Cold coffin holds,
memories of
a life past lived now
wasting away. When
there is nothing
not even rotting wood
and bone, finally
forgotten by the
living only then
is death true.
Cold Coffin Holds (poem #365)
Tag: writing
Blizzard (poem #364)
Wind (poem #362)
Wrap your arms around me,
wind and wind the thread
around your finger, tighter still
tighter now. I can hear the wind
raging outside, beating against
my window.
Thank you for reading!
-Alina
My First Novel: (2nd Draft Break) Jan.29, 2019
I’ve decided to take a break from my manuscript for a while. I need to finish reading a few books and put some space between me and my characters. After my last post, My First Novel: (Finishing 2nd Draft) I ordered a printed copy of my manuscript. It was substantially thinner than the first draft.
I can’t figure out the ending quite yet and there are still about a dozen places in dialogue that need work but I wanted to read through it once and see how it felt. I made it a point just to read through my 2nd draft without editing, making any marks or highlighting. I just had to read it.
It has been stripped down to the bare bones, I cut about 16,000 words from the original 50,000. There are places where I can put some much-needed padding and other spots where I saw that chapters were almost identical (as far as the intended goal). But overall I enjoyed reading my manuscript without editing it, it only took me about two days to finish reading it.
I plan on keeping myself away from my manuscript for about a week or two, then I’ll dive into the third draft. Until then I plan on posting a couple things about what I’ve been reading, such as all the Patti Smith books I’ve been reading, and a list of how-to writing books.
What I’m Currently Reading:
Hell’s Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga
What I’m listening to:
What I’m watching:
Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes
Thank you for reading about my journey writing my first novel!
-Alina
My First Novel: (Finishing 2nd Draft) January 24th, 2019
Yesterday, I finished editing the 2nd rough draft of my novel. I was elated but then immediately felt let down, in my mind I had finished writing the book again and was sad to see it end.
I still have some work to do before I order a printed manuscript. I have about a dozen pages that I have marked. These pages need work on dialogue, additional beats, expansion, and added details. I’m tempted on just ordering a manuscript today and working through it but I know what I need to do, it’s just hard.
What is also daunting is the fact that I’ve cut approximately 16,000 words from my first draft. My word count for the first draft was a little over 50,000 words. But after going through the draft and spending some time rereading chapters I cut, and cut, and cut.
The biggest cut that happened was the ending. At the time I was finishing the first draft, I was conflicted on who’s Point Of View (POV) I was going to use, so I wrote out about five different endings, all from the perspective of each character, the characters that mattered. I cut all the endings out and landed on a two-paragraph epilogue. The Epilogue doesn’t sit well with me because of the voice of the narrator and I’m debating on cutting that out as well and leaving the end of the book at the end of the chapter of Part Four. I’m just not entirely sure what to do about the ending.
I’ve read in many books on writing that working from the ending backward helps writers figure out what their story is really about. I know what mine is about but I am tempted to try this out, or at least on the next draft working backward, editing from the last chapter to the very first.
In summary, I am checking in and vomiting up my doubts and insecurities about my draft today. I have about four hours today to work on my novel and I will, I really will but with reluctance.
What I’m Listening to:
The inspirational playlist I’ve created for my novel GHOST IN THE WOODS
What I’m reading:
Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film
Thank you for reading! Please follow or subscribe to read more about my journey writing my first novel.
-Alina