Process Blog 2

My story has come a long way since the last process blog! I now have over 9900 words, and the project itself sits at 23 pages in single space 12 pt. font. I was shooting for 14 pages but now we're here. I have filled in my outline for the project, and I am happy with the scope that it covers! I have a lot of editing ahead of me, (and I have started on the second draft) and my main goal now is the refinement and careful editing of both the major themes, individual scenes, and consistency throughout the story. Reaching this stage in the process was not easy. I hit a major wall after the last process blog, both due to a busy schedule (who could have guessed) and due to my own thought process. Breakthrough did come, and the second half of the story was written in large, sweeping installments, with the largest being a two and a half hour blitz of 2700 words in one sitting. I have found it is very hard for me to dip in and out of a project in small installments. I do not know why this is yet, but at least it has been consistent and can be somewhat planned around.

Once again I found that I struggle immensely with doing small bits of a major project at a time. I think the pressure of the overall project inspires a very particular avoidance in the core of my being and I bottle up the writing that I should be doing until it all comes bursting forth in a wild multi-hour writing session. This is not my preferred way to write, I understand that it is far better to actually sit down every day and make little bits of progress. That being said, this seems to be the way I can actually operate right now within the framework of my life. There were a couple of sections that I wrote in small bursts, but the majority of it was written in the previously mentioned 2700 word blitz. Some of this was my best work, I feel, and some of it was my worst. 

 One of the primary challenges in the second half of drafting this story was writing fight scenes and doing so in a way that did not feel dry. I think that part of my problem was that I knew the deadlines I was working with, and partially due to some of the feedback I received I rushed to get the story out. This resulted in a number of scenes throughout the second half of my draft that felt underbaked and very flat to me. The scene with Maverick fighting the skyships was a major offender in this area. As part of me realizing this I worked my qualms with these scenes into my requests for specific feedback from others inside and outside of my class. 

As a fun note, as part of writing the end of the story I did formulate an entire Spotify playlist that I feel suits the war very well. It pulls from video games and Animated Netflix TV shows and several other properties, and carries a hard driving feel similar to the other songs I had in the last post. 

I was very excited to begin the editing phase. I had quite a few thoughts on what I would like to change and I knew of several areas that really needed quite a bit of help. My first step was to print out the whole draft and go over it with a green pen and a blue pen. I marked up the things I liked in green and marked things that I wanted to change or needed work in blue. Then, using this document as I guide I have been going line by line, starting in the problem areas, and re-crafting scenes to have a richer, better feel. This has been helping a lot, and a major helper to this process has been Caleb. He is often around on his computer during the same times I am working on the story, (the middle of the night) and I have sent many small snippets to him for reality checks and as a sounding board. As I continue this process I feel confident that my story will really grow into a better place than it is now and be more readable and engaging, especially in those tricky action scenes. Working with feedback has also been a major way I have stayed true to the original themes I have been trying to work with from the beginning of the piece. 

Most recently I have actually seen a place of research I missed that I would love to look into for the end of my story that will impact how I write the ending. By the end of the war Maverick definitely did not intend to survive, partially why he tried to fight the god Enletan and go out (literally) in a blaze of glory. Unfortunately for him he did survive, and now will have to suffer the consequences. Due to some feedback from my maker’s circle I was led to ask, What happens to a violent radical who fails? Who has to go home? Who enters the justice system? Will Maverick break down or remain true to his original purpose. Will he double down on his hatred or begin to see the light of his own actions? I want to do some research in the next weeks to look at some real life stories, and analyze Maverick’s character to better understand what he would do in this situation. Besides this most recent aspect I have been keeping the “staircase to radicalism” in my thoughts during the editing process as to hold my story true to its foundation. I think that in the limited space and time I had on this project I have shown it fairly well, but, I can see how I could do much more in a much longer story. I hope to take this concept work and develop it into a full size novel or novelette. 

As I have mentioned throughout this blogpost I have been hunting for feedback on my story like a hungry bear. I have shared the work with a number of people outside of class, and inside class as well. Since she showed so much interest I sent the story to McKenzie and I am waiting for feedback to come back. Both the in-class feedback and the maker’s circle meeting helped me align where I need to take my story next in the editing process. I also loved that the feedback in class mirrored Caleb’s feedback beforehand, giving me a very distinct direction to take. I have been using this feedback in my editing process. 

I also wrote the second half of my story based on the feedback I got before. I think some of it was very helpful, but I took some of my mentor’s feedback too literally. She specifically mentioned that I just need to write it all and get it out of my head, and I did. I think this lingered in my brain (I don’t blame the mentor, only myself) and was one of the reason some of the scenes felt so rushed. In combination with really only writing in marathon stretches, I think this was the reason why the second half felt so bland compared to the richness of the first. Learning to write well with a deadline, even a self-imposed one, is important. I am hoping to avoid doing that again in the editing process. 

My plan for editing is to focus on each scene and line first, going part by part and refining it till it reads the way I want it to. I will do another overall content read looking for thematic consistency and some of those finer details, and I’ll finish with a grammar and spelling check. It should not be overly difficult to bring things for this story to a finish. The biggest area of risk and complication is the ending. I have so many ways I can write or rewrite the ending of the story, I am conflicted of the best way to do it. Now that the combat scenes have been largely adjusted, this is the largest area of my focus. No matter how I end the story it should be in line with Maverick’s character for the rest of the story, and that will likely be the defining factor of whether it hits home or not.