UPDATE:
After 2 long brainstorming sessions with trusted early draft readers, I think I know which scenes to cut. If you can imagine, I was juggling 4 different worlds and had accidentally introduced a 5th! Eek. Run. Fast. I'm definitely cutting the recent addition. And I'm cutting the 4th world, a veritable darling.
And I think I know where I'm going from here.... loosely.
My WIP is getting out of control. Too big, word-count wise. Too thick, theme-wise. Too soupy, character-wise. Too complicated, plot-wise. I'm a pantser, true, so I'm trying not to let it get to me. I'm trying to "just keep writing" until the draft is done.
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I know there'll be massive editing in the future, and I'm okay with that, relishing the thought, really. But I wonder if I shouldn't go kill a few plot threads now while I still have the chance. Before the monster fish pulls my boat under and me with it.
In critique group last week, one of the gals piped up with the dreaded word "ambitious" to describe this project. That's the word polite reviewers use to talk about a book that's bitten off too much in one go, that fails at its (usually multiple and praiseworthy, utterly impossible) attempts. "My, but this book is ambitious!" she'll exclaim before slaughtering the epic tome with is Tolstoy-esque cast of characters and plotlines.
Eek! Run, run, run. Mercy kill.
But part of me doesn't give a damn about word count or manageability (or marketability) and simply wants to see my MC through this hairy mess. But . . .
Any sympathetic or empathetic readers out there? Writers, what do you do when you're 50K words in and realize that OMG it's either me or the book? That the hook is stuck somewhere deep down -- darned thing swallowed it -- and I might just have to let go of the pole?
I say you finish the ms (even if it's 1000 pages) and take care of it after. Hopefully, you'll have a CP willing to tackle it once you are finished. :)
ReplyDeleteTotally sympathetic writer here(and empathetic--heck, I never remember the difference.... Hang in there. There's a jewel in there somewhere, you just have to chisel away until it's revealed. Get all of it out first...(and then let me read it! :D)
ReplyDeleteI just get the first draft out, and worry about the rest later. If I start worrying about stuff, I get writers block. And the first draft is the only time to be totally free of constraints, so I say let it rip!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I passed along the Liebster on my blog today! Thanks again!
I don't think about anything else but getting that first draft down.
ReplyDeleteBecause everything else is fixable but if that first draft isn't there, I've got nothing to fix later.
Keep Writing.
Cheers.
Guess it's "quit over-thinking it, girly, and get back to writing." :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement, everyone! And Kara, you bet!
My first ever MS came to 600K words. Not kidding. I put it on a shelf in Never Never Land, never to be seen again and never to be repeated.
It sounds like you need a break from all the words. A breath of green fresh air might clear out some things. But not before a deep, intense massage from your loved one.
ReplyDelete@Unikorna You may be absolutely right. About the green and the massage. <3
ReplyDeleteFinish it. Maybe in the end you'l have three brilliant novels woven together in there ;D
ReplyDeleteI agree with others saying just finish the manuscript and then worry about hacking at it later :D I'm at the opposite spectrum, I think. I'm just about done with the first draft of my wip and I'm 20k words short of what I projected LOL.
ReplyDeleteLori~ I actually think that being on the lighter side of a word count on the first draft is better. My first agent* helped me take my book from 50K to 65K, and it seemed a lot easier to add than to cut. Good luck!
ReplyDelete*;)
I totally agree with Alleged Author. Finishing everything you start is great advice, regardless of what happens to it after.
ReplyDeleteYup, I completely agree with everyone else. The first draft is meant to be a complicated mess. If it isn't...you're not normal. Finish and worry about perfecting it later :)
ReplyDeleteWow, I'm clearly in the minority here ... but I say, choose what you want to axe and what you want to keep now, then continue writing as if you have already axed it so you don't lose momentum. Then you can assess the final product and whether it was better with or without all that "ambition." ;)
ReplyDelete@Ru Even though I initially agreed with everybody, I still found myself stuck until I did go ahead and cut the plot thread(s) that was killing my forward momentum. Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteWell, you DID ask, so I vote for axing the extra storyline now. Imagine how much stronger you can make the tension with concentrating on just the three - not to mention the ending. Plus, every time the scene is the fourth, you may not want to put much energy into it. Just my thought....
ReplyDelete