The SFF Writing Check-in Corner

I wrote a short story titled Song of The Wolf about a year ago. Finally working on major revisions now. I do actually have a partial revision already, but so much has changed since then that I scrapped that entirely.

Yesterday I started by removing all of the scenes that are no longer relevant, in no small part because two of the characters no longer exist in that world. Took out about 1200 words in total.

Today I converted the entire thing from a combination of past/present (the MC's voice kept taking over) into past. I personally think present is better for the character's voice, but sticking with third for readability. No need to make it harder than it already is.

And now for the real work: building and rebuilding from the ground up. Half of the story needs to be rewritten entirely. I also want to make it less choppy by condensing the scenes from 8 in the original down to 3-4, which will shift the timeline a bit. Also some major changes in characterization and a much more fleshed out, dynamic world. Add in the new characters, reduce the amount of filtering (it's first person) and work on the voice and I think I'll be in pretty good shape. After that it's just going to be hammering out the fine details and possibly finding a beta.

Already started the rewriting, so in total I'm -1200 irrelevant words and +300 good ones.

I finished the third and final book in my Duty, Honor, Planet military science fiction series about a month ago---well, I finished writing it a month and a half ago and then spent a couple weeks editing and proofreading it before it went live on Amazon. Felt like I'd given birth---186,000 words, 687 double spaced pages and fifteen freaking months of my life.

After it had been out a couple weeks, I released the whole trilogy as a collection for a price that was basically throwing in the first 99 cent book free. Feels funny selling what amounts to YEARS of my life for $5,

Currently, I am working on a sequel to my other novel, a space opera/cyberpunk/spy thriller called Birthright. The sequel is tentatively titled Northwest Passage and I hope it's much shorter and takes much less time to write than the Line of Duty.
After I'm done with that, I want to work on another book unrelated to either series that would be a stand-alone.

Am nearly halfway through the revisions to my WIP, and it occurred to me last night that the scene I've been struggling with would be much easier if I remembered that the goal of the story is to uncover the antagonist's plot and foil it, rather than revealing the MC's backstory.

*headdesk*

@zanzjan: I'm considering it. Even writing these new scenes I keep unconsciously drifting back into present. I'm just not convinced I'm experienced enough to pull off both a POV and a tense I have very little experience with.

Decided to set a minimum goal of 300 words a day on this revision. Hit 377 already but need to stop as I have other things that need doing before work. It also looks like I'll be changing a lot more than I thought in order to streamline everything. It does make a lot more sense to do it this way, just kind of frustrating to be altering so much that it barely resembles the original. It'll be so much stronger as a story though, so I think it's worth it.

Still having some issues with filtering, but I can fix that later.

I'm on the last leg of revising a fantasy novella, based on my agent's request. Mostly clarification of action scenes and descriptions, along with adding more emotional impact. This and two previous revisions have taken a 6500-word story up to around 30K.

Worth doing, because of the editors my agent wants to pitch.

466 words today. Making good progress. Switched back over to present tense; it's not as much work as you might think given that I'm rewriting basically from the ground up at this point. I'm not very experienced with writing short stories so all of this work is really helping me hone my skills.

My goal is to have this revision finished by the end of the week. Then I can do another pass for any major issues and either send it out to a friend or try to find a beta here. Get feedback from that, another round of edits and a final check primarily for mechanical issues, then out the door it goes. Should be done by the end of the month.

The section from hell is now done (major structural revision). OMG, I was stuck there for so long; I'm so happy to be free to move on now!

1,198 words yesterday. Not as much as I would have liked but still a respectable amount, putting me at approximately the halfway point. Not even sure if I should call it a revision; it hardly resembles the first draft at all anymore.

Assuming it ends up between 5-6k (the original was 5700), I'll need to write at least 500 words a day for the rest of the week to stay on schedule. That will have it done by Saturday, I can use Sunday to revise this draft and then have it out to a beta by Monday. Might post the first page or so in SYW here as well.

ETA: 749 today.

I keep wanting to change what I'm writing about, though it will be something dealing with high fantasy. O_O

Only 350ish words so far today. Not an exact count as I did some editing to the opening scene on my way by. Interesting details popping up in the antagonistic conversation my MC just had with 2 other characters. Lots of tension.

I also think I just stumbled into a future project, because it's not like I already have a massive backlog or anything. We'll see though; I don't see this concept working as anything other than a graphic novel, so it would need to be a collaboration. I have a friend I can ask, but I won't bother unless I feel it's viable.

Had a nice 2,000-word day yesterday, finished off a novella I've been struggling with. Final WC: 10,675. That's probably twice what it should be, but it's finished and I am happy!

I'm currently editing my sf manuscript and am about…two/thirds done. I've changed a lot more than I ever realized I would during this third edit. I don't think I ever thought I would do a third edit. I'm glad I did cuz it suuuuucks.

