July 27, 2010

Posted on | 1 year, 6 months ago, in the late afternoon | 7 Comments

Metrics! They’re back – and they’re back because today I officially began Draft Zero of the fourth Clockwork Century book, presently titled Ganymede. [:: throws confetti ::] [:: does a little dance ::] [:: begins the usual descent into insecurity and terror ::]

Today’s stats are not particularly impressive, I’ll be the first to grant you; but in my defense, the blank page is a soul-killer – so my first jab at a new project is almost always a smallish chunk. In fact, my first few days of work on something new are often likewise short from a word count standpoint, because it takes me a little time to switch headspace/character voices/POV from one project to the next – especially when I’m shifting gears between two very, very different stories (like I am right now).

But from smallish chunks do mighty drafts grow.

Therefore, this afternoon I give you progress on my Hunley version 4.0 submarine book about Andan Cly and his crew having a damp misadventure in a Texian-occupied New Orleans, plus Bonus! guerrilla warfare, other assorted historic pirates, and an octoroon madam who moonlights as a Union spy.

Project: Ganymede
Deadline: November 1, 2010
New words written: 806 [:: tiny cheer for tiny word count ::]
Present total word count: 806 words

Things accomplished in fiction: I think I’ve got my introduction underway. We begin our tale with two women sitting in a house of ill repute, where they are quietly discussing espionage, engineering theory, and the price of pirates.

Things accomplished in real life: Day-job work; writer business; surface-level housework; not much else. Mostly I just wrestled with this damn opener all day, doing a whole lot of deleting and rewriting until I finally stumbled upon something I felt I could work with.

Other: I get asked about my “writing process” a lot, and I never really know how to respond. My writing process consists almost entirely of “sit down for awhile and try to tell a story that doesn’t suck.” But this inevitably comes with a number of false starts. Sometimes those false starts work themselves out within a day – like today, or so I fervently hope. Sometimes I end up throwing away a lot more material as I get a better sense of how the story is going to feel – and how it ought to launch.

Other, redux: I feel pretty good about this beginning! So far, I mean. *gulp*

Total Official Word Count of 2010: 126,830 words

Category: misc

Comments

7 Responses to “July 27, 2010”

  1. C Scott Morris
    July 27th, 2010 @ 6:14 pm

    Yay for new project!

  2. David Earle
    July 27th, 2010 @ 6:19 pm

    It’s always nice to get those first black marks set down on the empty white void that is the blank page… staring back at you… sucking you in… @_@

    But you’re past that now. Good for you. [::pats hand::]

  3. Duane Kaiser
    July 27th, 2010 @ 8:57 pm

    Happy Storytelling Cherie!

  4. Cherie
    July 27th, 2010 @ 9:05 pm

    Thanks guys :)

  5. Some call me Tim
    July 27th, 2010 @ 10:10 pm

    Hi Cherie!

    I see you have a deadline of Nov. 1st for Ganymede. Do you generally have/take only 3 months to write a whole novel? That’s pretty freaky fast!

    Crongrats on all the win for Boneshaker. Can’t wait to get my copy of Clementine in the mail and looking forward to seeing Dreadnought on the shelves soon. :-)

  6. Cherie
    July 27th, 2010 @ 10:12 pm

    Hey Tim :) No, I usually have longer – this is just a trick of timing, really. I ended up having two projects due shortly after one another, with a lot of travel in the interim. So that’s where it’s at.

    Usually I get six months to a year.

  7. Cherie
    August 23rd, 2010 @ 10:44 pm

    test comment – ignore

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