Tag: novel

Why My Novel Remains a Draft, and Other Insights

~ JodiLea

Dear readers of “Through the Door”,

I’m not trying to tease you. Believe me when I say that I am wanting to get back to Mollie* and Travis even worse than you do. Life (good and bad) keeps getting in my way, but I am organizing my Draft-5 editing plan (i.e. to-do-list), so when I do have time to dedicate to the novel, I will be ready to go.

* Oh, yea – I changed Chloe’s name to Mollie, due to privacy issues. Same girl, different name.

I’m thinking seriously about changing the title as well.  Titles are one of the more difficult challenges I have with my writing. I over-think it. I try too hard to think of the perfect title and it does not enter my head. “Through the Door” was originally a great title, but it has lost something over time.

When “Accidental Tourist” popped into my head, I knew it had been a movie in the past, so I dropped it.  Only 2 days later, because it was so perfect, for Mollie’s story, I did some research to find out just how many things were titled the same.

I was encouraged to find that 16 out of the 19 titles for film and TV I found were episodes titled “Accidental Tourist”, but they were part of various TV series.  There were 3 films. 2 short films, in 2010 & 2015, and one feature film, 1988, with Kathleen Turner and William Hurt.

So, not being over used in the film industry, I hoped against hope that there were just as few Books in circulation.

Anne Tyler wrote a Novel titled “The Accidental Tourist” published in 2007. It has been published in several Anne Tyler Collections of stories, as well as being an Intro title (i.e., The Accidental Tourist: more title words go on…) I read a review, by The Washington Post. It was long and wordy, but this phrase struck me “A fresh and timeless tale of unexpected bliss”  What a relief! Totally does not describe Mollie’s travel at all.

“Accidental Tourist” is now the (nearly final) Title. It’s not that I can’t commit, it just leaves room for an Editor to make title suggestions, right?

Well, what a relief about the title issue. Now I can concentrate on being an Editor on this story. The most difficult part of writing (aside from perfect titles) that one can encounter.  A prayer, if you are so inclined, would be appreciated!

♥  TTFN  ♥

 

 

Is It Finished Yet?

~ JodiLea ~ 1 Comment

My current novel is in a computer file on my laptop – I have notebooks and files stuffed with notes and research. Oh yes, and the draft resides on a couple of DVD’s and flash drives as well.  It waits impatiently to be finished. In January of this year, I set a goal to have it finished by Dec. 31st 2018. I will need an extension on that goal, but I want to at least get back into it this fall. The National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), is in November and will be a good time to get myself back to writing every day. And my volunteer work will slow down a bunch when October is over.

I can’t wait!        

And apparently, neither can my family…

I do not blame them at all for wondering if they will ever read the rest of the story. It has been a few years since I emailed them a chapter. In fact, more than a few cousins told me they were “hanging in limbo”, waiting for the end.

I apologized (to many people) and assured them they will get a copy as soon as I finish the (probably the 7th one by now), draft. I admit that their interest flatters me greatly – which made the guilt even worse than it already was. I know what they are going through. I am still mad at Stephen King for not finishing his story, “The Plant”. Just when it was getting really spooky and exciting.

I don’t want to abandon my story like he did. I really love my characters and the story. I do not want to disappoint my “fans” either. I prefer the term “fans”, and not, “all those relatives breathing down my neck*”.

It just sounds nicer.

 

 

* BTW, they don’t really make me feel like that, but I do enjoy pulling their legs from time to time.

♥  TTFN  ♥

 

 

Plan B

~ JodiLea

Draft #4 (D-4) has begun. It will be the Final Draft. At last.

D-3 was a lot of gutting and changing plot, outline & characters, so D-4 is a complete mess. Things need to be organized so they can be written and then all tied up at the end. Like a book, say.

Five years are enough! I made 2 major errors that have come back to haunt my efforts.  The first is that my outline was too sketchy.  The second error springs from the first one: I can’t make up my mind. About the end, the start & critical scenes.  So what do I do? I go into Deny and Avoid mode and nothing gets accomplished. I sit at my computer and catch up on email, work on Mary Kay or the Quilter’s Guild correspondence & website maintenance.

Anything and everything. Except for The Novel. Once I realized I was doing this and becoming depressed about being afraid of my writing, I had to do something about it. Deny and Avoid mode must be turned around into Focused and Excited mode.

In order to get to the damned point, yes, there is one, I have a Plan B. Why should you care?  Because Plan B involves YOU! The wonderful and fun people who read this blog, can now get a peek into the fictional story that has consumed me for over 5 years.

All I ask is that you read it.

Some or all – is up to you. I do not expect comments (good or bad) about the story – no book reports or pop-quizzes either.  I need to know that someone out there is reading my story, so I stay motivated to keep going and finish what I started.

I’m not making any promises of total chronological order, or a certain daily word count. I do intend to devote as much time as I possibly can.  So, when I write only a couple of words  – such as:  “Research and more Research!”,  you can bet that I was actually doing just that.

I remain “Not Pretending” here at my place  🙂
– Jodi Lea

♥  TTFN  ♥

P.S.

May those who read, enjoy…