Rewrite: Day 28. Brain sieving the novel.

No rewriting today as such but I did manage a 750 words stint this afternoon in which I continued to put the novel through the brain sieve using the two headings:

• Getting inside Broderick's head
• Getting inside the story dynamic 

Here are some extracts (edited and expurgated):

Archaeology is the focus of Broderick's thinking. He is interested in what the excavation is telling him about the life and times of the site. He is interested in the broad scale, the big picture - the life in terms of social development and economic progress and the times in terms of politics, leaders and nations - but he is also interested in the small scale, the smaller picture of individual lives, people, families, births and deaths. This is what Broderick is thinking about. The [expurgated event] is unfortunate, yes, it is very unfortunate, but it is an irritation, a side show, it is not the main event.

Broderick organises his team to interpret the archaeology and he excavates further on the Corn Hill site but there is a time limit and they have to push on. It is also a student demonstration dig so he has to make room for the students and give them time and this increases the pressure. Although [certain events] are not important for him, they crop up around every corner, forcing themselves on his attention whether he likes it or not and as often as they crop up, he pushes them down and as often as he dismisses them from his life, they pop up again like corks in water.

A new student dig begins and they discover new archaeology but something goes badly wrong and [a certain person] is called in to help. They return for the second season but before they get started a tragedy occurs and Broderick is thrown off keel. [Another certain person] walks out and things go from bad to worse.

That gives you a flavour (without giving too much away, I hope)

Ends

Rewrite: Day 27. What Broderick wants

No rewriting today. It's Saturday and the sun's shining. The biting east wind has dropped to a purr and you might almost believe that Spring was on its way. The air is cold, though. It is still Arctic, Siberian, and quickly freezes the hands.

No rewriting but I have done my 750 words. I set myself a task: write about what Broderick wants and do it in three instalments of 250 words each. Write about what Broderick wants at the beginning of the novel, at the end of Part One (Plot point One) and at the end of Part Two (Plot point Two). It's a useful exercise.

Short break: 
Aurora's Encore wins the Grand National! I should have backed it! Odds of 66-1. Trained by Sue Smith in Yorkshire, wife of the great Harvey Smith. 

Back to the writing... His wants change midway but some of them come back again towards the end, more urgent than before. Interesting. What does he want? What does he really, really want?

That's all for today. Back to the sunshine and another cup of tea.

The Grand National at Aintree
Show jump rider Harvey Smith
Race card for trainer Sue Smith

Ends

Rewrite: Day 26. The lost file.

I could not find it anywhere but I knew I had altered the text and done some extensive editing. Where was it? I found three versions of the file all labelled Chapter 13 but they were all the same. They all contained the unedited text. I gave up. I closed the files and walked away. 

On the way out the door I thought - search. I went back to the computer and found the search box. It took a few goes before I found the appropriate keyword to search on. Then I found it and I got six results: three copies of Chapter 13 and three copies of a Chapter 4. Chapter 4? I opened the file and there it was, the altered text, edited and transposed into a completely different place. Chapter 4? I copied the text and pasted it into the file and saved it. It is now safely held in Chapter 12, the new Chapter 12 that is. Well, it is closer to Chapter 13 than Chapter 4.

I did do some other work on the novel. I did a bit of light editing on Chapter One. (Yes, I know, but my head still wasn't up to much and I'm still sore around the gills.) I did my 750 before lunch. That's four days in a row! After lunch, and after taking the dog for a walk, I did a bit of compiling for Chapter 12 (see above).

I have a plan and I'm still on track. I reckon another two months, give or take a year, should see it done.

Ends

Rewrite: Day 25. On having a sore head.

Woke up with a roaring sore throat and a thick head, so not conducive to writing. I did 750 words but it was totally uninspired. Worked on story structure for a bit. Tried editing but I did not have the required brain activity for that either. Late in the day I managed a better 750 words and some editing. But, with apologies to my principles, I was editing Chapter One! 

I'm sure it's better for it.

Sore throat and sore head to end the day; full blown cold approaching. But, on the good side, I am getting closer to the form of this novel and getting closer to the protagonist and what makes him tick. On top of that the computer is deleting text every time I try and make a correction so this comes complete with uncorrected errors. That's my excuse - perhaps the computer has a sore throat too. Ah! ESC has stopped the deletions. Good.

Ends

Rewrite: Day 24. Tomorrow is going to work out just fine.

