FYI: Since we're without a blog post today, I thought I'd entertain you all (aren't you thrilled???). Actually, this is a repost from my personal blog - a topic I covered back in October. (If you happened to have already read it, just skip to the bottom and answer the darn question...you, who know who you are.)
Elisabeth's Manuscript Stages
Stage One - The Set Up
Chapter One -This sucks. First chapters are the worst. Hook? Hook? Gah! I hate hooks. I'm clearly hook-illiterate.
Chapter Two - Okay, maybe this isn't quite so bad. New POV, the setting works, I'm getting into the story. And wow, I sorta like my characters.
Chapter Three - What was I thinking??? This is the most contrived piece of crap ever. And melodramatic? Argh. Sounds like a bad version of Days Of Our Lives. I'll probably get sued.
Chapter Four - Push through, push through, just keep pushing.
Chapter Five - Getting into the groove. I actually like this. Okay, not so bad. This story might just work.
Chapter Six - I am the best writer on the planet! This is going to be a NY Times Best Seller! Maybe I should take a break and think about writing my RITA speech.
Stage Two - The Middle
Chapter Seven - (Right around the 125 pg mark). OMG. What was I thinking?! This is the biggest piece of drivel that was ever written! My CPs are going to laugh at me! No one's ever going to want to buy this! I'll have to PAY people to read it. Might as well take a break and go back to rework that sucky hook. I hate hooks. I suck at hooks. Argh. This book is so not going to sell.
Chapter Eight - I'm too far in to give up. I will not give up. I will NOT! Keep going. Just keep going.
Chapters Nine through Eleven - Okay, if nothing else, I like my characters. I don't have a clue where the plot is going, but the characters are strong. That's something at least.
Chapter Twelve - The hero's getting on my nerves. The man obviously needs sex. Going to have to think about where that big ol' scene fits in so he quits pestering me.
Chapter Thirteen - Oh, crap. I've passed the halfway mark and I STILL have all these plot points to get through. I'm going over my target word count, there's no way I'll get all this in here in 100K words. No way. I'm doomed.
Chapter Fourteen - Need chocolate. Must. Have. Chocolate. These two are driving me nuts. No editor's going to care if they get together or not. And the plot? How will I ever tie this all together?
Chapter Fifteen - Building to the climax. And still so much to get through. *big sigh* Okay, refocus. Time to get serious. I can do this. Really, I can. I might lose all my eyebrows in the process, but I can do this.
Part Three - The Beginning of the End
Chapter Sixteen - Tension, angst, black moment foreshadowing (and that's mostly for me, not the book).
Chapter Seventeen - Here it comes. Climax build up. Black Moment. Yes, hero, I know you hate me. Hang on with me. I won't leave you out to dry, I promise.
Chapter Eighteen - BAM. Black Moment. UGH. I'm emotionally drained. I need coffee. Or chocolate. Or coconut cream pie. Mmm...wonder if Shari's is still open...
Chapter Nineteen - Climax. My shoulders are tight. I feel like crawling out of my skin. Maybe I should write in a murder somewhere just for the fun of it to ease all this stress?
Chapter Twenty - Resolution. Wrap up all the loose ends. Surprisingly, I did it! Kissy-face moment. Slobber, slobber, pant, drool all over each other. Man, I write pure sap. But it's not half-bad sap. ;)
Type T-H-E E-N-D. I should get a medal or something. Too bad no one in the house will care that I finally finished.
*sigh*
On to the next book...
Currently I'm smack-dab in the middle of stage one with the wip - wafting between loving it and hating it (leaning towards hating it most days). So share with us...what are your manuscript stages?
30 comments:
Stages? You mean there are stages???
Gulp!
I get an idea or a character. Do research. Work the premise or plot around in my head and on paper. Figure out where I want to start then write and keep writing until I hit the end.
I have a CP read this and let me know if anyone has strayed from their prospective jobs, then I start polishing.
Once in a while I hit a road block during the first draft, but I can usually get past it by taking a break and letting the problem simmer in my subconscious.
Those are my stages.~shrug~
Oops! Forgot to say, Thanks for posting Eli! I've been popping in all day waiting for something to be posted!
Yeah, I know, I'm obsessed! Or is that possessed! LOL
Great Blog--thanks for filling in.
You are so funny! Okay, this is what I would like to tell you:
Stage one. The hook writes itself. Easy. Clever. My, I am brilliant.
Do I ever make a mistep! Ha, of course not.
