Writing Log | Week 19
Day 1 — Sunday
Goal for the week: editing Chapters 16-18. Today I’m doing prep work so that I can have a plan heading into my edits for the weeks (so I don’t feel paralyzed when I sit down for a writing sprint).
Here’s what I’m facing:
Chapters 16 & 17 are both currently 3K+ words. I have a lot of changes to work in for my FMC’s motivations and the villains’ plot. My plan is to condense a few scenes in a way that shows more movement.
Chapter 18 is more concise, but feels like filler. I’m going to adjust to have the FMC’s trust in the MMC take an abrupt about-face to keep the tension and stakes high.
Day 2 — Monday
Had a supremely busy workday after a night of bad sleep… so I’m just doing what I can tonight. Chapter 16 is a doozy so I’m going easy right now. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll have more energy!
Read through the first 1K words and made some small tweaks. Tomorrow I’ll have to dedicate at least an hour to the latter half of the chapter since there’s some serious shuffling I need to do.
Skipped Tuesday and Wednesday during a busy workweek.
Day 5 — Thursday
I’m reviewing these chapters and having a thought, because this is the section of the story that feels the slowest: perhaps I don’t need this section to take so much time.
I can chop Chapter 16 so that it includes with just the section that I like. Then Chapter 17 switches to the MMC’s POV with the remaining scenes from Chapter 16… but from his perspective, which will actually give the audience some key commentary that wasn’t possible from the FMC’s perspective. Chapter 18 can actually remain much the same, but it’ll feel more contemplative (and less like filler) with the preceding chapters trimmed down.
Day 6 — Friday
Another hectic day and I’m just owning the fact that my goals went out the window this week… BUT, yesterday’s revelation was critical. Now I’m thinking about other sections that lag and wondering if I can take a similar strategy. I think I’ll need to do that for the MMC chapters in Act IV.
Didn’t write over the weekend…. or for the next month. Work and life got busy busy busy.