So out of nowhere, I've suddenly become embroiled in not one, but three writing contests. I had wanted to enter Secession Island in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest this year, but it is still nowhere near finished, so I decided to skip the contest yet again this year. Then, over the weekend, I decided that if I couldn't enter Secession Island, I might as well at least enter something else I've written. I don't really have any hopes of one of my other novels winning the contest (or even making it through the first round), but figured, what have I got to lose? Initially, I planned to do a quick edit of Lunatics and Lycanthropy and submit that, since I've gotten no feedback on it yet. When I didn't get around to looking at it until yesterday afternoon, I realized that wasn't going to happen. Which left me with old faithful: Norfanger Plantation. I am SO SO sick of this book by now, but I took one more quick look at it, did some reformatting, and selected an excerpt. Then I had to come up with a "pitch." I wasn't really sure what to do with this, but after some help from a friend and fellow writer, I concocted something that was based loosely on the book description I'd already written up for Amazon. (Actually, when I got done, I thought the pitch sounded pretty good - I only wish the novel itself were as well-written!) The entry period opened at 12 am this morning. Since they will close the competition after they receive 5,000 entries per category (or Feb. 6, whichever comes first), I was unsure whether I needed to submit it right at midnight or whether I actually had two weeks to submit. I decided not to risk it and set the alarm for 12 am. There were of course technical difficulties with my submission - ie, the formatting getting all messed up on my excerpt and me having to go through and read through the whole thing, manually fixing the formatting until 12:45 am. Good times. But in the end, I got everything turned in. I honestly believe I will not even make it through the first round. This is a fun novel, but it's not my greatest writing by a long stretch. I don't really see it being something Penguin publishers are interested in, but either way, I think it will be a good thing for me to get the experience.
Also this past weekend, I submitted a brand-new short-short entitled "Unipolar," that I wrote specifically for round six of NPR's Three-Minute Fiction contest. Another writer friend had given me the head's up on this one. The only guidelines for this entry were that it had to be a fictional story under 600 words and include one character telling a joke and one character crying. Writing within such a strict word limit was a huge challenge for me. I tend to be super wordy - for example, Secession Island is already probably well over 300 pages with no end in sight. I decided this would be a good exercise for me though, and managed to churn something out and turn it in. It ended up being a pretty dark and uncharacteristic type story for me, but I felt very good about the writing, so we will see.
And the third and final competition I've got my eye on is taking submissions until the beginning of March. Which will give me a bit of a breather (thank goodness), although I've already started working on my submission. The contest is called Bad Austen, and the task is to write an 800-word parody of a scene, language, or character from the works of Jane Austen. I really think they made this contest just for me. I was kind of bummed about the word limit, since I have two entire novels that would qualify otherwise, but I've already come up with an idea for something new and I'm having tons of fun with it.
It's been exhausting trying to get these submissions ready last-minute, so I'm going to try to do better about keeping my eye out for more writing contests and preparing for them well in advance. It's been really good for me to get back into writing, and to have some very specific direction in my writing.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Writing Night
This week, for the first time in a long time, I had a "writing night." I used to do this once a week - Cy would take Gemma somewhere, and I'd have the whole house to myself, and a whole evening just for writing. Generally, though, by then, I'd just be too exhausted to focus on writing and would end up taking a bubble bath with a book instead. Last night, when Cy and Gemma left, I started to crash on the couch. But I REALLY would love to finish this novel sometime in my lifetime, so I opened up my laptop and forced myself to write. I decided not to focus on editing last night. Editing is something I can do any day, any time. But since I had about two whole hours just to myself, I decided to try to write some new material.
It was long and hard, and I was really lagging, but I managed to crank out about two pages. Which doesn't sound like much, but at this point, 2 pages of new material was huge. I feel pretty good about the direction I'm going with this year's draft, and I think the scene I wrote last night will be a nice addition to the historical story arch.
Now if I can stick to the schedule of a night strictly for writing at least once a week, maybe I can finally finish this novel. Maybe even by the time Gemma goes off to college. Who knows?
It was long and hard, and I was really lagging, but I managed to crank out about two pages. Which doesn't sound like much, but at this point, 2 pages of new material was huge. I feel pretty good about the direction I'm going with this year's draft, and I think the scene I wrote last night will be a nice addition to the historical story arch.
Now if I can stick to the schedule of a night strictly for writing at least once a week, maybe I can finally finish this novel. Maybe even by the time Gemma goes off to college. Who knows?
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
I have devised a cunning plan
After deep and profound brain things inside my head, I at last have a plan in place for completing Secession Island.
*I have made a final decision on point-of-view. I've decided to go with third person, and I'm determined to stick with it to the end this time. (I've already rewritten it about 3 or 4 times, just changing the p.o.v.)
*The plot shifts back and forth between present day and the Civil War. I've struggled with how to cobble the two together in a readable way. I've decided for now to write the two stories in two separate files and then segue them together after both storylines are complete. Right now, I have finished neither storyline mostly because I am unsure what should go where. Hopefully this will eliminate the problem and allow me to get the story down on paper. I can work on arranging it later, once the writing is complete.
*I've decided I will no longer be using diary entries to tell the Civil War portion of the story. It seemed manageable when I started, but I found I wanted to include more and more back story for the Civil War character, so the diary is just getting too unwieldy. I'm going to rewrite those parts (in a separate file) also in third-person point-of-view, allowing me more freedom to explore this character and some of the other characters from the Civil War era.
