I'm a web developer. This is my day job, this is what pays the bills. I'm also self-employed. I'm a freelance web developer. I roam the lanes of the internet and stop where I am needed, and then I move on. This is something I've dabbled in over the last few years, but I've always maintained a full time job.
One year ago, I decided to do only freelance. I like working at my own pace. Who doesn't? I decided to give it a chance. There were times when I wasn't sure things would work out. Work has always been steady, but there hasn't always been enough of it. I'm still not sure how feasible this is in the long term, but fortuitously the last two months have been hectic. All of my waking hours were spent building web sites (okay, breaks were had, I'm shamelessly addicted to Hay Day). That simply means I haven't had time for anything else.
In these last two months I've maybe spent maybe an hour on this Untitled Novel. That is an hour with the relevant documents opened on my computer, and edits or additions being made. Maybe another hour or two spent thinking about this Untitled Novel. Little progress has been made in those few hours. One revelation did come out of it though; Chapter 2 isn't just Chapter 2. It's Chapter 2 and Chapter 3. What was Chapter 3 before is now Chapter 4, and everything else after that has been pushed back as well. So who knows, maybe I'll post a double serving here sometime in the future. Work has calmed down, and while there's still a lot for me to do in my day job, I can now come up once in a while to breathe - and write.
In a few days I'll have stepped foot in four different countries this month alone. Mexico, Canada, France, and England. While I have been writing during this time, I have not found time for Untitled Novel, which is sitting incomplete on this web site.
As an aspiring author, as long as I'm putting ink to paper my time is well spent, and for that I am happy. As the writer of Untitled Novel, and the keeper of this web log, I am grossly behind schedule and for that I am not happy. I will have to remedy this.
Some time ago I said I'd try to keep this place a little more active. I think I'm going to take a stab at why updates are so slow, at least as far as posting chapters here. Chapter 2 is very much in the works, but I'm no longer surprised it's taking so long. I think the first few chapters will all take a long time to write. This is the beginning, after all. It's the foundation. It has to be done properly, and that takes time.
I am following a plan, an outline of every chapter, but as I write these early chapters I do find myself jumping to different points ahead in the story often, to add details where they might have been scarce or even missing before. I imagine that as I progress further into the novel, the gaps between posting these chapters will shrink because there will be less jumping forward to fill in other details for other chapters. Every subsequent chapter that I work on will be more complete upon the first draft than the ones that came before, resulting in a quicker turn around.
At least, that's how I imagine it will go. An adventure very much needs to have surprises, setbacks, and obstacles to overcome, and this particular adventure I'm sure will be no different.
I've added some archives to the web log so that entries that fall off the front page are still accessible. They can be accessed by scrolling to the bottom of the web log (this page) and either clicking "Older »", or clicking the "Archives" header to access entries by year and month.
Trying to write a blurb for this novel appears to be harder than writing the novel itself. Too many times I've been asked the questions "What are you writing?" and "What is the story about?" without being able to give a straight answer. Having a blurb would allow me not only that answer, but it would help potential readers decide whether they want to invest the time needed to read the prologue and chapter I've posted here, and eventually the rest of the novel. That is the basic purpose of a blurb, after all.
There is a plan. All the major characters and events of this story are outlined. Most of the minor characters and events are there too in in one form or another. I know how the story ends. Writing a blurb should be easy. The problem I'm having is I don't know how to hook the reader in a few short-but-vague sentences, without giving away too much of the story. What I'm left with are rather bland fragments that do nothing to show what makes this particular story interesting and unique (now I might be overselling it).
Maybe I'm over thinking this. Maybe I shouldn't worry so much about giving away some of the smallest details. I'm generally not a blurb reader myself. When I pick up an unknown book at a book store I can never make it through the blurb. I'd rather read the first few lines of the book and if that is interesting, I'll buy the book without really knowing much more beyond those first few lines, and the genre the book is in. What about you?
What I think this calls for, is a concentrated effort of blurb reading and writing.
The other day, I posted the first chapter to my novel. It took five months.
Why so long? It took five rewrites, but that's no excuse. The first draft took one week. I was happy with my progress and thought I would be able to finish the chapter within a month. Each subsequent rewrite took longer than the last. Draft four took over two months. The final draft? About five days.
Sometimes I will get stuck on a single paragraph for a long time; a day, a week, maybe longer. My first draft is my rough(est) draft. I don't pay attention to grammar or sentence structure too much, I just try to get the story down on digital paper, try to get all the events and dialogue laid out, so that I have something to follow when writing the next draft, which in my very organized writing software/implement is called Draft 2. I gradually improve upon every subsequent draft, fixing all my major annoyances from the prior, until I can read through a draft without pause. Without anything nagging me. Without that little voice inside telling me, "Jan, this is bad." It's not a very learned approach to writing, I know. It's just writing, and rewriting, ad nauseam, until I am happy with what's on the page. Ad nauseam might not be fair though. I enjoy rewriting, it's where I can add all the flourishes to my prose, where the characters come alive through dialogue, where I can sneak in some foreshadowing (and cackle to myself), and those moments where something just works, I treasure. It's during these rewrites that I really discover the story myself, too. I do eventually reach that final draft (and I do still call it a draft), but it can take a while.
