#to me the 50th felt like an epic celebration of the entire 50 years of doctor who history but the 60th felt like an attempt to give 10

[thefabelmans2022]

the more i think about the 60th the more i dislike it.

[writingdotcoffee]

#50: A novel in the making

Welcome to another Writing Update—a weekly journal where I document the ups and downs of my writing life. It’s been almost a year since I started writing my current work-in-progress novel. It seems appropriate to dedicate the 50th post in this series to the story and what I’ve learned in the process.

A little more than a year ago, an idea for a fast-paced scene with an ensemble cast started floating in my head. I was flirting with another project at the time, and so I didn’t pay too much attention to it. Every time I dismissed it, the idea came back to nag a little more. I wasn’t entirely convinced that I was ready to start writing the other project I was researching, and so I finally conceded: I would write a fast-paced 20,000-word novella to clear my mind.

I started outlining, fleshing out the details. The scene in my mind was quite climactic, and, to write it, I felt like I needed to understand where these people came from and why they were doing it. A few weeks of work later, I had a story that didn’t only satisfy my curiosity. This is more than enough for a novel, I thought.

I was excited, but facing a dilemma: should I abandon the previous project to work on this expanded novella outline that I  just stitched together? I wanted to write something with a speculative element to it which didn’t fit into this new project. After some deliberation, I decided to go for it.

I started writing the next day—15 August 2017.

The First Draft

The first days were a bit erratic as I was finding my stride. At around chapter three, I got into a routine and spent the next four months grinding one chapter after the other, writing to a goal of 6,000 words per week.

Now, I’m by no means a fast writer. The strenuous schedule took its toll, and by November, I was not only behind, but also exhausted. For the first time in years, I stopped posting on this blog just so that I could focus entirely on the draft.

Fortunately, I took V.E. Schwab’s advice and wrote the beginning first, then jumped to the ending, leaving the middle to be filled in last. I liked the ending way too much to have the heart to abandon the project. So I doubled down and typed the last words on a murky Saturday afternoon a month later — 16 December 2017. 51 chapters, 95,000 words.

Lessons learned: Word goals are essential. Pushing yourself through the first draft does work (subject to health & safety, of course).

The Winter Crisis

I listened to Stephen King’s famous recuperation advice and put the damn thing away for six weeks before editing. I celebrated Christmas by writing a few random short stories and spent January recovering. But then February came along, and I wasn’t feeling like going back to the project. Even just reading it was torture. I just didn’t want to. Resistance was having the better of me.

It took me a full month to read the thing cover to cover. In the end, I produced about 35 pages of mostly sarcastic notes of what was wrong with it. In retrospect, it would’ve been easier to make notes of what I liked instead. Characters disappeared, there were plot holes. Most chapters suffered from the lack of proper structure. But it wasn’t all just epic fails. I liked the character dynamics at the beginning and the big climactic scene at the end. It had potential.

Lesson learned: next time, I won’t wait that long before editing.

With that information, I bought a stack of index cards and re-outlined the project. My fear that I would end up scrapping the whole thing proved unfounded. I dropped 4 chapters and added 6 new ones. Out of 51, that wasn’t so catastrophic after all.

I compiled character sheets for every significant character, wrote the new chapters and was ready for the next step.

Lessons learned: Having an outline doesn’t mean that you can’t change a thing later on. Conversely, you can happily start writing even if you don’t have every single detail figured out up front. Everyone has a sweet spot between freewheeling and total control. You’ll find yours through experience.

The Rewrite

In May, I went all the way back to chapter one and started a sequential rewrite. I keep two documents open, and I’m restructuring each chapter to make it more engaging. Some chapters are good as they are, others need a major facelift. I look at things like tension and pacing. I’m doing much more characterisation.

At the time of writing, I’m about 60% done. All I can say is that this has been the most difficult and yet the most exhilarating part of the process so far. It’s hard to describe, but the writing is literally coming alive.

