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[stevehorganwriter]

Aaaand...c’est fini.

Got the first draft finished up over the weekend, after six weeks of writing. It was a slow, slow, fatigued last week. I’d thought that would be the easiest part, so close to the finish line. I think it was difficult because of how dramatic I felt it had to be, given that it was a case of wrapping up everything that’s been set up beforehand. Not everything’s been wrapped up perfectly, I will have to go back and sort that out. 

I’m pretty happy with it as a first draft, really. I haven’t read back over it yet, but I feel it’s probably done what it tries to do. It’s an absolute journey trying to figure out where these characters ultimately fit within the story, and things changed course a few times.

Gonna have to force myself to edit/rewrite it and then see what can be done....

The title is WHISPERS. So far, at least. It’s a very, very Irish story (thematically) that’s not necessarily even set in Ireland. A horror story that satirises de Valera’s Ireland. 

[stevehorganwriter]

Over The Hill...I think

Just past 170 pages yesterday. I’m going a lot more slowly this week than I’d like to be, but I’m still pretty confident I can get the first draft done by April 18th (again, it’s a personal deadline, not one someone gave me). It’s mad when you’re writing in semi-improvisation mode the whole way through, the story does kind of reveal itself to you as you go on. I’m not saying it writes itself - I’ve had to stop and think at points, but at times you’ll just think of a scene you could possibly do with, and the scene ends up becoming really important out of nowhere when you get at it.

I’ve had a working title since I began (again, a portion of this novel began life as a screenplay I wrote last year), but I think this week I may have decided on the title that I want for the book.

Also, it’s gotten that bit less daunting to write at this point. I’m definitely in the later part of the second act of the story, so go all poetic, the path is clearing. Still don’t know exactly where everything’s going, but I have a pretty solid idea that just needs specific details. 

[stevehorganwriter]

Forced To Drive At High Speed

Like the film with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock that takes place on board a bus.

Today I reached 143 pages! So I’m just about halfway through the first draft. I was going much more slowly early on this week, and it looked like I might not reach my 50-page weekly target. So over the last two days I must have written about 25 pages, still not sure how I did that.

It’s been slow mainly because this week I started what is probably the most difficult stage of any novel. Where you’ve started the second act (remember that I’m, for the most part, just kind of feeling around in the dark for the story), you kind of need to start answering the questions you didn’t answer for yourself earlier. It’s a challenge I’m enjoying. Making things happen, knowing I’ll have to connect them and give them a clear purpose later. 

When you’re in that rut of deciding what exactly is at the core of your story and what characters represent/have done/will do what (and the ease of the rest of the writing process has to rely on the decisions you make there), and you know (even just for yourself) that you have to have another 50 pages written by the end of the week to reach your target....that’s where the title of this blog entry comes from.

The story is kind of taking on a gothic horror poise teetering SLIGHTLY on fantasy, which is strange because I’m not a big fantasy guy at all. 

Anyway, seven pages left to write this week and I’m on the beer tonight to celebrate that because I really thought I’d still have about 25 pages to write over the weekend. 

[stevehorganwriter]

Breakthrough..?

It’s been a low page count day. Made it to 100 pages yesterday, and basically began a new section of the novel, but barely over two pages written today! Might get more done later, but we’ll have to see. 

I’m not as bothered about that as I usually would be, though, as I did consider using today strictly for plotting ahead (remember that I’m doing this without having outlined it all beforehand - I want to experiment to an extent with the idea of letting it go where it goes), and that part actually went pretty well!

The story and characters started clarifying themselves today as I went for a walk, so I’ve a much better idea now of the exact nature of everything and everyone in the novel than I had before today. Actually, even a major theme clarified itself today. It’s a very typical theme for an Irish person like me to include.

Again, the writing itself has been slow today, but I’m happy with the bit that I’ve done. It does leave me with a good bit of effort ahead of me if I want to reach the 50 pages a week I’ve set myself. but haven’t failed yet after two weeks.

[stevehorganwriter]

First Draft Freedom

I’m not quite where I want to be in the novel at this point, but I generally am getting at least five pages written a day. As it happens, between today and yesterday I properly started the ‘second act’ (if you want to put it that way) - that’s the furthest I think I’ve ever gotten with writing a book since the one I finished (that for better or worse now no longer exists.), and I tried a lot of times during my teens to finish writing a book...

Even though I’m a few pages behind where I’d ideally like to be, I’m actually pretty happy with the direction the novel is going in. As I said in the last blog entry, this time I’m experimenting with only plotting out the bare minimum, and kind of just letting the thing go where it feels it should go. I do have a general idea of the whole plot, but I’m prepared to allow it to change, which is what I love about first draft freedom. This is not the draft agents/publishing houses will see. This is kind of the practice round (which makes it sound a lot easier than it is), where mistakes can be made. 

I’ve already changed up one major aspect of the plot, and there might be more. Seventy-eight pages through it, anyway. 

And I managed to get in a bit of music recording today along with the writing, so all good there. 

And I’ve been getting really into Gary Numan’s stuff recently. Even listening to it while I write, although I think it’s his most recent stuff, so I’m not very familiar with his earlier work. 

[stevehorganwriter]

My Own Twist

Wrote a book at 21, and now it’s lost (not before a publisher rejected it)...

Always thought if I wrote one, I’d definitely write another, but the years went by and I got more involved in film and music, which I also love. 

And now, in Ireland we’re in our third lockdown. During the first, I got frustrated with my lack of effort to try and write another book (the reason being, if I couldn’t write one during a lockdown, would I EVER write one again?), and I did have an idea for story, fairly Gothic in nature, but with a thriller angle. 

I started plotting it out, but I don’t think I actually wrote anything of the actual novel.

So, during the third lockdown, I decided I HAD to!

I’ve been working on an album on the musical side of things, but I’m setting it slightly aside for now...

I recently watched a documentary series on Netflix, recommended to me by a friend. It freaked the shit out of me. Truly have never been as freaked out as I was halfway through that series.  What actually happened in the event the series was based on ended up just being very tragic. 

It gave me an idea - why not reconstruct elements of that real story with my own twist? 

I started writing it a week ago, and am now 58 pages in...almost at the end of the first act. Aiming for fifty pages a week, and to have the first draft finished by April 16th. I’ve actually ended up incorporating the storyline of a screenplay I wrote last year into it, with a few changes. I ended up not really being completely in love with the script, but I think it’s actually working out really well now that it’s married to the novel’s initial ideas. 

I’ve decided to go about this one differently to the last novel I wrote (which, again, possibly no longer exists) - I outlined the events of each chapter of that one before writing it (and that DID help make the writing process smooth, if I remember correctly). 

With this one, just for the sake of trying, I’ve just kind of jumped right in, feeling my way around as I go (having said that I do have the screenplay to use as a blueprint). It’s a bit like making a film by using words instead of actors, camera angles and lighting. 

Got through 8 pages this evening, and I’m HOPING for another 10 tomorrow (remember, 50 a week!!). Not sure how smooth it’ll be though, given that there’s one part of the story I haven’t fully worked out yet (not part of the main plot, but it needs to be strong enough to explain a turn of events in a character’s life), and in order to keep writing the next scene, I kind of have to figure it out at some point tomorrow! I’m not letting myself let a day go by before April 16th without writing at least either one scene or one page.

It’s a horror novel, by the way. Of the psychological sort, not gore.