I thought it would be interesting to compare all these drafts. I've thought this a few times already, but I've never done it. Here are the first two paragraphs from Chapter 1, from each of the drafts, for those curious:
He sat in the dark and listened. He had trouble breathing. The footsteps were nearing. There was water dripping somewhere and echoing. The alley was a black abyss. The air was stuffy. He may as well have been at the bottom of a river, where the light doesn’t reach, and the air is as scarce. He might end up there anyway, unless the man chasing him just leaves his body here, for the rats and strays to eat. Somehow, he preferred the first option. Fish eating his dead corpse, somehow seemed more poetic.
“I know you’re here, you rotten scoundrel,” Wenglett said. “It’s a dead end Kaed, you’re caught like a rat. I’m going to enjoy killing/butchering you.”
He sat in the bleak black and listened. Droplets echoed nearby as they spilled into an unseen puddle, one by chagrinned one. The footsteps neared and the alley narrowed. He may as well have been at the bottom of the river, too far down for the light to reach. The air would have been just as scarce. It could still happen, unless Wenglett decided to leave him here for some sick strays to feast upon. He preferred the former. Tiny little fish and bottom-feeding crustaceans making a meal of his bloated, decomposing corpse. Somehow, it seemed more poetic.
“I know you’re here you rotten mongrel. It’s a dead end, Kaed. No place left to run. You’re caught like a rat, and I’m going to enjoy butchering you like one.”
He wrapped the darkness around him like a second skin, and leaned out to listen. Droplets echoed as they spilled into an unseen puddle drop by diffident drop. The footsteps neared. He might as well have been at the bottom of the river, too far down for the light to reach. The air would have been just as scarce. It could still happen, unless his corpse was left behind here for the strays to tear apart. He preferred the river. His bloated and decomposing corpse would make a feast for the fish and crabs and the rest of the crustaceans moored beneath the water. Somehow, it seemed more dignified.
“I know you’re here you rotten mongrel. It’s a dead end, Kaed. You’re caught, like a rat, and I’m going to enjoy butchering you like one.”
The sun dipped below the distant horizon, and the night spun a dark web through the alleys of Reveurn. The thief peered through a gap in the refuse that surrounded him. He could have been at the bottom of the river. He would have seen just as little and the air would have been just as scarce. The thief rubbed his chest, but the itch only sank deeper. The night could still end in that place. His blistered corpse would make a feast for the countless creatures moored beneath the shivering depths, unless he was left behind here for the strays to tear apart. The footsteps neared.
“I know you’re here you rotten mongrel. It’s a dead end, Kaed. You’re caught, like a rat.”
The thief peered through a gap in the refuse. Night had spun a dark web through the alleys of Reveurn. He could have been at the bottom of the Horn. He would have seen just as little and the air would have been just as scarce. The thief rubbed his chest. The night could still end in that place. His blistered corpse would make a feast for the countless creatures moored beneath the shivering depths, unless he was left behind here for the strays to tear apart. The footsteps neared.
“I know you’re here, you rotten mongrel. It’s a dead end, Kaed.”
Of course, this isn't the end of it. There will be a Draft 6 eventually. I've gone over Draft 5 already and made some minor corrections, improvements (and removed at least ten commas, as I like them so much), but this is the part where I am happy with what I've created, and I want to share it. I can gather feedback, make notes, and I can move on to Chapter 2.
The real reason this took so long is simple: I don't have structure. I don't have a routine. I don't write every day, which is the real crime here. I'm getting better though, I'm learning when and where I can write, I'm learning what my distractions are and how I can minimize them. I think this web log is a wonderful tool, since I can trace my progress, and as can others, and that does add a modicum of pressure to write, which I think is needed to counterbalance all the distractions life is able to hurl. I will create this routine faster, I think, than I might otherwise. Faster, however, might not be as fast as I might like.
I make no promises regarding Chapter 2 other than it will get written, and it will get posted here when it's done. It's tempting to give a deadline, even an estimate, but I realise now that I will break it. In the mean time, until Chapter 2 is done, and between subsequent chapters, I will endeavour to post web log updates here more often.
I realise I'm bad at this, so a short update:
I'm currently on my 5th rewrite of Chapter 1. All the hurdles have been jumped as of the previous draft. Now it's just polish, and trimming the fat, and it's going well. The pace could almost be described as brisk.
Hope to have more to share soon!
The problem with the internet is that there's so much information, and that information is so easy to access, that instead of doing, I'm not.
I'm trying to establish a writing routine. I write regularly about 50% of the time, and irregularly the other 50%. That statistic isn't based on any science, but it feels like it's true, and I'd like to skew it in the former direction. Now, instead of actually trying to establish a routine, I'm looking up and reading about establishing routines on the internet.
What a wonderful tool. It can be, really, but it's also a wonderful distraction.
Have you seen the new trailer for The Hobbit?
I spent some time in Hull this last weekend. I visited the Deep and saw a wide variety corals and fish, including a rather large sawshark. They are also building a penguin exhibit, which unfortunately was not yet ready for public consumption. I wish I had taken some pictures to put something up here in the absence of anything else.
Speaking of anything else, I have some ideas on how to keep this place a little more active while I'm in between chapters, but for now it's back to the page that I must go.