I don't know if what I did was right...or sneaky...or weary...or lazy...but I finished the last page of the book at a point where it really felt like it wanted to end. By adding three lines to one character's dialogue, I was able to drop the last chapter I was planning to write. Completely. I fought over it with myself and the characters for half an hour, trying to make myself gear up for it...but finally I agreed it was the right thing to do.
I did add in Devlin's idea of what happened, in contrast to the official line, so there was no confusion. I made it a bit snarky to keep it from being too simplistic and drab...and may go deeper into it on the rewrite...but I do think most of it comes across as the story progresses, so is easily wrapped up.
Something else I did was leave the relationships a bit open-ended. Let the reader decide for themself what happens next. I indicate what I think does, but it felt right not to say anything specific. But I do like how Devlin and Reg and Tawfi wind up...and since they're not bitchin' at me for doing it, they must like it, too.
Right now, the book is 418 double-space 8 1/2 by 11 pages in 12 point Courier, and 95,500 words. I have no idea what that translates into when shifted to an 8x5.5 format with 10 point Palatino and 1.25 spacing...nor do I want to know, yet. There will be many rewrites to take out repetitions and remove details that are no longer valid and arrange details that need to be in there and shift some bits forward and trim and add and on and on...so that issue would be moot, at the moment. But that all said -- I met my goal to have a first draft done by the end of the month.
I feel very good.
I did add in Devlin's idea of what happened, in contrast to the official line, so there was no confusion. I made it a bit snarky to keep it from being too simplistic and drab...and may go deeper into it on the rewrite...but I do think most of it comes across as the story progresses, so is easily wrapped up.
Something else I did was leave the relationships a bit open-ended. Let the reader decide for themself what happens next. I indicate what I think does, but it felt right not to say anything specific. But I do like how Devlin and Reg and Tawfi wind up...and since they're not bitchin' at me for doing it, they must like it, too.
Right now, the book is 418 double-space 8 1/2 by 11 pages in 12 point Courier, and 95,500 words. I have no idea what that translates into when shifted to an 8x5.5 format with 10 point Palatino and 1.25 spacing...nor do I want to know, yet. There will be many rewrites to take out repetitions and remove details that are no longer valid and arrange details that need to be in there and shift some bits forward and trim and add and on and on...so that issue would be moot, at the moment. But that all said -- I met my goal to have a first draft done by the end of the month.
I feel very good.
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