March 2024 Writing update

I did it! I’m done! I’m finished! With the first draft, that is.

Anyway, it was a long road. Dare I say the longest road? But, after starting this thing way back in the early fall of 2023, we finished the vomit draft. And, all said and done, it’s nice to know that things aren’t so different between the worlds of screenplays and novels. At least in terms of the feelings you feel as you type away into various parts of your story, I mean. Just like in screenplays, there’s that sinking, near-drowning feeling that washes over you around the 60% to 85% portion of your story. The late Second Act leading up to the finale. But, once you power through that like you know you should, and stop letting the nagging feeling of “this-is-terrible-oh-God-I-need-to-delete-it-all” creep in, it’s fun again.

It’s fun to apply the finishing touches and wrap things up in a neat little bow. It’s fun for my killer to get their comeuppance and my detective to have a grand old time putting the puzzle pieces together in front of everyone. It’s fun exploring the very end, wondering and figuring and deciding on what the perfect final line might be. You know what’s decidedly not fun, though? Fighting the urge to just move on to something knew. The something I had been thinking about since I got to roughly 90% through the vomit draft. I need to restart! I need to edit! I need to trim and cut and revise and improve! A new project only means neglect to this one!

Anyway, I am granting myself a week or two’s leave on the whodunit. Time to clear my head and revisit with a fresh perspective, ready to trim what needs trimming and refine what needs refining. Until then, though, I suppose I can permit myself to indulge in a bit of that new idea...