Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
I started ‘A Magpie Mind’ nine months ago, and I still haven’t finished. To be fair, I started a re-write about halfway through, but still… I wrote ‘The Old Creek Bridge’ in less than four months.
So what’s the problem? Oh, there are many. Many many many.
First of all, my world is not fleshed out nearly enough. I knew this was the case from the beginning, but I thought ‘hey, I’ll get the first draft done with just the story itself, and then the second draft will flesh it out’. And obviously, 7k from the end of draft one, I’m going to stick to that. But the lack of back story on which I can rely is making finishing difficult. And painful.
Second of all, I need to make some major character changes. I’m going to age them down to target a YA audience rather than a strictly adult fantasy audience, because, well… it’s really a YA book. The characters are just too old. I also need to rename one of the main characters because I want to skip over her name whenever it comes up, but I’m blanking.
Basically, my general annoyance with what I’ve already written is making it hard to write. I want to work on something I’m excited about, not something I’m having to drag my feet through. I’m hoping that I can work myself into excitement over the second draft, but I’m also considering the possibility of starting a second project alongside ‘A Magpie Mind’ so that I’ll have no excuse (read: ‘I HATE WHAT I’M WRITING’) to not be working on something.
So here’s what I’m hoping to accomplish between now and my next check in.
- Finish an 80k draft of ‘A Magpie Mind’. That’s 7k to go. Easily accomplished, provided I don’t drag my feet through the whole thing.
- Sit down and read the whole manuscript and figure out what’s wrong. Because there’s a LOT wrong. And knowing all of it BEFORE I start another draft is important.
- Replot ‘A Magpie Mind’, taking into account what can stay and what has to go.
- Begin to plot a new project.
I guess what I’m leaving you with, fellow adventurers, is that we all get discouraged sometimes. I’m discouraged now. But I’m not giving up, and you shouldn’t either. Ever.
