The End of the Road... Or Rather, Stopping At a Corner

As of 12 pm this afternoon, I finished editing my novel.

I couldn't believe it. It felt like the end of something.

Of course, as my entry title states, it's less the end of a road than reaching a corner and stopping for a bit of a rest. There is a LOT more left to do with this novel, and I'm equal parts scared and excited about it. I still love the story, and I guess that's a good thing.

As for statistics of what changed since draft one of Remembrance:

-1 more-minor major character was deleted, since she turned out to be not-so-major.
-2 minor characters were added.
-3 huge scene were deleted.
-5 more (about) were added.
-3,000 words (about) were deleted.
-10,000 words were added.
-What seemed like 1,000,000 small changes were made.

Hooray!

I sent it off to my friend for another round of editing. I'm terrified, mostly because he knows me very well and this novel is... not always what people think of me. We'll see.

Doing What You Love

This has become sort of my motto for the past few years. A few of my friends are or hav been waffling on their majors at their respective schools and when I get questions from them like, "Should I stick with pre-law or change to music?" I always tell them to do what they love.

Of course, my advice probably isn't the best- I'm a priveleged twenty year old who, honestly, has still never dealt with the real world on her own for an extended period of time, who thought it would be a good idea to add a writing minor to her acting major. Stability is sooo overrated :p

But despite all of those facts, it's still what I heartily believe. I can't imagine going through life not doing something I love. How do people get through their day like that? I know the reality of my chosen profession(s) is that most likely, I'll have to do something else in order to do afford doing what I love, but still... can't I love those backup jobs, too? My mom and I were driving somewhere the other day and she said, "I think this summer has turned out pretty much the way you wanted it to, hasn't it?" And I had just been thinking that. I had applied for a pretty awesome job as a counselor at a professional theatre camp... and didn't get it. But then I got my job at the caverns which, while not related to acting, I still enjoy. And taking that job allowed me to audition for and accept the role of Portia, not to mention the role I just got last week at a different theatre. Sometimes things just work out- no, I'm not getting paid to act, but I am getting paid to tell stories and work on my projection and THEN get out early enough from said job to do what I really want to do. So this is a good thing.

Ha... this entry didn't have much to do with writing (except that I love writing also.) I will tell you, however, that I've jumped back into my novel revisions, and they are kicking my butt. In a good way- I'm getting a lot of stuff done on it. Previously, I've been too scared to go through the novel in order; I'd just tackle pieces that had been brought to my attention. But then I realised that, well, a novel is a complete story and only working on bits here and there would not really improve it overall. So I took a deep breath, scrolled up to page one, and started there. And actually, it's not as bad as I thought and it is helping me see things from an... in-order perspective :p I'm almost halfway through now and hopefully I'll be on time with sending it off for another editing spree by the end of the month.

Taking a Step Back

I've written in previous entries how well my revision has been going, and I've gotten a lot more done since then- a few more new scenes, more conventional changes, more realistic dialogue rather than some of the "I-am-seriously-reaching-for-a-higher-wordcount-here" conversations.

But yesterday, I hit a rough patch. It wasn't a wall, or even really writer's block. But I felt like he entire novel was blurring before my eyes, not allowing me to see what needed to be changed or fixed anymore.

Another thing is that I'm still learning as a writer is how to throw things away. I hold on to what I've written so tightly that I'm often unwilling to cut it out or edit it too drastically. I've gotten much better with this novel, perhaps because I know how much work it needs and/or because I had an outside editor. In yesterday's case, I wanted to add a scene I had written a few weeks ago, that I had really begun to like- there was some logic in it that was missing from the novel thus far and I liked the ideas it exercised. When I first wrote it, I wasn't sure where to put it and so kept it in a separate document and worked on the rest of the novel. These past few writing days have been spent working on the suggestions given to me by my "editor", to the point where I went to go put that separately written scene in... and it didn't fit anymore. I was quite disappointed, but there doesn't seem to be a way to include the scene that I've grown to love. *sigh* Sometimes you have to kill your babies, as we used to say at school.

So since my novel was giving me some trouble, I gave a bit longer and then decided to take a step away from it for a bit. I didn't stop writing, though- I finally returned to my Peter Pan inspiration and wrote part of a scene as well as a partial scene breakdown. I am beginning to fall back in love with this idea, which I've missed working on since May. I really do love writing :)

WIP Wednesday

So today you get an excerpt of something I started about three years ago. It's a screenplay based off of a monologue I did during a haunted tour. My character, Catherine was happily engaged to a man and not too long before their wedding, they boarded a trolley to take them across town. The trolley crashed, killing her fiance and leaving Catherine as one of the only survivors. She ends up marrying someone else out of duty (it was the 1800s, after all), and though the man is kind to her, they hardly even ever speak. In addition to that, due to the accident, Catherine can't have any children. She spends her remarkably long life wishing she was with the fiance she loved.