Chapter Two--More of the same. Clever dialogue, characters that jump off the page, breezily I write along, whee!!!
and so on.
and so on.
Middle--Time to sit back and delve deeper into my people. They can have sex now. Plenty of time. They can take up a hobby, open a Xmas club account, every word I write is so damn golden, my readers will follow these people anywhere. Tsk, it's almost embarrassing, should probably never admit that it's this easy.
End--And yet more of the same. Black moments, awakenings, conclusion, it's all there and is so damn perfect my major rewrite job will be to back through the whole thing and mess it up a little so other writers don't weep in the face of my shining light.
It's a burden.
After this many books, this many years, this much experience, the above is what I'd like to tell you but the truth for me is much as it is for Eli. I live for that first moment when I'm off washing my hair or walking the dog and a snippet of dialogue or deep understanding comes to me and I know, i KNOW these characters are going to be all right, they are going to come to life, their story, their plight, their hearts are going to be salvaged from the prison of my talent or lack there of. They'll have to do it themselves because heaven knows I don't know how to do it. But it will happen. This book will live.
Until that moment and immediately following it, I am plagued by doubt and fear that I am doing it wrong. Oh, some days are like putting time in at the office. Those are usually the days when the characters have a scene they want to enact and so I write it down. Exhilerating! But there are many more where I second guess every decision including the one that has me sitting here pounding on a keyboard insted of doing something honest with my time like being a warden at the Tallahasse Women's Federal Insitution, from which by the way, I just received a fan letter. Oh, yeah, baby, be jealous, I've hit the big time.
The stages, to me, all run together. To me, the book is one long stage that begins with the beginning and ends with those magical words, the end. I think of it in terms of "I'll never have enough story to write 300 pages" to "How am I going to fit in all this story in only 300 pages?"
Most days I like being a writer.
But whatI like best is having written and sometimes it's reaching for that feeling above all else that pulls me through the book.
Alice
I'm at the Chapter 18 stage right now. In fact, going to Shari's instead of writing it seems like a good idea.
My personal stages:
Infatuation--I love the idea, I want to know more about these characters, I just want to hang out with them in my head all the time.
Dating--The outline process--it's alot of questions and getting the answers you need.
The wedding--The first chapter--full of jitters and missteps and once-in-a-life-time memories as you take a huge step forward.
The first year of marriage: Drafting. Gee this is way harder than I thought. Work with me people, work with me. Compromise. Compromise. Compromise.
The second-third year of marriage: Editing. Okay. We've got our groove here. This is your role and you're going to stick to it.
Life After Divorce:
I've said goodbye to the book, now I have to shop it around? Gee. Signing up for date-my-ex-please would be more fun. All the nerves of dating with none of the giddiness :)
Or something like that.
CAGreat blog, Elisabeth. Funny!
I go through stages similar to yours. This morning I wrote the end slobbery love scene and it came easier than I imagined it would. Yay! my characters are so in love and both have such a great sense of humor that it went without a hitch, and I hope the humor I intended comes through to readers...
Now I'm at the stage of moving text around, switching scenes here to there and filling in those holes where I've written things like, "Needs more emotion here," or "How does she feel when she looks at his hot naked body?" Stuff like that.
And Paty,
I think you're obsessed, sweetie. Same as me. I popped in several times this morning too. You would be possessed only if you feel taken over by the blog demons, I think.
Alice,
I do the same, live for those moments in the shower or while driving that hit me with the ah-ha moments that I need to turn an idea into a real story.
Sal-oot.
PS at least one woman from my monthtowrite loop checked out our blog site.
Wavy,
too funny!
Not to toot our own horns, but we're such a dang clever group, aren't we? I love us!!
(I'm at that married-but-the-honeymoon's-not-over-yet stage. In my book, and real life.)
woo-hoo
Loved your analogies.
and Eli, on the last comment I made, I don't know where the heck the letters CA before the Great came from. Probably from one of those blog demons Paty is afraid of.
Alice,
this Ha's for you!
When I first started reading your stages, at first I thought you were serious, but then I thought "no, I've heard her complain about things as much as the rest of us..."
Secretly, I'm glad you still struggle too. I mean, love ya, but multi-pubbed and not having a struggle here or there? It just wouldn't be right.
We had a nice white blanket of snow, but since I've written this it has all melted. Darn. DH and I were going to build a snowman.
Alice, I knew the perfect words flowed from you without any need for revisions or recriminations! LOL I love everyone's thoughts!
