It’s like this: you’re at point A, and you need to get to point B. Full of pep, starting out, you cross the first half in no time at all. Then your pace becomes more modest, but it’s steady, and before you know it, you’ve gone half the remaining distance. You can see the finish line, but it seems to take you as long to get half of the rest of the way there as it did to cross the first half of the whole field.
And so forth. You move along by halves, more and more slowly, and it seems you’ll never get there. Then, finally, you get to the point where you can’t go halfway without some part of your body swinging over the line. And you’re there.
That’s where I am with this damn first draft.
Over the last couple of weeks, I cranked out the long, extended climax and now I’m writing what happens after it. Then I have to go back and write a couple of earlier chapters for character who’s instrumental in the big showdown, but who hasn’t had enough POV time to be ready for it. At that point it’s second draft time, and the real work begins.
No comments:
Post a Comment