It's been a bitty kind of a day. I have driven into town three times for one reason or another, all legitimate and in some sense necessary, but it does nothing for your writing. I did my 750 words before lunch and I played around with the structure of Part One after lunch and I did another 1000+ words before tea but it all adds up to nothing very much, random shots like fireworks on a dark night.
I have to confess, I went back to Chapter One. It's been bugging me. It was so obviously wrong, looking back from the elevation of Chapter Eleven. I banged it on the head and relabelled Chapter Three as Chapter One. Don't ask what happened to Chapter Two. I've sent out a search party.
But I have a good feeling about the novel. I am sure it is going to get better. I feel I know where this is going now, and how it's going to get there. 
I have just deleted the words 'I may be wrong'.
End positive. Tomorrow, it's going to work out just fine.

Ends

Rewrite: Day 23. Back in the day.

I went some way today to fixing Chapter 9. Got a more Broderick approach to it and with the help of yesterday's twelve-cycle schema, I injected some much needed sense of purpose into the whole thing. This is all madness, of course, this twelve-cycle thing. You know it is and I know it is but don't tell anyone else. At one point, one of the characters asks "Are all archaeologists mad?" Archaeologists may not be but writers surely are.

I started the day by writing my 750 words on 750words.com - it is a way of dragging myself out of early morning grogginess and into the daylight of composition. I ended up with over 1k words which was a good effort. One thing the exercise demonstrated to me was that I could write 1000 words in an hour. In the light of that, a chapter a day should not be too much to ask. It depends on who you're asking and when.

Last week, I said that Part Two, where I am now, was a place for the author to let their hair down and go for broke. For that, I need to do more of these 750-word-type exercises, free writing, letting it all come out - which is what I did in the first draft, back in the day. I need to kick the (re-)structuring habit and kick-start the inspiration. Let the words flow.

Next 750+ words coming up.

Ends.

Rewrite: Day 22. A twelve-cycle story

Home. I'm home again after family journeyings over Easter. Today, it took me three and a half hours from Bristol because I did the sensible thing, crossed the bridge and paid the fine instead of driving half way round England to get into Wales toll-free. It was a good journey, clear roads and little traffic - more traffic coming the other way, going back home to England after the holiday weekend at the edge of the world. I came back by the usual route over the mountains. The snow is thawing now but it was still piled up in deep drifts in some points alongside the road. The thermometer dropped to 1C and then to -1C as I came over the passes.

I have the house to myself for two days, so tomorrow I will be writing which is slightly scary because I've totally lost confidence in my ability to pull this story through. While I was watching telly this evening I once again reviewed the novel's structure. What was it all about? What did Broderick do and why? It helped (or maybe it didn't) that I found an episode of CSI NY on 5 USA and I scribbled down the structure of the plot as I watched the episode. Is this obsessive or what? I reduced the plot to a twelve-cycle story line. You've never heard of the twelve-cycle story? Each cycle is a little story in itself with a beginning a middle and an end. Details will vary but, essentially, the scheme goes something like this:

The framing conceit: Protagonist, Antagonist 1 and the precipitating incident

1. The scene/ Antagonist 2 & 3/ Investigators/ Problems with power brokers
2. Red herring gives a false lead/ Dead end
3. Techy analysis gives Lead 1/ Antagonist 4/ Closure/ Timeframe
4. Snoop around related scene finds evidence/ Problem pressures increase
5. *Backstory to incident gives Lead 2/ Antagonist 1/ Closure/ Timeframe tightens
6. Techy analysis/ No lead/ Problem pressures increase
7. *Crisis for Protagonist raises stakes/  
8. Personal backstory gives Lead 3/ Antagonist 5/ Closure/ Timeframe tightens
9. Forensic evidence fills in background to incident
10. Reconstruction gives the mechanism behind the incident
11. *New evidence gives Lead 4/ Antagonist 2 & 5/ Closure/ Timeframe tightens
12. Techy evidence gives Lead 5/ Antagonist 6/ Result

Outrun: coda

The turning points are *marked. These are Plot Point One, Mid Point and Plot Point Two, if you are familiar with those terms. Notice the number of Antagonists and the way that Problem pressure increases and the Timeframe tightens progressively as the story develops. Notice, too, the number of dead-ends and leads that end in closure before finally getting to the result. That, all in an episode of CSI NY. Mac Taylor got his man and his team did their stuff. All in all, a satisfactory result and an effective screenplay. Act One builds up to cycle 5, Act Two runs from 5 to 11 and Act Three is short and downhill all the way. Just the way it should be. Look, learn and apply. (Note to self.) 

Ends