Wavy, loved your analogy! I think that is more like my stages only instead of life after divorce (since I haven't a clue about it) I'd say it's sending your child out into the world an hoping they find the right occupation!
Danita, want to join blogs anonymous with me? LOL
Okay, Danita and Paty, I'm coming clean. I checked the blog site a half dozen times this a.m. and almost wept when I found something! Yea Eli!
Alice,
willing to join Bloggers Anonymous with the rest of y'all.
Oh, Eli, you crack me up. I laughed so hard I scared my cat (who's laying in my lap, trying to sleep, and gave me a dirty look).
I'm dying to know why your eyebrows are disappearing? Hmmm... I'm picturing you plucking them out one-by-one. Ow.
Stages? I'm not sure. But the one thing that's consistent is that the first 4 to 5 chapters almost kill me. That's where I'm still trying to figure everything out, who everyone is, build the momentum, and yes, I rewrite the hook a few times. After that it's kind of like piecing together a quilt. I agonize over this and that, try to catch things as I go rather than after the draft is done because it often affects what happens later.
I get interrupted a lot (i.e. job) so any flow I may have achieved is disrupted. I typically write in fits and starts so will experience several stage ones. Ugh. How depressing. 8^) snort.
I have discovered that the more books I write, the harder it is to write them. And I've only written 5. I get too analytical sometimes and second guess my choices, my characters, my scenes, yadda yadda.
Alice sums it up pretty good when she says her stages run together. Mine do, too, and they're usually all stage one, lol!
I'm a bit on the crabby side today after a tense visit to the dentist where it cost me $425 to get tortured for an hour. My mouth hurts. Wah.
Great blog, Eli! Thanks for bringing a ray of sunshine to my grumpy day. 8^)
Karen
LOL, Karen.
This is an awful thing to say, but I'm so glad I'm not the only one! I told my CP, if I could start the book around chapter 5, I'd be good. Before that is like pure torture.
I'm a lot like you, I have to fix things as I go otherwise it messes up what I write down the line, so for me, my first draft is very clean plot/structure-wise. It's all the little tweaking and sentence rewrites that change in the edits, nothing major. Which - again - is probably part of the reason the first draft is such a nightmare process for me.
And yes, the whole missing eyebrow thing would be from pulling them out one by one as I agonize over each step along the way.
ROFL, Paty. Possessed? By blog demons? Now there's a thought. You could write a whole book about that (Hey! A paranormal! ROFL).
Your stages sound a lot more relaxed than mine. I'm jealous.
End--And yet more of the same. Black moments, awakenings, conclusion, it's all there and is so damn perfect my major rewrite job will be to back through the whole thing and mess it up a little so other writers don't weep in the face of my shining light.
It's a burden.
ROFL, Alice. I so do NOT believe that. Nice try.
I think of it in terms of "I'll never have enough story to write 300 pages" to "How am I going to fit in all this story in only 300 pages?"
I think this all the time too, and how amazing that every time I can fill that much and more. (Okay, maybe that means I'm just long winded.)
Loved your comments!
ROFL, Wavy. So what happens if you've been married 15 yrs???? Time to start a new book?
Great analogy! Although, I don't think I ever divorce a book. I can't. I still love them all. (That's polygamy, right?)
Congrats on writing the slobby lovey-dovey ending, Danita. Whenever I'm writing that part I'm seriously thinking, "this is pure sap", but it's the payoff every romance reader's waiting for, so it has to be there (and secretly, I like it too.)
Glad you clarified the CA thing. I had no idea what that meant! (Must be those pesky blog demons.)
Aw, you ladies crack me up! I'm glad to hear you're all possessed, er, obsessed with the blog. I love hearing everyone's takes and opinions on different writing related topics.
Danita, tell your friends to jump on in and participate. We're a nice, friendly group. :)
Yeah, I haven't figured out why I hang out with all you neurotic writers???? LOL
Funny, Piper. I decline to comment on that one.
Hey, Paty said that, NOT ME! I tell ya, I get accused of the most ridiculous things and it's never my fault! Hmmph!
I love your struggles and stages Eli, because it means your done with another book and I can read it! Sorry to not be sympathetic.
I loved everyone's "stages" too. You all are so funny and like Paty said, "neurotic". Gives me a lot of hope for myself. Thanks.
This blog is addicting, isn't it? I should be fixing dinner right now and instead I've been going back through and reading all of Danita's comments as she went through and left them on all the back blogs from the week. LOL Yeah, I'm just as sick as the rest of you. Save me a seat at Blogs Anonymous, would ya? LOL
The stages I go through are...
