Hawk: Progress Report

The book is going slow.

It’s kind of interesting; the last time a book felt it was moving this slowly was Athyra, which I referred to as “that-goddamn-fucking-book-from-Hell.”  In the end, I was pretty happy with it, but it was painfully frustrating at points.  This one feels different.  It isn’t frustrating, it’s just…slow.  I’m grinding my way toward the end of chapter 5, and I feel like I’ve been there forever.  But I make a bit of progress every day (at least, when possible given friends’ drama, my own medical crap, and my sister’s hospital stay).

I think part of it is that I’m experimenting–not with voice, or with structure, but with approach.  This is the first time in a long time I’ve found myself forced to concentrate on plot in the first draft.  I’m trying some stuff that, if it works, I’m going to really like; but it requires figuring out a lot of plot details early on.  Usually, these are the kinds of details I let write themselves for the first draft, then go back in the rewrites to make them all make sense and feel natural and inevitable.  This one just won’t work that way.

So, short version: this one will be awhile in the cooking.  I really hope it ends up worth it.  I know I’m feeling challenged by it, and I like that feeling.

Originally published at Words Words Words. Please leave any comments there.