January 14th, 2010
Last night I finished my first big revision of Hubris. There were only a couple of major changes: I had to do a complete rewrite of the critical first page, remove the second chapter and place its exposition much later in the story, and cut out about a third of one lengthy middle chapter. I ended up cutting out more than I added, so this draft is about 2500 words shorter than the last. The whole process was slow and sometimes grueling. I don’t like revising, and I never will, but it feels great to have it finished.
The manuscript is now ready (I hope) for the scrutiny of my beta readers: my girlfriend, friends, and family. We’ll see what they have to say. I’m quite proud of the story; it’s a lot more ambitious than my first two [...]
November 27th, 2009
It’s done: the dreaded first readthrough of Hubris is finished. I don’t know if other writers find it as scary as I do to take a fresh look at their work; when I finished The Northerners, I had to make myself wait a full week before going over it, but now I could set a manuscript aside for months if I let myself. I guess now I know how much work still awaits me after a first draft, and I know how many warts I’ll have to confront when I finally pick up that fat stack of paper. It’s not my favorite part of the process.
But I have to say, I’m still pretty happy with my book. Yes, it needs work (often not in the places I expected), but there’s some real promise here. I really look forward [...]
November 23rd, 2009
Just as I was about to start my first read-through of Hubris (and still am), I received another partial request from an agent interested in The Northerners. I was just about ready to give up on querying The Northerners – I was even saying so as I opened the envelope, since I was convinced it was another rejection – but once again I spoke too soon. Of course, as I’ve learned, a partial request only means that I’ve gone from about a 99% chance of rejection to more like a 90% chance of rejection, but hey, I’ll take it.
Thanks to this agent, I’ve learned something new: some agents actually do reply positively via mail. I’ve heard some authors advise you to not bother including a self-addressed stamped envelope with your query; it’s a sign of self-respect, they say, [...]
October 28th, 2009
Hubris – that is, the first draft of Hubris – is complete. 90,000 words have brought me to the most wonderful words to write in all writingdom: The End. That wordcount, incidentally, makes this book the longest piece of writing I’ve ever done. That’s not interesting to anyone but me, but welcome to the blogosphere.
Now two things await me: champagne and sleep. Someday soon I will have to face the long agony that is revision, but for now, I get to relax while my third novel sits dormant and awaits my return.
October 25th, 2009
I’ve abandoned my 1000-word-a-day goal, but that’s a good thing. Now I’m sprinting for the finish line. In the last three days I’ve written something like 5,000 words and I’m almost to the big climactic climax of the story. There’s a lot that goes on in the end of this book; it may need to be streamlined when the time comes for revision. I’m doing my best not to worry about that yet.
This is the point, for me, when writing begins to feel like mild insanity. The story starts to follow me everywhere and distracts me when I’m trying to have conversations. I wake up from convoluted dreams starring my characters and plot points (once, when I was writing my first novel, I swear I had a dream in text. No joke) and I have trouble falling back [...]
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I'm an author, artist, animator, and a-game a-designer, depending on what day it is. These, dear Internet, are my ramblings.
Visit my home page at QuinnStephens.com.
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