*Once all the writing of the two storylines is complete, I will figure out how to integrate them into one single story. I want to follow the style of one of my favorite authors, Kate Morton, who shows a mastery for fluctuating between past and present in her novels. I think this will be a more successful way for me to tell the story of Secession Island. (Although I doubt it will be anywhere near as good as Kate Morton's writing when I am finished!)
I have already been working on a few new scenes this morning (made possible by the above changes), and have finished editing chapter one. Chapter One was actually much better than I had thought - I was pleasantly surprised. Cy always tells me that I am too hard on myself, and maybe he is right. Although when it comes to writing, I don't think it's possible to be too critical of your own writing!
*I have made a final decision on point-of-view. I've decided to go with third person, and I'm determined to stick with it to the end this time. (I've already rewritten it about 3 or 4 times, just changing the p.o.v.)
*The plot shifts back and forth between present day and the Civil War. I've struggled with how to cobble the two together in a readable way. I've decided for now to write the two stories in two separate files and then segue them together after both storylines are complete. Right now, I have finished neither storyline mostly because I am unsure what should go where. Hopefully this will eliminate the problem and allow me to get the story down on paper. I can work on arranging it later, once the writing is complete.
*I've decided I will no longer be using diary entries to tell the Civil War portion of the story. It seemed manageable when I started, but I found I wanted to include more and more back story for the Civil War character, so the diary is just getting too unwieldy. I'm going to rewrite those parts (in a separate file) also in third-person point-of-view, allowing me more freedom to explore this character and some of the other characters from the Civil War era.
*Once all the writing of the two storylines is complete, I will figure out how to integrate them into one single story. I want to follow the style of one of my favorite authors, Kate Morton, who shows a mastery for fluctuating between past and present in her novels. I think this will be a more successful way for me to tell the story of Secession Island. (Although I doubt it will be anywhere near as good as Kate Morton's writing when I am finished!)
I have already been working on a few new scenes this morning (made possible by the above changes), and have finished editing chapter one. Chapter One was actually much better than I had thought - I was pleasantly surprised. Cy always tells me that I am too hard on myself, and maybe he is right. Although when it comes to writing, I don't think it's possible to be too critical of your own writing!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Gearing up for some editing...
Now that 2011 is upon me, I fear that means it is time for some serious editing. Mid-2010, I had made a goal of finishing Secession Island, the historical novel I've been working on for a good 3-4 years now. I had great hopes of finishing up the writing by December 2010, then doing some intense editing and rewriting in January to complete a draft to submit to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest on January 24. Needless to say, for the second year in a row, that is not going to happen. I am kind of sad, but also a bit relieved, because now I have a whole year ahead of me to finish (assuming I actually finish it this year - my track record is not so good). I didn't make any "resolutions" per se, but I did set a few "goals" for myself instead. Two of those goals are writing goals:
1. Complete a readable, working draft of Secession Island by the end of the year. That means complete the storyline, have the basic writing done, and be prepared for editing. Before I can work on the writing some more, I am going to have to back up and do a little editing first. Right now, this draft is a mess. I have gone back and forth between first-person and third-person, unable to make up my mind about the point-of-view. I have jumped around in the plot, so right now if you read it from start to finish, there are huge gaps and the narrative doesn't even make sense. And the chronology is a mess. So I've decided to use January to take a step back and read through everything I've got, in hopes of deciding on a point-of-view, nailing down the chronology, and figuring out what gaps need filling in the plot. I need to have this complete by Jan. 31, then Feb. 1, it's back to writing (hopefully).
2. Edit and publish Lunatics and Lycanthropy. This is the novella I wrote for NaNoWriMo this past year. It's similar to Norfanger Plantation, and pretty well wrapped-up already. As this isn't my main focus (Secession Island is), I'm hoping for a quick edit. Cy has already read it and given me some feedback on a few parts that need clarification, so that is helpful as well.
Anyway...that is my plan of action for 2011, as far as my writing goes. I would LOVE to finish Secession Island this year, but I've been saying that for at least two years now, so...I guess time will tell.
1. Complete a readable, working draft of Secession Island by the end of the year. That means complete the storyline, have the basic writing done, and be prepared for editing. Before I can work on the writing some more, I am going to have to back up and do a little editing first. Right now, this draft is a mess. I have gone back and forth between first-person and third-person, unable to make up my mind about the point-of-view. I have jumped around in the plot, so right now if you read it from start to finish, there are huge gaps and the narrative doesn't even make sense. And the chronology is a mess. So I've decided to use January to take a step back and read through everything I've got, in hopes of deciding on a point-of-view, nailing down the chronology, and figuring out what gaps need filling in the plot. I need to have this complete by Jan. 31, then Feb. 1, it's back to writing (hopefully).
2. Edit and publish Lunatics and Lycanthropy. This is the novella I wrote for NaNoWriMo this past year. It's similar to Norfanger Plantation, and pretty well wrapped-up already. As this isn't my main focus (Secession Island is), I'm hoping for a quick edit. Cy has already read it and given me some feedback on a few parts that need clarification, so that is helpful as well.
Anyway...that is my plan of action for 2011, as far as my writing goes. I would LOVE to finish Secession Island this year, but I've been saying that for at least two years now, so...I guess time will tell.
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