The Print-Out Phase

Yesterday, I reached the point in my Cinderella retelling where I print it out and go over it with a red pen. I am just a more effective editor on paper, and I print out all stories/novellas/novels at least twice during the editing process. You may think that this is a waste of paper, but there is NOTHING like seeing your work printed out. After all, the finished product will appear on paper (or e-ink, which is in many ways better than paper, for reading purposes). If you are not doing this, go ahead and try. I think you will be astonished at all the errors that sneak in. For this reason, I'd hate to ever see my blog printed.

The first time I print it is when I'm still trying to organize the story. This story is still a dreadful mess, and I just need to draw arrows all over it and generally have the freedom of a pen. I print it out a second time when I THINK I am done. Once again I use my red pen on it--hopefully making way fewer marks--and I read it aloud. Hearing the story also helps me hone the voice. Especially when trying to polish the rhythm of dialog.

I still have not finished the ending. My first stab will go in the garbage--I don't like it. I'm trying to refine a second ending, but I need to think of a devious plan for one of my antagonists, and I'm just having a hard time thinking of one. I'm hoping the exercise of reading it aloud will help spur a few ideas.

At this point, Before my sale, I would have set the whole story aside. But I've made an oral commitment to produce another fairy tale retelling, and I think they expect it within a year. And I'm finding that setting the entire story aside isn't really required. Instead, I can simply skip a scene and write the scene that I really want to write. And if I need something fresh, why what works better than a new plot twist? Both of these techniques spur on those scenes in the middle, which will hopefully result in a finished story.

Reasonably Productive Week

I got another 3000 words done this week, and I'm over three-quarters of the way through my Cinderella retelling. The layer I'm adding to the story now is the romance subplot. I'm no longer thinking that this story sucks quite so much. Things are coming together.

In order to give it a little soul, I decided to put a tragic event in Yvette's past--a shameful event that results in a secret that she must bury. And of course, that secret will come to light to the very person she most wants to keep it from. I'm also being coy about revealing the secret to the reader. The reader will find out exactly what it is only when the hero finds out from the worst possible source. And the reader won't hear the whole story until Yvette must tell it to him.

Abrupt subject change--I found it necessary to research the history of football for this story. Yes, the oddest things come out while storytelling--who would ever have guessed that football belongs in a fairy tale retelling? But Pierre--my love interest--was once at the same school as the prince, and they played on the same football team.

I researched football just enough to learn that I was indeed safe in calling it football. And then I stopped researching it. I call this little technique "just-enough researching". It's kind of like my "just-enough worldbuilding" technique. Don't get me wrong--I love to research. But I don't like bogging the story down in unnecessary detail. Who cares if the football back then was like modern-day soccer or modern-day rugby or modern day football? I certainly don't. All I really care about is that football is the appropriate term to use.

In other news, my short story, "Once Upon a Gas Tank" is now overdue from the last market I sent it to. I don't know if this is a positive thing or not. I used to think that if they had a story for a long time, then it means they are seriously considering it. But The Sevenfold Spell sold in three weeks, and another market had another story for over three months before rejecting it. So the only thing I really know for certain now is they haven't reject it yet.

Don'tya love this writing game?

Writing in Layers

After finishing an extremely rough draft for my Cinderella retelling, I realized that I write in layers.

The first layer is the biggest layer. It's the main plot. Each additional layer is a subplot. And I've discovered that I cannot really think too much about the subplots until I've nailed the plot.

And, I don't ever seem to come up with an ending the first time around. So this time, I did what I did in Starcaster on purpose, and in The Sevenfold Spell by accident. I left the ending unfinished. (With The Sevenfold Spell, I thought I had an ending, but I discovered I did not.)

But more on layers. As I was writing, I knew there would be an uneven romance between commoner Yvette and nobleman Pierre. But I didn't know exactly how it would work out. I also knew that Pierre's sister would be a problem for Yvette, and I knew how she would be in the overarching plot (she's after revenge), but I didn't know how I was going to make it personal for Yvette. I'm a bit closer now--and it will involve Pierre.

I also have this whole jealousy subplot with the stepsisters, and I realized that overcoming jealousy would be the whole theme behind the novella.

So there's four layers - the main plot, the romantic subplot, the revenge subplot, the stepsister subplot. Each plot/subplot equals one major character, so we have Yvette, Pierre, Esmerele and Agnes.

Since the main plot--the extremely sketchy main plot--worked out to 13,000 words, I think that will fill up a 20,000 word novella quite nicely.

In other news, my proposed series title for my fairy tale retellings is now official! The series will be called Accidental Enchantments. I'm thrilled!