Tuesday, November 24, 2009

First Draft Mode

I am totally in the throws of first draft mode.
What does it look like? Not pretty.
I am just on-on-on all the time...except when I'm asleep. Actually, that's not true, because for the last several days, when I'm asleep, I'm noodling plot and character. The muses whisper in my ear, more ideas that any one human can possibly contemplate. When I'm awake, my fingers can't type fast enough to keep up with my brain. My synapses fire constantly, on overdrive, a thousand firecrackers in my head.
I have all the ideas, the outline fleshed out, the characters pictured in my head (most of them), a mental image of the backdrop. I know how I want the conflicts to pan out and be resolved. I know what the mystery is and how it will be solved. I also know some of my personal challenges with this project:
1) Keeping it middle grade when it creeps to YA.
2) Adding in a sweet girly relationship that hasn't yet made itself apparent. But, I have confidence it will come as I write the scenes. And if it doesn't, that's why I have my peeps, my writing group. The WIPS (Works in Progress can pin point issues, back those suckers into a corner, and suggest solutions.
This is like being on a wonderful first date that won't end until I get it all down on paper which is coming fast, but not fast enough.
I'm torn between rushing to get this rough first draft down, and not wanting this rush to end.
The project is under wraps for now, but if it pans out as fabulously as I see it in my head, I won't be able to keep it secret for long.

3 comments:

  1. Totally agree with the excitement or "rush" that comes with a new project. Then the honeymoon is over with the revision process.

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  2. Good for you. One thing about MG's creeping into YA territory--it might make it a hard sell, but it certainly reflects the truth. Every child is making that unsteady journey.

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  3. I feel the same way! I'm starting to write the sequel to The Mockingbirds now and these characters won't leave me alone! Everywhere I go they follow me and want me to work out the details of their lives! They say, "Puppeteer, make us move!"

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