A few weeks ago I entered A Fault in Time into a contest at SavvyAuthors.com. I was hoping to get some feedback. To be honest, I was feeling a little wobbly about my baby. Gulp.
For new readers, A Fault in Time is the work in progress that was started in a LibertyHall MidSommerMadness camp last summer, achieved first drafty status in 2009 NaNoWriMo, and has been my baby and albatross through FIVE..(5) full, bottom to top revisions. You cannot say that I am shy about taking a weedwhacker to my words. (hehe alliteration..I am feeling spunky).
So two weeks ago, much to my astonishment, I was told by Liz over at SavvyAuthors that my baby had made it to the final round. Whhhuuuuuttt? No shit? And there was a lot more cussing and some hyperventilation.
The judges’ comments were useful, wonderful, and insightful and I felt truly happy! They liked it! They saw where it could be better! YAY!
So today, you could have nearly dumped me over with a fracking feather….A Fault in Time (OK, the name, she sucks.) won in her division. *&())()*(*(*@#$^ Lordy Lucy– and the agent who read it wants to see more? For real? Now I’m extremely grateful to this amazing person for wanting to look a my manuscript, and if this is as far as it goes, I will still be happy. Because I know that I have a shot. I really effing do.
Who knew? Evidently my most amazing husband who just smiled and said, “Of course.”
Shiny
A Fault in Time is getting very shiny. The real question is…
Am I polishing a fabulous, vintage 1964 Airstream Globetrotter trailer or a turd?
OK, to be fair it’s not an either/or question. It could be something in between. It could have a plot that is close and needs tweaking, or a great plot but be light on characterization. Or it could have great voice and lack detail, or….
“Last boarding call for the spiral staircase of doom to Obessoland.”
Yes, well. Harrumph.
The first set of beta readers get their mitts on it Sunday. Oh shit, that’s tomorrow. I expect that it will have problems since finding great crit partners has been one of the more challenging things I have attempted this year.
I am prepared for problems. I am prepared for rewrites. I am prepared to go to a coarser grit, take off the shiny top coat and rip into the subsurface to make this story right.
I’m willing to do whatever it takes. Bring. It. On.
Gulp.
I am a tool
But a damn sharp one. And today I rounded that most wonderful of goals Draft 4 success.
San Francisco….now called A Fault in Time (catchy, eh?) is complete in fourth draft and approaching query readiness. OMFG.
Nearly ready does not mean ready. Oh my lordy no. I have not angsted over this puppy enough. Want to know how I know? Look at the colors on the image to your left. See all the greens, oranges and dark blues? Those are scenes that are in 4th, 5th and even above! Nicely polished happy scene-lets.
Pink is a lowly second draft and bright blue is third. So! while the overall story is complete in the fourth draft I have some scene-lets that I’ve recently added. Some are very small transitions to fill plot details and some reflect changes that I made when I turned one of my characters a little bit darker.
But I keep track of them so I know what has been really edited well and what words are still pretty fresh and crunchy.
I am still wildly happy about this, because this kind of editing goes pretty quickly for me. We’ll see what the beta readers say.
lol.
So what the hell is a scene-let? I’ts not a true scene, but I break out action in a finer granularity, makes it easier for me to write. Not a true scene in the Robert McKee screenwriting defintion. In fact, I guess mine are actually beats, but I hate to use that because it has other means as well. Sigh, overloaded terms.
“Scene”: A group of beats which result in an action through conflict in continuous time and space that turns the lives of the characters around into another direction.
Wow, June is right there… And it’s still raining in Northern California, where I am pretty sure my exorbitant housing prices entitle me to full rain cessation on May 1. HEY PEOPLE, WE HAVE LAWS!!!
So while I scrape the moss from a amazingly wet winter off everything I own, I’m making a list of the things I am going to do this summer:
- Camp in my Airstream Trailer. Yes, Yes Yes!!!! No phone, no interwebs just me and a huge slabs of granite, a remodeled trailer kitchen, and my computer for week(s) of writerly productivity. OK, Chris (the DH) can come too. And maybe the kid. If he’s good.
- Pen my YA SciFi in the June SavvyAuthors Boot Camp with my friends in the Savvy OR! 30 days or Bust!
- Query what was called San Francisco, and is now called A Fault in Time to my list of agents. OMG its nearly ready – who knew!!! All growed up and has a name, even!
- Walk my neurotic dog, Kyra, every day. Yes, damnit EVERY DAY. slacker….
- Tend to my house. I’ve been in a writer’s frenzy and well, lets just say it could use some tending. But hey, I’ve nearly FINISHED a book that is queryable!!!
- Kayak with aforementioned nutty dog.
- Streamline the Newsletter production for the SavvyAuthors.Com Newsletter – I’m the editor.
- Read many, many, many books.
- Write and submit more Flash!
- sleep.
San Francisco is soooo close….
It even has a much better title than San Francisco. I’m sure that title will change, but still.
I edited the first three chapters and the climax chapter again and realized it’s really ALMOST DONE. Wow.
I’m not saying it’s War and Peace or anything, but:
- the main plot and the sub-plot weave together and resolve in the climax.
- the antagonist character is real and I feel for her, and actually wish she could win
- I hurt a little for each and every whore
- I think the choices that my two MCs make are the best ones, but not the easiest
- I think the resolution is a little unexpected
- I don’t think I left any dangly bits (OK we’ll see about that)
Now it’s time to man up and put down the polish, right after I look at just a couple more chapters…..
Comments (1) 
A few weeks ago I entered A Fault in Time into a contest at SavvyAuthors.com. I was hoping to get some feedback. To be honest, I was feeling a little wobbly about my baby. Gulp.
Themocracy