It's looking more and more like my story issues are deeper then I originally thought. The motivations of my characters is part of what's causing the problem. It's not as intense as it should be by this point in the story. The solution - up the ante, increase the tension, multiply the danger by a factor of two. You know what that means, right? A complete rework of the story going all the way back to the beginning. I'll still be able to use some of the center, but the beginning and end - complete rewrite. *sigh* Just wish it hadn't taken 80,000 words to figure this out.
It feels, at this point, I have wasted 4 months of work. In reality - if I'm willing to let myself admit it - is that I would not have realized the problem UNTIL I wrote 80,000 words. So it really means a strengthening of story from good to hopefully great. Is it worth it? Absolutely. Do I want to do it? Not a chance!
Not necessarily fun, but if it makes the book stronger in the end, it's worth the time and effort. Better you caught the weakness now than an agent or editor later, who'd simply pass on it.
ReplyDeleteHaha Richard, your post makes me feel much better about my books being so tiny (25.000 words) :)
ReplyDeleteTHANKS
Marja,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Write POV. I can only dream right now about writing short fiction. My current work is planned for around 100,000 words (around the typical fantasy novel length). With that said, I have a project in the wings that's planned as a series of 30-40,000 words for Middle Grade readers. I'm looking forward to writing a few shorter books - but one project at a time, right?