17 March 2009

It's all going pear-shaped

Book 2 is a total mess. I have scenes that go nowhere, dialogue that is cringeworthy and misbehaving characters. The only thing that is doing what it should is the wildlife.

Take my heroine, for example. She's sworn off men for, like, ever. So what does she spend most of Chapter One doing? Flirting with the hero and agreeing to have a drink with him. Aaagghh. Why she'd want to do this when he's being such a sap, is beyond me. I need to totally rewrite, which means I might as well scythe through the rest. Oh, happy days.

With any luck and if this is anything like the last book, the tortuous first half will morph into a far easier second half. Here's hoping. Does anyone else head off in totally the wrong direction and blindly keep going, or is it just me???

11 comments:

Romy Sommer said...

That's what a second draft is for. Just plough on through and eventually your characters will take you on that magical journey to the point where you feel the story coming together. Though by that time you'll probably have deleted most of the winding road that got you there.

Less seriously, I am so glad to hear that others, especially soon-to-be-published others, have doubts too! It's not just me - Yay!

Lucy King said...

Oh yes, Doubt City here. I feel that the delete button is going to get a lot of use in the coming days...

Suzanne Ross Jones said...

**Does anyone else head off in totally the wrong direction and blindly keep going, or is it just me???**

The story of my life, Lucy.

Jackie Ashenden said...

Lucy, I agree with Romy, just keep on going. You're doing your 'difficult second album' so I reckon you're allowed to find it hard work.
But I also think that once you get through the first three chapters, you'll find your groove. I guess, if the going is tough, you could always jump ahead. Could that work?

Wrong direction? Tell me about it! Kate and Alex has just switched tracks majorly. In fact, might go off and do a blog post about it. :-)

Felicity Roger said...

Once again, my advice is 'just keep swimming, just keep swimming. If you keep going, then they will lead you to a fantastic second half and you can reshape the first half accordingly. And I am with Romy, it is great to know that it is not only me that is the proud owner of three chapters of a first draft which is not even good enough to wrap around some fish and chips.

Lorraine said...

Definitely just keep going.
Funnily enough the front page of the Times 2 section yesterday was entitled "A Very Literary Mystery - The Curse of the Second Novel" with a picture of an author crushed under a book!

I can't make the link work but you could check the article out here - http://timesonline.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
on the off chance the article has anything useful to say!

Rachael Johns said...

Lucy, Lucy, Lucy - BREATHE!! You've already got buyers for this VERY INTRIGUING book... so no pressure... but keep up the good work! We have faith!!

Lucy King said...

Completing a first draft doesn't work for me, sadly. I have to tidy up the beginning in order to continue which is highly inefficient.

Am actually feeling quite excited about rewriting chapter 1. There's going to be much more tension and stuff. At least that's the plan. If it doesn't work I can always pull a bookcase down on top of me a la front cover of the Times 2 section. Great article, thanks Lorraine!

Lorraine said...

BTW I don't know if you saw that Natalie Anderson has posted on Jackie's blog saying she has a novella coming out later this year set in Scotland!

So, if you were freaked out about the trailblazer comments you don't need to worry now, you're in good company :-)

Hope the WIP is behaving itself ;-)

Lynn Raye Harris said...

Hi, Lucy! I nominated you for a blog award. Come to my site and check it out.

As for the draft, I understand. My editor and I have decided that I work best when she has input on the first three chapters. She gives me suggestions, tells me where I might be going wrong, and leaves me alone to fix it. It worked really well on my second book, and I'm now waiting to hear what she thinks about the first 3 chapters of the 3rd.

Lucy King said...

Am so glad not to be a trailblazer, or even worse a 'brave trailblazer'!

Lynn Raye, I'm doing the 3 chapter thing too. My editor said she was happy for me to go straight on through, but I'm not so sure!!