I loved this monologue (though I hated myself doing it) and I wrote a lot of the screenplay branching off of the basics given in the monologue. I changed a few things- Catherine became Caroline and I changed a few of the other names, as well as bumping up the time period a bit. But I remained true to most of the story, and I did a lot of crying as I wrote it. So here, untouched for several years, is a scene that takes place after Caroline agrees to marry her obligation guy.


INT. CAROLINE’S ROOM

Minnie rushes into Caroline’s room, excited as usual. Caroline is startled but happy to see her.

MINNIE
Oh, Caroline, I’ve just heard! It’s so exciting!!!

CAROLINE
(still trying to get over Minnie’s bursting in like that)
What?

MINNIE
That you’re engaged, silly!

CAROLINE
Oh, that… yes. (Puzzled) Wait- how did you hear about it?

MINNIE
Directly from the source- Julia heard it from Margaret who heard it from Sara who overheard it when Victoria told Ellen, and Victoria’s parents heard it from Kel’s parents. So anyway, silly, I heard you were engaged, but I never found out to whom, so I rushed right over here to find out! So who is it?

CAROLINE
(without enthusiasm)
Christopher Chancellor.

MINNIE
(trying out the name)
Christopher Chancellor… Mrs. Christopher Chancellor… Mrs. Caroline Chan- wait. Christopher Chancellor, as in Christine Chancellor’s older brother?

CAROLINE
(still with very little emotion)
‘Chancellor’ is not that common a name.

MINNIE
Christopher Chancellor?!

CAROLINE
(exasperated)
Would you like me to write it down for you?

MINNIE
(for once, realizing what she’s said… maybe)
No… No, I’m sorry. I just- (with a desperate look at Caroline) Christopher Chancellor?

CAROLINE
Minnie, please. If you’re not here to offer you congratulations- or condolences- please leave.

MINNIE
I’m sorry, Carrie. I’m happy for you, really. I mean, this has to be a good sign, doesn’t it?

CAROLINE
(looking at the ceiling)
My parents seem to think so.

MINNIE
Well, that’s good then, I suppose. (Pause) I’d never have predicted you’d end up with him, though.

CAROLINE
(not looking at her, sardonically)
Funny, I had it planned all along.

MINNIE
I mean, not that you’re not a good match. It’s just you’re so- you and he’s so…

CAROLINE
What?

MINNIE
Boring. He’s one of the dullest people I’ve ever met. Never any emotion. He’s just so… placid.

CAROLINE
Minnie, next to you, a firecracker looks placid.

MINNIE
I’m just saying it’s an interesting match, that’s all.

CAROLINE
Thank you, Minnie. Your input is invaluable. Good bye.

MINNIE
(getting up, a bit confused)
All right, well… I’ll be going then…

She leaves, not sure if she’s just been insulted or not. Caroline watches her go, then puts her hands over her face and sighs deeply.

Clicking

Things have really been clicking for me with my novel revisions. This past week, I had two completely free days- no work, no rehearsal, no voice lessons, nothing. And while I love those things (well, mostly the latter two, LOL), it was wonderful to have two summery days. I decided to use those days to really dig into my novel revisions. First, though, I finished reading my friends' novel- read and edited abuot 150 pages in twelve hours- and I think that got me into the mode, because as soon as I started on my own revisions, things just started to work.

I had already made notations from my "editor" in my document, but she had enclosed a letter with the edits that covered some bigger plot points that needed to be looked at. So I wrote these down on a list and as I started to apply them, rather than being frustrated by them, as I had been previously, they made sense. Of COURSE she would have that extra interview... and I really liked the scene that came out of it. And I'd always thought the girls needed to meet up again... out of that came a scene that was sadder than I wanted, but also showed the way some friendships just go after a shocking event.

I used my time wisely- I spent most of both days writing and got a lot done. I feel accomplished. I'm still feeling revision-y and have been trying to write as much as possible. My free time, however, it diminishing- today I had rehearsal and went right to an audition from there, and tomorrow I have work and then go right to voice lessons, and Merchant tech is coming up (eep!) Thankfully though, I have a couple of free days this week that I plan to utilise well.

I think I've also been more successful because I'm feeling a lot of support in my corner, from my friends, my parents, and my teachers. And that really does help.

WIP Wednesday

So today I took some time to do some true summer chilling- I watched three movies (Bend it Like Beckham, The Lizzie McGuire Movie [hey, stop laughing! It's cute!], and Dead Again), the last of which just blew me away. I love Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh.

I also got a ton of novel work done. Not only did I read about 130 pages of (and therefore finish reading) my friend's novel, but I also edited it as I went along and sent it off to him. It was really cool to see his growth, since the first time I read parts of this novel was years ago.

For my own novel, I did a plot storyboard kind of thing- I'm hoping this will help me see where holes are and where things can be expanded. I thought I would have maybe enough cards to fill my medium-sized bulletin board in my room. What I ended up with was 26 notecards with two or three (sometimes five) bigger plot points on them. This made me happy. I also wrote a good amount of new scenes, as well as making many conventional changes.

So anyway, enough chatter. Have some more Remembrance. This takes place while Ruthie and one of her best friends, Annie, are looking for their other friend, Nora, in London.