That fantasy novella I was working on is off to the beta-readers now - it's 35,500 words. I'm now pushing a 1000 words a day or so toward a 70K novel. While working PT. I've got a job Iag in August (boss on vacation), so I'm hoping to get the novel finished then. There are three more WIPs jostling for attention, too.

Aggh. About 17,000 words into my WIP and it's like pulling teeth.
I should be used to this...it's like this with every book at first, until I get about 100 pages in and get into the story. But it's frustrating all the same.
On the sales end of things, I had the first book in my military SF trilogy on free promotion for 5 days last week and got 2,700 downloads. I've got 5 new reviews from that already...we'll see if it translates into increased sales for the other two books.

zanzjan said:

I was going to say, usually when I grind to a halt like that it's because I've wandered off in the wrong direction on my WIP without consciously realizing it yet, but it sounds like this is just a natural part of your process. If you can pin down what it is that makes this part hard for you maybe you can lessen the effect next time? Or at least take some comfort in knowing it's finite?

Either way, good luck, on the new story and on the new readers for your series

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For me, it's more of a question of me finding the "voice" of the book, the tone I want to use throughout. I don't know if I'm putting that in a way it can be understood, but it's like I'm searching for the heart of the book and, once I find it, it carries me through the rest. It usually takes about 100 pages or so.

Argh, I'm so behind schedule right now. Originally I had planned to have Song of The Wolf ready for submission by the first of the month. I got so discouraged by the sheer amount of work I need to do still that I just put it aside and spent two weeks reading and marathoning an anime instead. I really want to submit it to F&SF during this open esub period. :/ Guess I better knuckle down and get to work.

I realized I never popp'd in this thread.

I'm currently working on the first sequel to my novel that's out. Sci-fi adventure space opera type business.. aliens secret societies, plucky smugglers, ancient races with hidden knowledge.. all of that good stuff.

I took a break for a while but am getting back on working on the sequel now (it had been sitting for 3 months while I was building my website). But, now that my site is up I'm going back on it and just finished re-reading what I have (and was pleasantly surprised it wasn't bad). So I'm at about 25k words, which is a healthy start and about the point where I am able to fly through most of the rest since most of the characters/plot are established.

The interesting thing is that my first book is wholly in first person, but this one is moving to third. which gives me a unique change to look at my MC from book 1 through an outside perspective. Fun process.

SamCoulson said:

I realized I never popp'd in this thread.

I'm currently working on the first sequel to my novel that's out. Sci-fi adventure space opera type business.. aliens secret societies, plucky smugglers, ancient races with hidden knowledge.. all of that good stuff.

I took a break for a while but am getting back on working on the sequel now (it had been sitting for 3 months while I was building my website). But, now that my site is up I'm going back on it and just finished re-reading what I have (and was pleasantly surprised it wasn't bad). So I'm at about 25k words, which is a healthy start and about the point where I am able to fly through most of the rest since most of the characters/plot are established.

The interesting thing is that my first book is wholly in first person, but this one is moving to third. which gives me a unique change to look at my MC from book 1 through an outside perspective. Fun process.

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Well done, Son of Coul.

Haven't been in here or a while.

I'm still working on outlining the newest version of White Crow (this is like the third attempt). I hope to have it finished by the end of the month and then I can start writing it.

Keep Writing Y'all!

Currently working on my first novel as a serious writer. Though it will be able to go as a standalone it's meant to be book 1 of a trilogy or more

Phoenix Reborn: 25k of 105k projected 1st draft length.

I'm supposed to be editing my time travel novel. But somehow I seem to be watching Divergent.

Outliningg my Sci-Fi/Space Operate novel "Veruca Starship". I've started a universe guide to help me keep track of the species, worlds, governments, and characters I'm creating. Finally started writing the first chapter which begins with a fatal enemy encounter.

Ken Horn said:

Currently working on my first novel as a serious writer. Though it will be able to go as a standalone it's meant to be book 1 of a trilogy or more

Phoenix Reborn: 25k of 105k projected 1st draft length.

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Buffysquirrel said:

I'm supposed to be editing my time travel novel. But somehow I seem to be watching Divergent.

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It would make more sense if you were watching something like Doctor Who or Back to the Future. Unless Divergent has some kind of time travel element, I haven't read the book.

IdrisG said:

Outliningg my Sci-Fi/Space Operate novel "Veruca Starship". I've started a universe guide to help me keep track of the species, worlds, governments, and characters I'm creating. Finally started writing the first chapter which begins with a fatal enemy encounter.

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As for me, I'm working on the details of my climatic battle scene.

If I finish outlining this story by the 23rd, I get a new book. I like being rewarded for writing.