Category: Bringing Stella Home

Chomping at the bit

It’s 1:30 am where I am, and I just finished reading through the second draft of Bringing Stella Home and all of my first readers’ comments.  I don’t know how to describe what I’m feeling right now, but I am so ready to make this story shine!

First of all, the story itself is incredibly powerful, at least to me.  True, the current draft is full of problems (some of them so embarrassing I cringe just to think that I allowed other people to read it) but at its core, there is definitely something poignant and moving.  One of my first readers is on active duty right now in Afghanistan, and it actually inspired him to write a poem.

Of course, a reader can be “moved” in bad ways as well as good, and some of the feedback on the current draft’s problems brought out a side of my friends that I didn’t know even existed (yes, Kindal, I’m talking about you).  Seriously, reading those comments was like getting gutted and filleted with a rusty fishing knife.  If I’d had problems with my self esteem, I probably would have cried.

Oh well.  At least it wasn’t boring. 🙂

But harsh or not, the comments were all useful–surprisingly useful, actually.  In a story this big, it’s easy to miss things (even big things like character motivations), but after reading through all my reader comments, I feel confident that I’ve got a solid outline for the revision.

Some of the suggestions were pretty dang good, too.  Usually, I only adopt about half (or less) of the proscriptive comments my readers give me, but this time, I’ll probably end up taking quite a few more.  I don’t know if it’s because I was an idiot when I wrote the first draft or because my readers were getting into the story a lot more than usual, but the advice this time opened me up to all kinds of new ideas.

I probably can’t say much more without spoiling my own story, and I definitely don’t want to do that.  Let me just finish by saying that I believe this story may be the one that breaks me into publishing.  I hope this doesn’t sound conceited or arrogant, because I don’t mean it that way at all.  I just think that this story has some serious potential, and that if I treat it right, it will end up in print someday.

Inshallah, someday soon!

In the meantime, I’m going to put everything into revising this next draft–that is, everything short of secluding myself in a white room and starving myself (or graduating and not looking for a job, which is a more realistic possibility).  This story is calling to me–it needs to be told.  It needs to be fixed.  It needs to be polished and shared with other readers.

It needs a lot of work.  But now it’s 2:00 pm, and I’d better get to bed.  Another exciting day of photocopying newspaper clippings and compiling spreadsheets of data on press freedom in Turkey awaits me.  Excuse me if I sound too excited.

Go to Tor.com and read this.

Brandon Sanderson’s story of how he decided to become a writer is very interest.  It goes back to elementary school, when he hated books and reading in general.  A wise teacher put a copy of Barbara Hambly’s Dragonsbane in his hand, and it started a chain reaction that led to him becoming a bestselling writer.

As one of Brandon’s students, I’ve heard the story several times.  However, I had no idea how significant a role that Michael Whelan, the illustrator of that book, played in it all.  Tor commissioned Michael Whelan to do the cover for Brandon’s next book, The Way of Kings. In response, Brandon wrote a blog post at Tor.com explaining how significant it is to him that Mr. Whelan was chosen to do the cover art for The Way of Kings.

It’s an awesome and moving blog post.  You should check it out.

In unrelated news, I am 110 pages into outlining Bringing Stella Home 3.0 and enjoying the process immensely.  I’ve got some awesome first readers.  Even with all the honest criticism, I’d much rather be writing than doing office work at my internship.  Ah, well, April 15th will be here before we know it.

As for graduating and finding myself in the real world…not quite as thrilled about that.  More like scared s***less.

Major project shift

I’ve got this goal to finish my current work-in-progress, To Search the Starry Sea, by May 1st 2010.  However, the deeper I get into the story, the more I realize how many problems it has–how much it sucks, in other words.

Normally, this wouldn’t keep me from dropping the project or putting it on hold.  It happens with every rough draft (or second or third draft, for that matter); midway through every project, I start to get all angsty and worry that the project sucks, that it’s beyond saving, that I’m wasting my time, etc.

However, this time it’s different for a number of reasons.

First of all, the story itself doesn’t suck. However, it does have a weak beginning and a poor setup, which makes it very difficult to develop the middle section.  With better conflict foreshadowing and character introductions, I could tear right through this section, but without that, I’m floundering more and more.

