Writing Update: 22/11/24

Start of week: 8,215

End of week: 10,245

Change: +1,118

Year to Date: 199,352

This week was mostly about editing chapter five for posting to the the Patreon. Coming in at a final word count of 33,279 words, it took a little longer than expected. During editing, I added nearly a thousand words, most of it in 5-1 where I expanded an introspective moment adding a little ambiguity to the protagonist's previous identity. Is it possible that at least a little of Cindy is drawn from David's past?

But I also trimmed nearly 2,000 words from the chapter, most of it from 5-4 (Circe) where the was a fair bit of repetition. I felt some fondness for the cut material, but don't feel must is lost by it's removal and feel pacing is improved by the edit.

Consequently, this week's word count doesn't really capture the work put in this week. Chapter 6 has grown by around 2k words, but that's hidden by the cuts to chapter 5. It also delayed hitting that 200k milestone - until next week, I guess!

To be honestly, I could've easily given chapter 5 another pass or two and kept cutting, but at some point I've got to let it go and move on to new stuff. I'm pleased, I think, with how the chapter's turned out. (And I hope you're all pleased with it, too!)

It was a difficult one to write. I say this after every chapter, but this one really challenged me. My initial inability to come to grips with it required a month-long break over the summer. But now that it's done, and having just reread it from start to finish, I feel it hangs together well, covers some important ground, gives a major character her due and feels like a satisfying conclusion to the "Funeral" story arc.

I say "Story Arc" but chapters 1-5 form an entire novel on their own. At roughly 170k words, and taking from February through to now to write, it's certainly long enough! It starts with Julia's arrival and ends with her departure--which is how I planned it!--giving it a nicely self-contained feeling, but I never thought it would grow to this length.

Consequently, I've been comtemplating what would be the best format for publishing the whole story when that day eventually comes, and the Funeral feels like a strong argument for publishing as a series of novels.

If so, chapters 1-10 seems a natural fit for the first novel - that's the initial run from way back when I first started the whole thing, telling the story from David's day in court, through to his "death" at the hands of Agent Fosters. It needs some serious editing and, now that I'm so much nearer to the end, I can see where I need to flesh out some background details and insert a few additional scenes. Despite that, I think it stands as a novel in itself and I think has a fairly satisfying arc.

After that, I'm less sure. Constant 2 feels a little less self-contained. It starts at the Clinic and ends at the Clinic, so that's a nice closed circle; but it's really a story of two halves. The first half is David living as Cindy, trying to adapt; the second half is life with Julia and then the Clinic, and I still feel the whole arc at the Clinic goes on for too long. But what to trim? Telling Crystal the story of the date with Dan is only one-part genre fan service; it's also an important moment in the character's development. The long scene with Scooter covering the "sci-fi voodoo bullshit" responsible for David's transformation? Plot wise, it feels important, too. Ditto Fosters in the basement, and meeting Chad. (Especially as we'll be seeing a bit more of Chad in the near future.)

In fact, it's rather the opposite - rather than trim, I feel the second "book" needs expanding - I still need to write out the crucial scene between Katherine and Sakura, for instance.

So, for now, the final shape of the whole story remains somewhat elusive. Maybe I'll just end up doing it as a single, massive novel, all half-a-million words of it.

In the meantime, however, I'm going to try and give Constant 3, Chapters 1 through 5 a full edit, and publish "The Funeral of David Saunders" as an epub for patreon subscribers, as a sort of Christmas thank you. The holidays are only (shockingly!) a month away, but I'll give it my best shot.

Next week: 

Monday: sneak peek from chapter 6, for all members.

Wednesday: Chapter 6-1, for Constant members and above.

Thursday: a short ramble, on an old influence I've recently rediscovered

Friday: the next update, and a little discussion about what's coming up in December.

Have a great weekend!