Made some progress on a difficult scene

That's the best I can do, but it was at least satisfying. It's a necessary rather sad scene enmeshed in a largely humorous tale, which is probably why it has become difficult. It's not fully fleshed out yet, but I think I broke the barrier with what I wrote today.

Then, of course, I ran into the insurmountable Why do I bother? aspect of there being no conceivable way it will ever get published. But that's a separate discussion.

caw

I now have that scene completed, to a satisfactory first draft status. It also caused me to make a couple of other tweaks to places both before and after it, which seemed either necessary or useful.

Now I have a similarly difficult late-in-the-story sequence to get right, with bits and pieces in place, but obstacles and problems to deal with. It is more dramatic than sad, although I do kill one major character. That scene is largely done, and I'm happy with it. The bastid had to go.

As you may gather, I haven't written this story in sequential order, although the first half was almost completed that way. The final chapter is done, and I'm happy with it, although it's possible some minor details might be altered by the time I'm through. I hope to have the damn thing completed by end of year. Currently it's at 99,000 words, aiming for maybe 110,000-115,000, with a 10-15% trimmage upon editing. I already know of some wordy spots that I can address, but no point in doing so now until I get it all done.

It of course fits neatly into no fiction genre known to humanity, and I don't even want to think about concocting a query letter for it. Maybe I should just print it out, leave the manuscript on my front porch, and hope the publication fairy shows up and takes it away to a happy place. That should work about as well as any of my previous standard query/submission efforts have.

caw

Rufus Coppertop said:

Is that the commanding officer your MC wanted to save in the jungle?

Click to expand...

No, something completely different, set in mid-19th century frontier America.

caw

I'm up to around 104,000, working on the climactic scene, probably about 5,000-8,000 words to go, then a trim. The thing has the sales potential of a slide rule, which continues to make me wonder why I work on it, but i do.

caw