I know it won’t be the final editing pass yet. There are still things to fix. But they’re getting smaller and smaller.

Lesson learned: It will take much longer than you think. And that’s ok.

The Future

If you asked me a year ago whether I thought that I would be working on the same book today, I’d probably laugh and say something evasive. In my mind though, I’d think that you’re insane. A year on the same project? Don’t be silly.

When you’re in the trenches, doing the work every day, it seems inconceivable that a year later, you could find yourself at the very same desk and not be done. Some authors take 10 years to write each of their books. But every time you read a story like that you’re thinking, God, I hope that won’t be me.

Well, now I’m the silly one. But I don’t regret a minute that I spent working on this project. It taught me so much not only about writing and storytelling. Finally, after almost a year, I’m convinced that this was the book that I was supposed to write.

A day will come when I will finish this novel. I cannot wait to share it with you and the world.

Short Stories

I wrote a part of the sequel to The Dead Borough this week, but I didn’t have the time to finish it. It’s coming next week! Until then, check out part one:

SHORT STORY: The Dead Borough

I’m trying to set up the second in the series in a way that you can read it even if you haven’t read part one, but it will definitely be more enjoyable if you did.

Alternatively, here’s the one I published last week:

SHORT STORY: Beautiful Cadavers

What I am reading

I’m almost done with David Grann’s The Lost City of Z—a brilliant account of the life of a British explorer who disappeared without the trace in the Amazon while looking for evidence of an ancient civilisation that he believed could’ve developed in the depths of the jungle.

A masterfully told story. David Grann is a staff writer for The New Yorker who clearly spent decades honing his craft. Thumbs up!

Next, I’ll be picking up Charles Arthur’s Cyber Wars which I bought a few weeks ago in Cambridge.

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Past Editions

#49: A novel in the making, August 2018

#48: Plodding Along, July 2018

#47: The only way out is through, July 2018

#46: Deliberate practice, July 2018

#45: Us and them, July 2018

[duhragonball]

50

I’m pretty sure Luffa is now the longest thing I’ve ever written, if only because I’ve never done “Part 50″ of anything, and I’m still not done.

On the other hand, I’ve never really kept track of this sort of thing.  There was this research paper I did in my sophomore year in college, and I still think of that as enormous, but the reality is that it was only like 12,000 words.  It only felt like a crisis because I pulled an all-nighter to type it up from my notes, and the public computer I was using ate my floppy disk (sidenote: I am old).   So I ended up pulling  a second all-nighter to write the whole thing over again. 

The second-longest fic I ever wrote was 27 chapters, but I have no idea how long the chapters were.  But even if they were twice the size of the chapters I’m doing now, it’s still in second-place.  I’ll have to post it to AO3 one of these days to get a proper word count.  Third place is probably a distant third.  I guess I oughta put that on AO3 too.

Anyway, if you look up the Dragon Ball selection on AO3 and sort it by word count, my dumb OC has the 26th longest story on the whole site.   About eight of those longer stories are some sort of epic generational story involving descendants of Sailor Moon characters, and I’m suspicious that it isn’t that terribly relevant to DBZ.  Fortunately, they’re all in Spanish, so if you don’t want to count those, you can filter by language, and my dumb OC checks in at #18.   I like that a lot, for some reason.  

I feel like kind of a jerk for not doing something more special for part 50, because comic books would milk big round numbers for all they were worth.  Then again, I always hated it when they pulled that stunt for #50.  You should save that for every 100 issues, when it matters.  “Big Fiftieth Issue!” implies that you’re celebrating now because you expect to get cancelled before you hit #75. 

But it’s still a milestone, I guess.   So I feel kind of bad that all I did with the protagonist in part 50 was have her walk into the kitchen, drink an entire bottle of waffle batter, and go back to bed.  But I’ve been trying to work that into a scene for a while now, so it’s a big deal to me, at least.  “Double Normal-Sized All-Action Batter Drinkin’ 50th Chapter!” is what it would say above the logo. 

