I’m just over 210 pages into this paranormal YA novel draft (that’s around 71,000 words). So, I’m feeling “on track,” so to speak to completing the first draft. I’m going to shoot for no more than 85,000 words for round one, which means that I need to start wrapping up the end of the first book. I definitely need to add a lot more to this one to help build this world I’m creating. I’m used to writing long novels, but I just need to make sure that none of it drags–I tend to have slow openings.
After finis
hing a novel and publishing it, I always fall into a strange creative space where I feel a little lost and helpless. It’s an “I know I should start the next project, but what is that next project” hole. It’s definitely writer’s block and I feel like I’m not going to break through it! I thought I finally found a new project to work on, but I’m not really sure. I wrote 40 pages a few weeks ago and scrapped them to start over. Now I’m 17 pages in and I just don’t know. I miss the times when the stories just flew out of me (like with the KM series). I’m no where close to writing a new KM book (sorry to disappoint!); I’m not even excited about editing the current series to prepare the rest of the books for print on demand (not that there’s much of a demand presently). Ugh! I’m just not excited right now… I may need a “writer” vacation and go away somewhere for the weekend all by myself.
I may actually need to do that period. There are a lot of areas of my life that I need to regroup on–maybe if I get those other areas right the words will come.
I finished editing the first draft of AROUND THE WORLD TONIGHT (ATWT) this week. It’s loooong (over 400 pages; 165,000+ words). I’m not sure that I’ll ever be able to write a standard novel of 90-95,000 words. I think I may be long winded. I still have my NOOK edit. Hopefully I can trim out a lot of useless words at that time. I’m not sure if writing long novels is a bad thing or a good thing. When it comes to printing, which I have been considering, it may be a bad thing (manufacturing costs vs. profits, etc.). I need to do more research. At any rate, this is one of the “cleanest” first drafts that I’ve ever written. I’m not sure what the difference is in comparison to the KILLING MEMORIES books. Maybe a few things: 1) I’m older now, 2) I went to school to study fiction and maybe now know more about crafting, 3) I used an outline [although I did use an outline for everything after KM1], and 4) I think I edited the first half before writing the second half.
It felt really good to realize that this one may not be “too bad.” That maybe, in my writing career, I’ve hit a period where I can do 1-2 drafts and then call it a day. Instead of the 9 re-writes that I’ve done on my very first novel, which turned from an adult supernatural tale to a young adult supernatural tale. #feelinggood
So, here’s the preliminary cover for ATWT created using a ShutterStock image that I haven’t purchased yet and MS PowerPoint (eek!). Besides the rudimentary software, it doesn’t look too bad. Right? Next up I need to write the summary blurb, which is always pretty difficult. Now that the novel is with a few early readers, maybe I’ll focus on that next while the book is still fresh in my mind. It’s surprising how quickly I forget details of my novels once they’re done. I’ll probably need to re-read the entire KM series if I decide to write a sixth book. I need to re-read anyway because if I do go to print on demand (POD) I need to make sure that there are no lingering errors.
I’m thinking that my next project will be something in the young adult genre. Maybe I’ll return to my angel/demon trilogy (ie, my first novel ever). Maybe I’ll write something different. Or… maybe I’ll finish THE JADE BRACELET. Remember that one? Whatever I choose, I need to start writing again!
Cheers!
Tatiana Moore 