 words (which I seem to reach at an alarming rate) does make me smile. Which is good, because it's been a horrendously shoddy day otherwise.
This is the first novel I've finished that I actually do think I want to query, if only because I've got to start somewhere and this is the first one I've finished and mostly polished that's been of (fairly) reasonable length that I don't completely hate. All right, maybe hate is a strong word...
I do think it qualifies as different.
So there's that. Am still surprised by how much the ending bums me out, but I'm not sure if that's leftover from today's crap. I'll take another look at it tomorrow, with fresh eyes, and figure out what to do with it.