I wouldn’t show the batter on the cover, though.  You don’t give that away for free.  I’d just keep it really vague, like the cover of Thunderbolts #18.  They didn’t really break up in that issue, you were just supposed to think they would.   Actually, I’d just re-use the cover of Thunderbolts #18, because it was really cool. 

This is probably why I never would have had a career in the comic book industry.   Well, that, and the fact that I just whiled away an hour writing this post instead of working on part 51.  And brother, it needs work.    Thanks for putting up with this thing for so long. 

[onthegoinmco]

In the new issue of Disney twenty-three, available exclusively to Gold Members of D23: The Official Disney Fan Club, author Bruce Steele traveled to the set of the film to witness the elaborate battle sequences and the intimate, self-reflective moments that make this new movie so spectacular.

While the tale of Mulan—the young woman who masqueraded as a man in the Imperial Army to fight Northern Invaders attacking China—may date back centuries, director Niki Caro says, “It felt to me that the story was as resonant now as when it was written.” Caro, and cast from Disney’s incredible live-action adaptation of Mulan, which opens this March, discuss making the epic film that honors both the beloved animated classic and the original story of the heroic warrior.

Plus, star Chris Pratt and members of the creative team from Disney and Pixar’s Onward reveal how they made movie magic, while its two leading characters search for a little magic in their own realm. And Pratt talks about the bond he shared with costar (and fellow Avenger) Tom Holland: “Tom really is like a little brother to me, and you see that in this movie.”

And speaking of Avengers, Scarlett Johansson is back as the eponymous star of Black Widow, and the actor and her costar Florence Pugh discuss what it’s like to exchange barbs—and punches—in the new film.

In honor of Earth Month, Disney twenty-three explores The Walt Disney Company’s extensive history of conservation, dating back to Walt himself. And to celebrate both the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and the 25th anniversary of the Disney Conservation Fund, the publication takes a look at the many ways Disney upholds Walt’s vision, from new Disneynature movies and specials coming to Disney+, to National Geographic’s enduring legacy of protecting nature, to an exclusive interview with world-renowned anthropologist Jane Goodall.

Also included in the Spring issue of Disney twenty-three:

An oral history of A Goofy Movie—in honor of its 25th anniversary—with the stars and director of the fan-favorite film

Todrick Hall talks about crafting the music for the new Magic Happens parade at Disneyland

A first look at the dazzling new show Drawn to Life, a breathtaking partnership between Cirque du Soleil, Walt Disney Imagineering, and Walt Disney Animation Studios coming to Walt Disney World Resort this spring

The voice cast of Star Wars: The Clone Wars prepares us for the stunning final season coming to Disney+

Grace VanderWaal and the cast of Stargirl talk about adapting the YA favorite into a Disney+ original

A sneak peek at Inside the Walt Disney Archives: 50 Years of Preserving the Magic, an exhibition of more than 400 treasures opening this March at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, Calif.

Regular features including From the Desk Of, By the Numbers, Character Analysis, D Society, and Ask the Walt Disney Archives

Disney twenty-three, which is delivered directly to fans’ doorsteps, is offered exclusively to D23 Gold and Gold Family Members as a benefit of their membership. The latest issue will begin arriving in mid-February.

About D23

The name “D23” pays homage to the exciting journey that began in 1923 when Walt Disney opened his first studio in Hollywood. D23 is the first official club for fans in Disney’s 90-plus-year history. It gives its members a greater connection to the entire world of Disney by placing them in the middle of the magic through its quarterly publication, Disney twenty-three; a rich website at D23.com with members-only content; member-exclusive discounts; and special events for D23 Members throughout the year.

Fans can join D23 at Gold Membership ($99.99), Gold Family Membership ($129.99), and General Membership (complimentary) levels at D23.com. To keep up with all the latest D23 news and events, follow DisneyD23 on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

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