thehefner | (no subject)

When everyone who starts reading your novel stops at around page 30, for any of a multitude of reasons (too tired, not enough time, no, it's good really it is but I blah blah blah etc.), you know there's a problem.

When the author of the novel starts flipping through his own story and has to ask, "what the fuck is going on here?!", you know there's a problem.

When people ask me what the book's about, and I haven't the faintest bloody clue, you know there's a problem.

Starting tomorrow, I shall begin the process of slashing-and-burning a hell of a lot of the book. Like, 1/3 of the whole thing. I have come up with an alternate series of events which, although much less convoluted than the way the book is already, still will need a bit of grace and style if I'm gonna pull it off with any real coherence. Much of my problem is that I have created a huge world with a backstory all its own, and I'd need a Silmarillion-style history book to properly explain it all. Thus is the problem when one is trying to write part one of a 20+ park Babylon 5-style epic. Getting that first step down. I don't plan the revisions to take more than two weeks. Not unless I buckle down and get to it, right bloody now.

I know a couple of you have the original draft, and I appreciate whatever progress you guys've made so far. If anyone'd be interested in taking a look at the second (hopefully better) draft, please let me know. The more opinions I get, the better, really. There's a lot of good in this book that I don't want ruined or bogged bown by the bad.

Anyway, hope everyone's enjoying Thanksgiving. It's always a nice Holiday. These days, there's becoming more and more bittersweet, but I don't mind. There is something to be said for bittersweet.