A couple months ago, I started to realize this, so I started a set of revision notes for the next draft.  My thought was “if I know the story needs changes, rather than going back and changing them, I can just make a note of them and move on.”

However, that approach isn’t working because the unwritten changes aren’t impacting the story as fully and completely as they would if I’d write them out.  If the changes were minor, I could let them go–but when they have to do with something fundamental, like setting up a romantic subplot, or turning a minor character into a major character into a major viewpoint character, I can’ t just make a note of the change and move on–I need to write the thing to see what it changes.

In other words, I need to restart this project from the beginning.  But if I do that while I’m still angsty about it, it’s going to end up like crap.  I’ve got to let it sit for a while.

It’s frustrating, because I really want to finish a straight draft from start to finish.  For both Genesis Earth and Bringing Stella Home, I only finished the rough draft after dropping the project for a while and restarting it at the beginning.  If it works, I guess it works, but it would be nice if the creative process were more linear.  Blegh.

All is not lost, however.  Most of my first readers for Bringing Stella Home have gotten back with their feedback, and it’s been extremely helpful.  I’ve got a clear direction and lots of ideas for where I want to take that story, and now that I’ve spent some time away from it, I can honestly say that it doesn’t suck all that bad.  In fact, after a lot of work, it might actually be decently good.

There are several reasons why it makes sense to work on Bringing Stella Home right now.  For example,

  1. I’m excited about it.  Better to capitalize on that now than wait until after the enthusiasm has died.
  2. I’ve got lots of ideas flowing to me now.  I could try to write them all down for later, but why not try them out now, while they’re still fresh?
  3. I’m sending Genesis Earth out to a bunch of places, and the rejections are starting to come in.  If I can respond to a rejection by sending out a second book in a timely way, I will look much more like a professional, and the agents/editors will take me more seriously.

My goal was to have To Search the Starry Sea done by May 1st.  Let’s see if I can do Bringing Stella Home 3.0 (and yes, the title will change) by that day instead.  And if that proves too difficult, what with graduation, internship, looking for work, and figuring out life, at least I can reach the halfway mark by then.

So that’s my new goal: Finish Bringing Stella Home 3.0 by May 1st, 2010 (or at least be halfway finished). To do that, I’ll have to read through all the comments by the end of this week and have the revision notes all figured out.

Better get started!

Gah! It sucks

I’m about a third of the way through To Search the Starry Sea, and my greatest fear at this point is that it isn’t as good as the last novel I wrote.  Because if it isn’t as good, that means that I’m getting worse, not better, and if I’m getting worse, that means I’m never going to make it as an author, because I’m not even published yet, and if I’m not going to make it as an author, that means I’m going to have to do what I’m doing NOW for the rest of my life, which means that I’m going to be miserable and life is going to suck…

<pant> <pant> <pant>

Seriously, though, sometimes I wonder if I’ve really made the right choice.  To Search the Starry Sea is much more of a happy adventure story, but sometimes I feel that it lacks depth and meaning.  I’m starting to get feedback from my alpha readers for Bringing Stella Home, and their reactions to it are surprisingly encouraging.  That story moved people–but this one?  I don’t know.

Then again, Bringing Stella Home is dark, gritty, and very tragic.  I remember feeling depressed by the story even as I wrote it.  Is that the kind of story I want to be known for?  If I can write something deep and meaningful and have it be optimistic and adventuresome, that would be a lot better.

I’m discovery writing it hardcore, which means that side characters often come to play a much more central role than I’d thought, and events that I thought I could cover in a chapter, I have to cover in two.  I have an idea where the story is going to end up, though, and it’s going to be awesome. How awesome?  Let me show you:

Yeah, it’s going to be awesome.

I think the key to keeping it meaningful is 1) to keep in mind the main character’s inner conflicts, framing them in a way that the readers can relate to their struggles, and 2) keeping the overall growth arc constantly in mind.  How does what’s happening affect how the character is changing?  That kind of stuff.

I hope I can finish this in two months.  I’m mired in the middle of it right now, and the end is far from sight.

In the meantime, I think I’ll get some sleep.