In the shower I get a great idea. This, of course, is because it's the only quiet time I get since I have 5 lovely, loud children around me most of the time. I just wish I had a waterproof tape recorder in there, dang it! For all those "note to self" moments.
So, as I'm washing my hair and shaving my long, sexy legs...(somebody smack me back into reality please.) As I was saying... while showering I get great ideas, so I hurry through the shower, and then slip over to my bedside table to write them down while wrapped in towels from head to mid-thigh.
I ignore the soft taps at the door, "Mommy? Are you coming out soon? You've had 25 whole minutes to yourself. Don't you think that's enough for the day?" I ignore the little angels and frantically scribble more notes with my trusty bedside tablet and pen.
Now someone is pounding on the door, "Mom? When are you going to fix me something to eat, wash my jeans, take me to buy hay for the horse, help me comb my hair cause it's stickin up in the back, tell so and so to stop hitting me, can I have a cookie, well, then can I have a glass of chocolate milk, but I'm STARVING!?"
The list goes on from there, and then I've forgotten all the rest of the ideas I had for my brilliant story, so, I get dressed, dry the mop of hair on my head, trudge downstairs to take care of the little darlings until they finally stop demanding and are actually sleeping instead. Great my whole day is shot. Argh! Figures.
Okay, back to the second stage...
No, I won't torture you any further. But someday, yes, someday I'll have an actual routine, and then I can pull my eyebrows out over my characters and plot lines, instead of my little darlings. :)
Dang it, I meant to say, but was interrupted by my dd asking when and what's for dinner! ARGH! See, I told you! Anyway, I meant to say...
Then I can pull out my eyebrows like Eli.
Hey, it's cheaper than that waxing thing women get to do. Speaking of waxing eyebrows, my dh won't let me get mine done anymore. I had it done two different times; I loved it, he hated it. Fine. I'll just be a frumpy old housewife then. GOSH!
Hey, Eli!
Laughed all the way through your stages. What fun!
But I'm not going to answer your question. I have a manuscript to write!
Just wondered why the loop was so quiet -- it's because everyone is blogging!
Thanks for the day brightener.
ROFLMAO, Piper. Whoops. Did I think that was you????
Too many p's in here. ;)
PIPER (did I get that right this time? Sheesh...), I feel your pain...my life is full of the same constant interruptions, to a smaller degree. But as my mother in law says...once you have three kids, any more than that is no big deal. So, dangit, if that's the case, then you don't get extra sympathy for having five.
I love your stages. I think really well in the shower too. In fact, that's usually when those "pearls" of conversation hit me like Alice was talking about. There and in the car where I tell the kids, "It's quiet time. Mommy can't take it anymore!"
LOL, Genene. Glad to see you here! I think it was Danita who was just commenting yesterday that she thought we were all neglecting the loop. I guess we need to tell everyone else to get on over here and join the fun!
BTW...if I were smart, I'd be working on the book too. Yet, here I am....
Eli...Your MIL is wrong. I used to think the same thing, but I was also wrong. The older they get, the more work it is. So keep your sympathy, but know she's dead wrong! LOL And did your MIL have 4 boys and a girl? 4 boys will send anyone to the loony bin!
Okay, off to write!
Oh, and nice to see you here Genene! Wish more people from the loop would participate. Chickens.
Genene--Good to see you on the blog!
Piper, you have my sypathy, but then, of course, so does Eli. Anyone with kids at home has my sympathy. As do women with husbands home all the time. Like me.
I loved your stages, Piper. Damn but showers are inspirational. We all need to get those little water proof boards and grease pens divers use to communicate with each other.
Alice
You could always get those soaps that write and write on the sides of the shower where the water doesn't hit.
Piper I feel for you, my last two were boys and I can't imagine having FOUR! Yipes! What one doesn't think of to scare or infuriate you the others will!
I loved this post on your personal blog and I love it now. I still look at it from time to time.
Thanks, Lisa. Glad to have you back. ;)
No, Piper. My MIL had five though -three girls and two boys. She doensn't have much of a memory left though, and I have a feeling it was all those kids that did that to her.
Alice - You have my sympathy for having the DH home all the time. But at least there are no kids running around. My DH works out of the house - most days unless he's traveling. Try working when kids are boucing off the walls. He's continually asking me to keep them quiet so he can get on the phone. Yeah, right. Like THAT'll happen.
Paty (and Piper), they now make bath crayons. You could use those in the shower and write all over the walls.
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