dancinghorse | That Vacation in Minas Tirith Really Paid Off

Nothing like a couple of days in Middle Earth to get the Muse off that damn beach in Aruba.

I sat down tonight to tackle first draft number two. Number one has been chugging along and the first part (of three) is done, and I spent part of the afternoon doing setup for the second part. (I do each book differently, but this one is a historical, so requires timelines, so an outline is a useful thing.)

Number two has been sitting there with all sorts of bits and pieces, an outline, a synopsis, and a lot of notes, but no first scene. Without a first scene it can't properly be said to have started, no matter how much of it is actually out there.

It now has the entire first chapter and part of the second, and is jumping up and down yelling, "ME! Do ME! Write ANOTHER chapter!"

Which is unheard of at this stage--the first hundred "keeper draft" pages are always a slog. I've been scraping out three, five, seven pages on a good day with first draft number one. It's now past page 100 and picking up speed, and is starting to make sense to itself, just as it should. Characters are talking, scenes are growing organically, it's in good shape.

Whereas number two--wowza. Too bad I need to sleep. This one is sheer unadulterated fun. Nasty bits! Torture! Character assassination! It has it all.

And lj regulars, when the thing comes out in a year and a bit, will know exactly where I got that first scene....