Saturday, November 15, 2008

Saturday Novel Update


Another major milestone reached today--I cleared 80,000 words today.

Yikes!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again--I love writing, but I am NOT looking forward to editing this thing. I'm going to stop trying to guess how long it will be when it's finished, but I'm now leaning more towards 350-400.

I get the impression from some people that they think I might be on a tangent or something--rest assured, I am in control. I'm just really bad at estimating. Today, for example, I set out to work on a very important scene. I thought it would only be two or three pages, but the reality was actually 10 pages.

Anyway, when I started this thing, I was very hesitant to give details--I'm not sure why, I guess because it was all still forming in my mind. Now that it's (nearly) done, I'm finding I'm more comfortable talking to people about it.

That said, he's a picture of the (unofficial) main character of THE MOSQUITO VINE:

That's a 1938 Packard-120, it's sort of the catalyst for the whole novel. I'm not really a big car-guy, but I've always liked older cars. I've never actually been inside one (or driven one) so I'm having to do some creative guessing...but that's part of the fun of being a writer. You get to make stuff up. I haven't decided if the car's going to "live" at the end or not. I was going to "kill" it, but I'm finding it very hard to do. So yeah, that's what's going on inside my head right now, do I destroy a fucking amazing (imaginary) car or not.

These are the thoughts that will keep me from ever being successful in the "adult" world.

4 comments:

Jason said...

Oh, and mine is a convertible. Because convertibles are waaaay cooler.

Anonymous said...

Whoa, we have a 1940 Oldsmobile in our side garage with suicide handles. It's a deep cordovan red, original upholstery. Keith broke the engine down several years ago to rebuild it...and there it sits. A project for his retirement. But I'm going to get a Bonnie outfit when he's done and he'll be Clyde!

Jason said...

Awesome. I love that there used to be suicide doors/handles. What a name.

I've always wanted a restore a really old car, alas I lack the tools, training, space, and money to do such a thing...but it's still something I think about.

Good to hear from you, Terri.

Anonymous said...

I have earned another sabbatical and I've been thinking that I might take an entire semester off to do NaNoWriMo one of these years.