The End of the Beginning

October 16, 2012 by Cassidy Frazee | 2 Comments

Where were we?  Oh, yeah:  NaNoWriMo.  At least I was talking about it.  I assume some of you are as well.

I finished the last of the timeline the other day, and yesterday saw the NaNo Novel 2012 laid out in Scrivener.  It was a fairly easy task, because I’d already put down the timeline, so I knew when things would happen, right down to the time.  Though I have to admit I change a couple of things in the timeline–one of them just so I could use a line that it spoken to one of the main characters.

Yeah, I do that.  Just so I can same like ten words, I flip chapters.  At least it’s not like Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle when they were writing The Mote in God’s Eye, where they changed a star because they wanted to keep a line.  You have to admit, stellar re-engineering is a pretty hard core to perform just so you can say something that strikes you as interesting, and you don’t want to let that go.

Nearly everything is in place.  I have a few more things to write up, mostly character sketches, but nothing that can’t be completed in an hour.  The biggest thing I have ahead of me is getting on Google Maps, bringing up the city of Makassar, figuring out where these different things happen, and type up the note cards.  That will likely take a good day of looking about, but I’ll have it finished well before 1 November rolls into town.

The NaNo Novel 2012 is nearly ready to go.  I’ve completed most of the prep work, which means . . . writing remains.  Am I ready?  Pretty much.  Is it going to be easy?  No, never.

Writing a novel in thirty days isn’t easy.  It can be done, because I’ve done it, and so have thousands of other people.  It’s the rest that’s hard.  Writing is nothing; getting those words into a format that makes sense, and is readable, is the hard part.

Her Demonic Majesty, the novel I submitted to Harper Voyager for consideration, was my NaNo Novel from last year.  I put it through two edits before submitting it to a small press.  It was rejected:  I would have been very surprised if it’d been bought right out of the gate.  I put it through a very good edit before sending it to Harper Voyager, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Anyone serious about getting into the writing game has to get their editing abilities in good shape.  I learned, the hard way, that editing is what makes your story.  A good first draft helps, but the work you put in afterwards builds your story into the creative wonder that people will enjoy.

This is only the beginning.  At best, I might not have this story actually ready to go for another six to nine months.  That will give me enough time to figure out if I’m going to send it off to a publishing house, or if I’ll try to sell it through self publishing.  Each have their pros and cons, and both are a crap shoot.

I’m on the first step.  I have the second step ahead of me.  It’s that third step that takes so long to climb . . .

Good thing I brought my climbing gear.