Bringing Stella Home 2.0 is finished!

Just in time for the new year, too!  I finished it at approximately 11:25 pm on New Year’s eve 2010.  Here’s the breakdown:

ms pages: 491
words: 136,095
file size: 1,869 KB
chapters: 30
start date: 14 July 2009
end date: 31 December 2009

And the wordle image:

Wordle: Bringing Stella Home 2.0

I’m glad to have it finished. It’s got tons of issues with it–way too many for me to show it to an agent/editor–but I think this draft is significantly better than the first one. In particular, I’ve worked on improving the chapter structure: making sure that each chapter has consistent rising action, a central focus, a climax that develops the main story in some way, and compelling transitions that propel the reader into the next chapter. I don’t do any of that very well in first drafts.

So now that the second draft is finished, time to lay it aside for a while and work on something else. After a few months, I’ll be in a better position to pick it up and fix the major issues.

In the meantime, on to something new–in more ways than one!

Happy new year!

Christmas break 2009

Christmas was great this year!  I spent it in Texas, with my extended family–the family on my dad’s side, who I almost never see.  The break has been a lot of fun so far!  No school or work obligations, lots of time to lay back and relax, plenty of games to play and books to read, plus fun people to hang out with–it’s been great!

Most of my cousins are young teenagers right now, and are a lot different than I remember.  However, I was able to get some presents for them that I think worked out well.  David is into his iPod, so I got him some U2 albums (How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and Joshua Tree).  Savannah and Nash are both avid fantasy readers, so I got Savannah Mistborn: The Final Empire and Nash Victory of Eagles (the one chain bookstore in Midland didn’t have His Majesty’s Dragon, so I got him another from the series).  Daniel, I didn’t know what to get, so I gave him my old camera.

Ashley (who is older) was telling me about how she lived abroad and wants to spend some time in Australia, so I got a travelogue on Australia by the same guy who did A Walk in the Woods. Based on her reaction, I think she’s going to like it!

It was much easier to get stuff for direct family, since I know them better.  For Kate, I got Soulless, a steampunk / paranormal mystery novel that had an awesome release party at World Fantasy 2009.  I don’t know if she’ll like the book, but the party was very steampunk / regency fantasy with the cosplayers, so I think she will.  I got Danny The Screwtape Letters, since I know he likes that kind of religious fiction–turns out he’s been meaning to read it for a while!  Mykle, I got the first book in C. S. Friedman’s latest series, since I know that she’s his favorite author–24 hours after Christmas, he’s already 200+ pages into it!  And for Sarah and Mykle, I got them both $20 gift certificates to Pioneer Book in downtown Provo.  They were very happy with that!

I wish I’d had the time to get presents for everyone in the family, but with moving out, coming here so quickly, and not having a car (or much of an idea what they wanted), it just wasn’t very practical.  I did get my mom a gift certificate to B&N, but I haven’t gotten anything for my dad yet.  I will, though–he wants stuff from our Christmas memories, and I happen to have all my old childhood journals in my carry on luggage.  Lots of Christmas memories in those!

I’m satisfied with what I got, even though it wasn’t all that much.  Besides the generic clothes, socks, ties, candy, popcorn, and other stuff, I got a spiffy tool kit from Robin and a flexible tripod from pop.  Very nice!  They will add some weight to my luggage, but I think I can give some of it to mom or pop to bring home.

As far as writing goes, I’m less than 13k words from the end of Bringing Stella Home 2.0.  It’s not quite ready for alpha readers yet, but I want to get it ready soon (it’s going to take so much work! <sob>).  If I average 2.6k words over the next five days, I’ll have it finished in time to start something new by new years!

That’s the goal.  As for what the next novel is going to be about…let’s just say it’s Homer’s Odyssey meets C. J. Cherryh and Ursula K. Le Guin in space, where Telemachus is a girl and the story is primarily from her point of view.

I hope I can pull it off!

Never a good time to write

I’m on vacation now, staying with my uncle in Midland.  The rest of the family will be out here in a couple of days.  In the meantime, I’m visiting with relatives, going Christmas shopping, and trying to finally finish Bringing Stella Home 2.0.

