To prevent the novel's becoming the never-ending project it is beginning to resemble, I've decided to set a series of irrevocable deadlines for myself. If I fail to meet any one deadline, I'm declaring novel-writing a great learning experience and will close the project permanently.
Yes, that's right - permanently.
While this might seem harsh, I believe it's the only thing that will keep things moving forward, and, at the end of the day, will shed light on just how much I want Companions to succeed. If I'm unable to rally myself and my resources enough to get X-amount of work done by X-time, then it's safe to say my interests have moved elsewhere.
At present, based on the excellent feedback I received from my professional editor, I'm in fact rewriting the novel from scratch, keeping the majority of the plot points, but expanding the text to elaborate on the characters' internal monologues, making thoughts, reactions, and motivations more clear. I say "characters" because - in the biggest shift between the last draft and this one - I'm now narrating the story from both Dig and Abida's perspectives, rather than solely that of the former. Insofar as Abida's personal and spiritual journey is, in many ways, more interesting than Dig's, I believe this will make the novel more captivating and well-rounded.
In proportion to revamping the book, I'm revamping the writing process itself. Rather then delving immediately into rewriting the text, I'm first going chapter by chapter and creating a detailed outline of each, identifying what each character says and does and why they say or do it, thus clearly mapping out motivation for the author. The goal of this, in part, is to prevent myself from focusing on style at the expense of plausibility, a mistake I've made with past work.
What, then, are the deadlines? Here's what I'm making public:
Thu 2/13/13 - completion of the chapter-by-chapter outline
Sun 9/29/13 - completion of rough draft of text
Sun 11/17/13 - completion of revision & submission to readers for feedback
Sun 1/5/14 - resubmission to editor for final review
A year to go for the final deadline. If I can't make that . . . forget it!
Wish me the best! And thanks for your support.
“Companions of the Garden,” my as-yet unpublished novel, chronicles the friendship of two wayfaring New Yorkers on a road trip to New Orleans - a Muslim woman and a non-Muslim man, both young, both American, and both hungry to challenge the social norms in which both feel constrained. Through this blog, I hope not only to generate interest in the book itself, but also the issues it seeks to address: those of gender, religion, and national identity, and the role of the spirit in an age of flux.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I like it. A production schedule, well formatted to meet clearly outlined goals. And, with style!
ReplyDelete