Happy Fifth of July, Aledans! I know it’s not a holiday, but we can still celebrate like it is 
My query and five page critique of NAMELESS came back last Friday, and it was a bit gentler than the last crit, so that was good. It still pointed out a lot of the same issues, and it was recommended that I start a little earlier in the story (in my effort to put the reader right in the middle of the action I may have started a bit too late). So I’m going to write the beginning of the ceremony and see if that helps. It should also take care of the “rushed” feeling that people have been complaining about since last summer. Yeah, sometimes I have a hard head.
I finished reading Story Engineering two days ago, and have begun the painful process of outlining. I’m still bugging the bejezus out of my critters with emails about my current thoughts on where the story is going (which probably all contradict one another). This weekend I’ll try filing out the Beat Sheet that comes with Story Engineering and see if that gives me a better grasp of what needs to go where. Especially on Kaye’s end.
I’m also still trying to figure out what to do with Gar and Pike right now. I tweaked something, and it threw their entire part of the storyline out of whack. And Timin. *sigh* I have no idea what to do with Timin right now, or if perhaps I should cut him from the book. That would be a painful darling to murder. Especially since I just cut the part where Kaye flies off the cliff (that scene was the whole reason I decided to write the book!) and of course my first scene darling.
Sometimes I wish I could completely forget the original storyline – it has too many darlings and I’m not sure which ones need to be killed. I know the last third of the last re-write was good, but it’s hard to give up everything that came before that I loved so much.
I have a nice, loooong weekend to work on it though. Instead of taking the Fourth off yesterday I’m taking Monday and Tuesday off for Hubs birthday (and the recuperation day after Hubs birthday). We’ll be beaching it for two days, cooking out, going to see Prometheus, and playing a lot of Diablo 3. And I should finally finish A Storm of Swords.
What are your plans for the weekend, Aledans? Or will it be a recover from the mid-week holiday type of weekend?
July 5, 2012 at 3:56 pm
My weekend will be spent recovering from my pet-sitting gigs. It shouldn’t be that hard, but for some reason, it flared up my migraines and I’ve been miserable. I finally decided not to take any more jobs. Time to recuperate and get my head back so I can return to more important things, like writing.
Good luck with yours!
July 5, 2012 at 4:09 pm
Recovery weekends for all!
Pet sitting can be a challenge, especially if the pets are anxious about the owners being gone. Definitely give yourself a break so you can write more books for me to buy
July 6, 2012 at 8:56 am
I love that “murder your darlings” is one of the tags! Also – methinks you’ll find a story you are, in the end, happier with after all of the tough “cut work”!
July 6, 2012 at 9:40 am
It seems like every time I post an update something happens later that day or the next to change everything I wrote
This time I figured out how to fill that giant plot hole! The wedding is saved! (You know, to be ruined promptly by the army). I’ll email you 
July 6, 2012 at 10:36 am
Excellent!
July 6, 2012 at 10:37 am
Killing darlings is a process. I believe I left one darling in my entire manuscript – because though it was a darling, it was actually well placed and good. Just that one though lol.
Basically – if you read over it and ask yourself: Does this truly help further my story, or is it just pretty? If your answer is it’s just pretty – slash it
I know you can be brutal
July 6, 2012 at 11:17 am
Oh, I can be brutal
*gets out razor* Come here you pretty little darlings…
July 8, 2012 at 3:13 pm
If it’s any consolation, that’s the exact feedback I repeatedly get with my own crits – that I started too late (in an effort to dive into the action) and having a skeletal ms. It’s actually kind of nice to hear that other people have these inclinations, because most of the time I hear the opposite – that people spend too much time on setup and have a lot of stuff to cut. That almost never happens to me!
Either way, as tough as feedback can be, it’s so valuable to hear it. Our stories will improve so much and be the best they can be!
July 10, 2012 at 10:16 am
I’m glad to hear there are others out there like me too! We should start a club
July 12, 2012 at 12:03 am
Oh, killing your darlings… I could write a book about that.
It’s so hard to let go of characters and scenes you love, even when they do absolutely nothing for the story. But it must be done for the story’s sake. Obviously I haven’t read your MS, but from what I’ve heard, Timin doesn’t seem to be a character you can just chop from your book.
There’s a little leeway for stuff that makes the world richer or lends a tidbit of realism to the story. So it can be hard to know for sure what you can keep and what you must lose. That’s why we abuse our CPs. It helps, but ultimately the decision has to be yours.
July 12, 2012 at 12:15 pm
If you would go ahead and write that book it would help me out a ton
Timin definitely needs a major makeover, but I’ve decided he’s going to stay for now. Without him there won’t be as much tension, and Kaye’s part desperately needs tension, so he’s staying.
Thanks for the comment. It was part of the reason I decided to keep him