Thursday, August 15, 2013

Remodeling Efforts

Last year I promised myself I'd write a novel in this year-of-our-lord 2013.

Well, a lot of things have happened this year, but I haven't written that novel. Know what I did? I've written two! And you know what? I think I'm getting better at it.

So, two books huh? Woooooow, you're so cool I want to smudge this webpage over my special parts. Why don't you tell us more, jack?

Book #1

Hmm, in hindsight it probably wasn't worth the toil, the effort, the insane obsessiveness, driving to and from my day job, the weekends, every waking minute I wasn't focussed on "real work". The storyline is pretty solid, in a it-keeps-moving kind of way, but things only really get going about 15,000 words in. One critic said the pacing was fine, the other said - well, just that it was a little slow to begin with. But the rest was okay, I guess. If you like reading stuff that sounded like a very amateur (possibly mentally-ill) version of Agatha Christie, maybe in the 1930s.
But it gets there, eventually. Eventually. I don't like anything that gets there "eventually", and it's not just because I'm ADHD.
So, Book #1 was my two months of dipping my toes in water. It took me five weeks to write and a (wasted) month of editing.

Book #2

This one has been an enormous amount of fun. I've always liked the writing styles of Elmore Leonard, James Burke, Carl Hiaasen, et al, so decided I'd see if I can impersonate it, just as an experiment you know? Oh boy, and once I got going? Whoosh.
You know when you're working on something that doesn't feel like work at all? Yeah, that's what this one felt like. Now, uhm, to be 100% clear, it's not for everyone. In fact, it may be for no-one, by my definition of being someone. If you don't know what I mean, well, you probably won't get it either. Probably/maybe. Feedback so far? "This is something else", and "8/10" and "great hook".
Progress: 75,000 words and I hope to finish it this weekend.

But this feedback...I'm not convinced of its authenticity. For all I know, these "critics" would rate the back of a Captain Crunch or Coco Pops cereal box as 8/10. Maybe they were home-schooled, or maybe they still think "lip service" is an expression.

On the other hand, maybe they just like it.