Talking to myself
Apr. 9th, 2012 10:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainwatersparkCurrently, the second draft of EK I is at 110 pages, 54,800 words. I will estimate that the second draft will wrap up around 120 pages / 60,000 words--egads, that's seriously long for me! But, considering that I'll need to go over the second draft again after a cooling-down period, and the first draft expanded by 7,000 words just by adding descriptions and fleshing out scenes, it's more than likely EK I will reach 65,000 words or so. My goal is to hit somewhere between 70-75,000 words, which, if my calculations are correct, would result in a 300-page novel.
More important than page/word count, however, is the actual content. Am I going to have to go through another massive rewrite between drafts 2 and 3? Honestly, I'm not sure. I'm finally starting to approach a plot that is starting to resemble "political intrigue" (thanks to inspiration from the book The Woman in White and the TV series Leverage), but the plot is still rather messy and it's starting to sprawl. Part of it has to be chalked up to my inexperience as a writer, though--which bums me out, because why can't my skill match my ambition? :(
So here's how my tentative plan stands. I will finish the second draft of EK I, leave it to cool off for a week or two, and then go back over it with a red pen to see if there are any glaringly obvious changes I should make to the plot. My sense right now is that I'll be mostly focused on adding more interior scenes to offset the external conflict. If I can't come up with better plot ideas, though, I'll probably let the draft sit for a while while I focus on getting the first draft of Ranked First done. Depending on how well RF goes, after that's done I'll either jump straight into the sequel or start drafting EK II.
More important than page/word count, however, is the actual content. Am I going to have to go through another massive rewrite between drafts 2 and 3? Honestly, I'm not sure. I'm finally starting to approach a plot that is starting to resemble "political intrigue" (thanks to inspiration from the book The Woman in White and the TV series Leverage), but the plot is still rather messy and it's starting to sprawl. Part of it has to be chalked up to my inexperience as a writer, though--which bums me out, because why can't my skill match my ambition? :(
So here's how my tentative plan stands. I will finish the second draft of EK I, leave it to cool off for a week or two, and then go back over it with a red pen to see if there are any glaringly obvious changes I should make to the plot. My sense right now is that I'll be mostly focused on adding more interior scenes to offset the external conflict. If I can't come up with better plot ideas, though, I'll probably let the draft sit for a while while I focus on getting the first draft of Ranked First done. Depending on how well RF goes, after that's done I'll either jump straight into the sequel or start drafting EK II.
