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And so it is done.
It has taken me three years, and in 2017 almost a complete rewrite of the first half, but I have finally finished my beast of an epic fantasy, and on Christmas Eve no less.
I cried. Really. Sat in my chair in disbelief, and cried. I wrote about 6k on Christmas Eve to finish it, was exhausted and emotional and it probably is a little bit sappy as a result but the feeling of finishing? Wow. Just wow.
This is the first book I have finished since 2011, and finally finishing the 'first' draft has fulfilled a 15-year promise to myself I would find a way to bring my beloved characters to life. That it took creating an entirely new character, and relegating my beloveds to secondary status with no POV is something I fought. HARD. But in the end, letting Aneli, a refugee, tell the story of what happened to her country of birth, the family she wanted to deny because she didn't feel worthy of their love, was the best decision I ever made (even though as a result I put aside some of the best writing I did, back then - I think I will find a way to use more of the old writing, though, as casual side-stories. Not sure yet. Am thinking about a patreon for those, for myself even if I never get followers. We shall see.)
The ms has been shipped off to two betas, and![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
queenoftheskies if you are still interested in wielding your mighty red pen at my story, pop me your email to cparagraphs at the gmail place. I would be absolutely thrilled to have your eyes and thoughts on it.
I have closed the scrivener and the word document, and forbidden myself to look at any of it for a month. I need to let the story go for a bit - of course it has issues, and there are parts I know can and should be cut out, but I want to do it with fresh-ish eyes, and a clear head. The story is just about 207,000 words long and I would like to cut it down mean and lean to 170k. It took me forever to figure out how I wanted to handle Aneli's magic ability, too...but I will iron that out on the next big pass.
One thing I do want to do is update my outline spreadsheet, so I will let myself do that this next month. It is mostly the final third I have to deal with.
So, here we go! It is time to start thinking about book #2! I have never written a second book, and I do want to add a 2nd pov in this one--a boy of about 10, who at the end of book 1 I put into an impossible, horrible position. So that will be even more challenge - 2nd pov, 2 in a series, and I REALLY don't want to take three years to finish this one!
This past year I participated again in![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
getyourwordsout the LJ/DW year-long writing group, and had chosen 200,000 words as my goal. I made it Sunday, though very messily between writing, rewrites, writing prompts, articles for the group, and a couple shorts I did. But I did it! I'm choosing a different goal for 2018 since a huge chunk of the Spring will be devoted to revisions. But wow, I did it. I wasn't sure if I would make it, but it happened. Wow. I love this group - we won't be on LJ in 2018 because of all the changes, but if anyone out there is interested in an awesome year-long challenge, you might want to take a look. This is year 10! Crazycakes and awesome.
Anyway, I am at work, the phone has rung 5 times, my boss stayed home with his grandkids, and I am supposed to be typing discovery, so I better get to it.
I cried. Really. Sat in my chair in disbelief, and cried. I wrote about 6k on Christmas Eve to finish it, was exhausted and emotional and it probably is a little bit sappy as a result but the feeling of finishing? Wow. Just wow.
This is the first book I have finished since 2011, and finally finishing the 'first' draft has fulfilled a 15-year promise to myself I would find a way to bring my beloved characters to life. That it took creating an entirely new character, and relegating my beloveds to secondary status with no POV is something I fought. HARD. But in the end, letting Aneli, a refugee, tell the story of what happened to her country of birth, the family she wanted to deny because she didn't feel worthy of their love, was the best decision I ever made (even though as a result I put aside some of the best writing I did, back then - I think I will find a way to use more of the old writing, though, as casual side-stories. Not sure yet. Am thinking about a patreon for those, for myself even if I never get followers. We shall see.)
The ms has been shipped off to two betas, and
queenoftheskies if you are still interested in wielding your mighty red pen at my story, pop me your email to cparagraphs at the gmail place. I would be absolutely thrilled to have your eyes and thoughts on it. I have closed the scrivener and the word document, and forbidden myself to look at any of it for a month. I need to let the story go for a bit - of course it has issues, and there are parts I know can and should be cut out, but I want to do it with fresh-ish eyes, and a clear head. The story is just about 207,000 words long and I would like to cut it down mean and lean to 170k. It took me forever to figure out how I wanted to handle Aneli's magic ability, too...but I will iron that out on the next big pass.
One thing I do want to do is update my outline spreadsheet, so I will let myself do that this next month. It is mostly the final third I have to deal with.
So, here we go! It is time to start thinking about book #2! I have never written a second book, and I do want to add a 2nd pov in this one--a boy of about 10, who at the end of book 1 I put into an impossible, horrible position. So that will be even more challenge - 2nd pov, 2 in a series, and I REALLY don't want to take three years to finish this one!
This past year I participated again in
getyourwordsout the LJ/DW year-long writing group, and had chosen 200,000 words as my goal. I made it Sunday, though very messily between writing, rewrites, writing prompts, articles for the group, and a couple shorts I did. But I did it! I'm choosing a different goal for 2018 since a huge chunk of the Spring will be devoted to revisions. But wow, I did it. I wasn't sure if I would make it, but it happened. Wow. I love this group - we won't be on LJ in 2018 because of all the changes, but if anyone out there is interested in an awesome year-long challenge, you might want to take a look. This is year 10! Crazycakes and awesome. Anyway, I am at work, the phone has rung 5 times, my boss stayed home with his grandkids, and I am supposed to be typing discovery, so I better get to it.