How the Sausage is Made

 I read Tom's entry about letting your newly-finished MS rest, below, with great sympathy and understanding. Mainly because I am doing the exact same thing right now. I've been writing on a new book, a stand-alone, I think, for over a year. For me, at least, it takes a long time to really get to know a brand new set of characters, a new setting, a new time period. I used every minute it took.

As I was writing this tome the story was wandering around in the wilderness, looking for the path to take it to the end. Every two weeks I would submit 20 pages to my critique group, and I almost always got positive feedback on the direction of the tale, my style, etc. As I wrote, I kept tweaking the plot. The direction kept changing, sometimes subtly, sometimes with a screeching u-turn. As I approached the climax, the end did not quite match the beginning any more. I knew there was some major rewriting in store.

Then the day came that I submitted the final pages - the reveal, the denouement. And my group hated it. Part of the problem was that for the past year, I've been submitting 20 pages ever 2 weeks. the group didn't remember many of the clues I'd dropped early on. The rest of the problem was that over that long year, I overthought everything and ended up with a much too convoluted reveal.

So. Time to let the story rest for a few weeks.

For me, this is how the sausage is made. It happens to me a lot, though not usually in such spectacular fashion. My first draft beginnings very often don't match the ends, because I keep getting brilliant ideas as I write. Or more properly, my characters get brilliant ideas and won't do what I thought they ought to do.

In any event. The story is resting and ripening in a drawer, and I've been sharpening my knives in anticipation of killing a lot of darlings in the MS. As the theatre manager character says in the movie Shakespeare in Love, it'll turn out fine. I don't know how. It's a miracle.

Since this is my last entry before Christmas, let me wish you Dear Readers a very happy Holiday Season, and may the upcoming year bring you blessings. (Please!) And here's a photo of our lovely tree for your enjoyment.