Sunday 25 October 2015

First Draft- Last Chapter...

I'm late posting today because I was grabbing some uninterrupted time to get on with finishing the last couple of chapters of my contemporary romance.

Pleased to report I'm now on the last chapter, so I'll hopefully finish it this week or next.

Still working...
It is only the skeleton of the story with a few muscles and veins added here and there, but it will give me plenty to work on. There's still a few research areas to follow up on too.

I'm already feeling the tug of disappointment that I'll be temporarily saying goodbye to my hero and heroine from this story.

But the good news is I'll be getting back to one of my Serena Lake historicals. Serena has been a little neglected while I've been so busy this past couple of months.

I'll be able to return to my Nottinghamshire based story with renewed enthusiasm, despite my first chapter not making the shortlist of the New Talent Award.

Yes, it's disappointing, but that chapter does need more work. Plus I won't have the constraints of a set word count to conform to.

I'll be leaving chapter one as it is, for the moment, while I start with chapter two for the second draft.

Draft two is going to be a lot of work as I'll be making changes, adding and removing scenes, and developing a few of the minor characters- now I know what they're doing.

The last two years have been a big learning process, but I now know what works for me. I'm no longer allowing myself to get held up because something isn't working. I make a note about it and carry on with the scene beyond it.

I've learnt to listen to my characters, but interfere when they're getting out of hand.

Now I just need to keep putting in as much time as I can on the rewrite.






Image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

6 comments:

Teresa Ashby said...

I love that, Carol - the skeleton with a few muscles and veins. I've always thought of putting flesh on the bones, but those muscles and veins are vital too!
You have exactly the right attitude about your first chapter, onwards and upwards :-) xx

Patsy said...

Sounds as though you're making great progress.

Keith Havers said...

Congratulations on getting so far, Carol. God luck with the rest of it and all your other projects.

Carolb said...

Thanks, Teresa.

Some of the first draft chapters have more in them, as they were the ones where I had a clear view of what I wanted in there and the purpose of the chapter. Others are very skeletal at the moment. :-)

Carolb said...

Yes, Patsy, I'm made more progress quicker with the contemporary first draft, probably because the historical one was still a learning process, and I was able to apply what I learnt from that. :-)

Carolb said...

Thanks, Keith.

Hope to see you next week for the Manuscript of the Year competition. :-)