I did some writing tonight!

9/2/04

I did some writing tonight! Well, technically, this morning. Ooooh, that feels good. It's so much easier to write in the late evening than any other time, but usually I can't stay up this late because of work. Since I have to go into work on Monday (Labor Day), I got tomorrow off. My supervisor was really nice about it.

I don't have the novel fully outlined yet, but I spent some time scripting the next few scenes in my scene spreadsheet before I jumped into chapter one. The spreadsheet made it so much easier to see at a glance what the pacing would be like if I added this scene, or that scene, or rearranged scenes, etc. I initially had the book start with an IM conversation, but that would lead to too many slow-moving scenes and I wanted to start the novel out with conflict. So the big humiliation scene starts the wip, and the IM conversation will be placed in a little later. That makes things work out very well, actually.

It's so nice to get back into writing fiction. I'd forgotten the rhythm of sentences and paragraphs, and the challenge and fun of utilizing them to maximum effect. I'd also forgotten the pizzazz of dialogue versus narration. It's interesting to get into Lex's head for this ms, when I'd been in Trish's for the first one. I have a scene with the two of them, and it was neat to try to keep dialogue and body motions distinct.

Thinking back, I might end up moving that scene to later in the chapter. It's a flashback, and I don't think it's a good idea to include something like that so soon. That belongs AFTER the first Goal-Conflict-Disaster sequence.

Well, I'm off to bed.

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