Well, I finished the first draft of The Mageborn Mechanic. That makes three novels that I've managed to finish.
Ok, quick analysis time:
It came in at right at 50k words, about half of my worst-case scenario. That leaves me plenty of room to put some flesh on the bones and, since my last two novel revisions added pagecount, that's a good thing. 50k felt about right for a thriller as well. Not a ton of dead weight in it.
The First Person Present tense I chose for TMM seemed to work pretty well. I submitted the first chapter, unedited, to my critique group and everyone seemed positive, some very much wanting to read the next chapters. So, chapter 1, did its job.
I got it done before World Fantasy Convention. Not a LOT before, but before.
Doing an outline helped. I wrote a paragraph description for each chapter before I wrote a word. It gave me structure and helped me plan plot points and escalation before I committed words to paper. It also focused the length of the novel and gave each chapter an objective for me to attain. I'll probably do the same with any other thrillers I write.
Character voice is strong, strong enough to overcome some unappealing aspects to the character.
I need to add more details to the magic. I need to add more humor to Simon's POV, he's a bit grim so far.
The Epilogue being written from someone else's POV didn't work. Cutting it is probably the right decision. However, not having it leaves out a final twist or two, which is too bad. I think the novel works without it and that's the real test.
Ok, now to let it sit. I'm NOT going to repeat my mistakes with Angel Oddyssey and edit this to death. For now until December, I'm not going to even look at at. Instead, I'll be writing the best damn short stories I can, to get ready for my Clarion West application.
Now, off to World Fantasy this Wednesday.
Ok, quick analysis time:
It came in at right at 50k words, about half of my worst-case scenario. That leaves me plenty of room to put some flesh on the bones and, since my last two novel revisions added pagecount, that's a good thing. 50k felt about right for a thriller as well. Not a ton of dead weight in it.
The First Person Present tense I chose for TMM seemed to work pretty well. I submitted the first chapter, unedited, to my critique group and everyone seemed positive, some very much wanting to read the next chapters. So, chapter 1, did its job.
I got it done before World Fantasy Convention. Not a LOT before, but before.
Doing an outline helped. I wrote a paragraph description for each chapter before I wrote a word. It gave me structure and helped me plan plot points and escalation before I committed words to paper. It also focused the length of the novel and gave each chapter an objective for me to attain. I'll probably do the same with any other thrillers I write.
Character voice is strong, strong enough to overcome some unappealing aspects to the character.
I need to add more details to the magic. I need to add more humor to Simon's POV, he's a bit grim so far.
The Epilogue being written from someone else's POV didn't work. Cutting it is probably the right decision. However, not having it leaves out a final twist or two, which is too bad. I think the novel works without it and that's the real test.
Ok, now to let it sit. I'm NOT going to repeat my mistakes with Angel Oddyssey and edit this to death. For now until December, I'm not going to even look at at. Instead, I'll be writing the best damn short stories I can, to get ready for my Clarion West application.
Now, off to World Fantasy this Wednesday.
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