Writing Update

Happy New Year!

At this time last year, I was working on chapters 5 and 6 of the first draft of Perceval’s Shadow.  This year, I’m working on chapter 6 of Perceval in Love’s first draft.  I have broken the 100-page mark so I’m about a quarter of the way through.  My target is 20-25 chapters and approximately 400 manuscript pages, which would translate when published into a 267-300 page hardcover book, depending on type, etc.

With chapter 6 I’ve also exhausted my current outline.  I don’t write from a complete outline but I know how the story will end, so I know what I’m writing toward.  I usually write ideas for chapters as I go along.  The first 4 or 5 chapters come easily.  They are the set-up (Act 1).  Once I’ve entered Act 2 territory, the terrors set in and I slow down until I figure out the structure and conflicts in this middle section.  What helps is to ask myself constantly what each character wants and what he/she will do to get it.  What stands in the way?  To complicate matters for PIL, I’m writing alternating points of view between Evan and Sofia.  So, there are 2 parallel stories that will converge at the end (Act 3). 

The next week or so I’ll probably be working on writing ideas for the next 4-5 chapters and organize them.  This requires quiet thinking time in addition to my regular writing time. 

Moving On

The first draft of chapter one of book 3 (Perceval in Love or PIL) is done.  I finished it last week.  It never ceases to amaze me how I can start a chapter thinking one thing and come out the other side thinking something else entirely.  I ask myself questions about what needs to happen next, and a few days later, the answers come in ideas for action or ideas for Evan’s introspection.  I need to develop two or three more concert programs for him to work on after he returns home from Helsinki. 

I’ve begun work on chapter two.  I’ve known all along that this is the chapter in which Evan is punched with the problem for this book.  I began writing without a detailed outline, however.  I can’t work with a detailed outline.  My outlines are always very sketchy and more like suggestions or a series of questions.  I usually need to know where I’m going, also, so I have a relatively good idea how the chapter will end and where Evan will be.  This chapter began, to my surprise, with him reconnecting with Pierre, a character from book 2.  Nice.  I interrupted the writing to dig into my research file for photos of Finlandia Hall, for Mannerheimintie in Helsinki, and find that I need more. 

My goal for next month is to finish at least four chapters.  I write slowly, especially working on first drafts.