She left the shop and rushed over to Annie. “It sounds like the man in there saw her.” She told Annie all of the details she had just learned and Annie looked confused.
“But… why would Nora have gone with the woman?”

“I know, I can’t figure that out either. If Nora was taken by the woman, she would have fought back, I know it.” Ruthie shook her head. “But that’s the only thing that doesn’t match up. We need to try and figure out who the woman is. There’s a chance she might still be with her.”

This was a fine plan, but without the woman’s name, the girls had no place to start looking. With nothing to go on, Ruthie and Annie wandered the city all day, asking this person or that person if they had seen an older woman and a teenage girl walking together on the day Nora had disappeared. Their questions turned up nothing, and the girls tried to make their way back to the place they had started from. Within ten minutes, they were completely lost. They were standing on the corner, discussing their options, when they heard a sneering voice behind them.

“Well, well. Wot do have ‘ere?”

Both girls spun around the see a group of kids making their way toward them. They all looked to be between the ages of eleven and seventeen, wearing old, dirty clothes and smug expressions. One girl, close to Ruthie and Annie’s age, stepped forward.

“Look at the little schoolgirls, with their sweet little skirts and white blouses. Come slumming, schoolgirls?”

Ruthie willed her mind to unfreeze so she could think of what to do. While the kids didn’t look particularly threatening, she and Annie were outnumbered three to one. She decided a passive approach would be best. “Hello,” she ventured, offering a nervous smile that was not returned. The kids surrounded the girls, their eyes narrowed.

“This is our corner of the city,” a small boy proclaimed. Though he was shorter than Ruthie by a head and was all skin and bones, Ruthie was quite sure that if she crossed him, she’d be sorry.

“We didn’t mean to intrude,” Annie said, her voice very small. “We’re just lost -”

“Aww,” a girl with braided hair jeered. “They’re lost. Poor little girls.” She looked at the oldest boy in the group. “Do we help lost little girls, Sidney?”

“I dunno, Kit,” the boy said, matching her tone. “I suppose we do, in our way, don’t we?”

Another girl, about thirteen with pale hair, grinned delightedly. “Yeah! How nice of us to lighten their pockets for them. We’re regular Robin Hoods.”

Through all of this, the kids had been circling Ruthie and Annie, making sure they couldn’t get away easily. Now, they moved in a little closer until one of the older girls was only a foot or two away from Ruthie. “So just what are you doin’ in our territory, schoolgirl?”

Ruthie, too, stepped closer. “We need some information. We thought you might be able to help us.”

“And why,” the girl asked, “Would I want to help you?”

Ruthie could not think of a reason why the girl should aid them, but she had a feeling that these kids might know something. Then she got an idea. She dug around in her pocket for the money she had left over from her ticket – not much, but it might work.

She held out the coins. She could see that the older boy was tempted, but he didn’t reach for it right away.

“What d’you want?” he asked.

“We just have a few questions,” Ruthie said, still offering the money.

The boy looked suspicious, as though wondering if the girls were mocking him. “Like what?”

“We’re trying to find our friend,” said Annie. “She’s missing, and we thought you might have seen her.”

“She a little rich girl like you?” the plaited girl asked snidely.

“She’s our friend,” Ruthie snapped. “Either you let us ask our questions, or we take our money and go.” She didn’t think it would be wise to mention that she and Annie had nowhere to go.

The older boy eyed the coins in Ruthie’s palm a second longer, then snatched them and tucked them in his pocket. “All right, rich girl. Ask away.”

Ruthie and Annie quickly explained how Nora had gone missing.

“After we got out of the cellar, we found each other,” Ruthie finished, “But we couldn’t find Nora anywhere. We looked for hours, but there was no sign of her. Then a shopkeeper saw Nora with an old woman soon after she disappeared.”

“They put out a description on the radio,” Annie added. “Have you heard it?”

Kit looked at her scornfully. “An’ just how would we have done that? The Blitzers don’t got a radio, do we?”

“Blitzers?” Annie repeated.

“That’s us, half-wit.”

“All right,” Ruthie said quickly. “We can just tell you what she looks like.” She described Nora and all of the kids shook their heads. Her heart sank to her feet.

A Decision Has Been Made

I've decided what I'm doing for NaNo 2010! I'll be working on The Other Side of Light, which, as you might have seen on the sidebar, is a contemporary drama-ish novel. (I say drama-ish because while the main events are dramatic, my MC Lyddie has some pretty humorous comments to make about her circumstances.)

It's kind of exciting to know what I'll be working on in November. Since I've already started it (8,700 words already written), my rule will be that, whatever number I have when November rolls around, I have to write 50,000 more. It'd be easy to cheat and just include the 8,000+, but I'll never feel like I truly succeeded unless I write 50,000 words in November.

Unlike Remembrance, this story was created through a prompt I found on the NaNo forums, one that pretty much just read, "There is a house. Inside are two lanterns. They can't ever go out. If they do, something bad will happen." Intrigue... You've already read some of it, actually. I'm really excited to hate this in November, LOL.