It’s not going to be easy, though, with all the family stuff going on.  I managed 1,221 words yesterday, but most of that was after midnight.  I get the feeling this is going to be pretty common for the rest of the time here.

There’s never a good time to write–but I think that’s the norm.  If I’m not busy with exams or schoolwork, it’s family obligations or traveling.  There is never a steady routine that gives me time to write.

I suppose part of being a writer is learning to write anyway.

So anyways, my goal is to finish Bringing Stella Home 2.0 before the new year.  I’m about 26k words from the end, so with only 10 days or so to go, that’s going to be almost 3k words per day.  A little steep, but definitely doable.  Also, since this isn’t the polished draft that I’m going to be sending out to publishers, it doesn’t have to be perfect–just good enough for me to make perfect on the next pass.

And now my Dad’s calling me, asking if I’m up and ready to go.  I’ll have to cut this short here, but in the meantime, check this out: explanetary systems forming in the Orion nebula.  Holy crap, this is awesome!  Maybe I should go back to school and become an astronomer.

Must…build…momentum

Man, nothing throws a kink in your writing life like a major paper.  This semester, I’ve got the mother of all undergraduate papers to write–the CAPSTONE.

Interestingly enough, I’ve been having a lot of fun with mine.  A lot. I’ll spare you the gory details, but basically my capstone is a statistical study of the effects of Israeli politics on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, specifically whether Israeli political fragmentation leads to increases in the level of conflict.  One of these days, I’ll get around to showing you the tables, because they are fairly compelling.

Well, on Monday, the rough draft was due–the complete rough draft.  Minimum: 20 pages.  Professor Christensen doesn’t care how you get your paper in, though, so long as it’s on his desk when he shows up for work Tuesday morning.  So basically, I locked myself in the SWKT and wrote the last half of the thing in the TA office.  The building closed, but around midnight I finished the thing and slipped it into the dropbox!  Huzzah!

And now that my capstone is complete (at least, the first draft), you have NO IDEA how liberated I feel!  It’s awesome! Like, I actually have free time right now!  It’s been so long, I’ve totally forgotten what that feels like.  Freedom!

And now that I look back on the last three weeks of my writing, all I can say is ouch.

I’ve hardly worked on either of my novels at all these past two weeks.  The 7-day word counts have been steadily dwindling, and last week it actually hit zero.  Yikes!  I don’t think that’s happened since…since finals last semester or something.

Well, I’m going to fix that!  Yesterday, I churned through about 2.5k words in the revision of Genesis Earth, and I plan to keep it up all this week until school starts beating me up again.  That probably won’t be until after Thanksgiving, which gives me just enough time to finish this revision.

Hopefully, this week I’ll be able to do at least 1.5k daily.  It’s going to take hard work to build momentum again, but once I’m up and running, finishing this beast shouldn’t be hard.  Then I can devote more time to finishing the current incarnation of Bringing Stella Home, which should have been finished long ago.

And then, finally…something new!

I need a new deadline

Two, actually.  I’ve got two unfinished projects, both of them on the sidebar: Genesis Earth 4.0 and Bringing Stella Home 2.0, both of which have stalled in recent weeks.

Here’s what I’m thinking: I’m currently swamped with school, and have been for the last several weeks, but after tomorrow, most of the urgent important stuff will be finished, and I’ll have some breathing space until after Thanksgiving break.

That should be enough time to finish Genesis Earth, at least before the end of the break.  It will require some commitment, but that’s what personal deadlines are for, right?  Making a commitment.

As for Bringing Stella Home, it’s been so long since I’ve worked on that beast, I’m not sure what state it’s in.  I do know that I’ll have to do a complete rewrite from the beginning before it’s anywhere near submittable.  However, I’m not going to scrap the current rewrite, because even though it isn’t fixing all the major story issues, it is helping me to put the chapters and scenes in the right order.  Without that, I won’t have a good foundation for the next rewrite–that’s what happened to me on the various revisions of Ashes of the Starry Sea.

So the personal deadline I’m setting for Bringing Stella Home is the end of the year.  I want both projects to be completely finished by then, so I can start 2010 with something completely new.  It’s been way too long since I worked on a new story.