Day 55

1,060 words, most of which are scrap.

Actually, not scrap so much as me figuring out the story through my characters. Does anyone else do that? Sometimes I find myself writing dialogue that I realize is actually me figuring out where the story needs to go next. I realized almost at the end of my writing session that I was starting to explore concepts and themes better suited for a possible sequel. I'm not sure I ever will write a sequel, but apparently I know how it will begin. I rewound again to another iteration of the ending I'd scrapped for logistical reasons, but which fits better thematically. Now to figure out how to explain a twelve-year-old beating up a grown man, even if both of them are robots.

I made him a nest

Day 54

1,512 words.

I rewound about 1,100 words because they had kind of veered off into horror territory. Now it's much more heartwarming. 

But I've also realized that escaping the villain isn't the climax of the story. That, and the fact that I think I started the story too late, means it's turning out to be a lot longer than I thought. It's already approaching 60,000, and will probably be something like 70,000 when I'm done. Add another 10,000 for the beginning and then account for my tendency to leave out description when I'm writing first drafts and you have something getting way too close to 100,000 if I'm not careful. That's just way too long for middle grade.

I think I will not let this be present me's problem, though. I'm still worrying about story structure in general, I can worry about word count later.

Day 53

1,861 words.

*tears hair out* I don't know, what would you do if your daughter turned out to be a robot?

This is what I get for not wanting to go the easy way.

Day 52

1,017 words.

I left things on the edge of the precipice hanging over the true emotional climax of this book. Tomorrow she'll see her parents again. Even I don't quite know how they'll react.

Day 51

1,420 words.

I'm more satisfied with this direction. I used some chunks of writing from the discarded parts, so it wasn't wasted. Technically, no writing is wasted, even if it's only practice. But it's nice to be able to copy/paste whole paragraphs.

Day 50

564 words, several index cards and a decision to unravel the narrative all the way back to the climax.

*looks back at the entry where I thought I would be done by the end of March.* grumble mumble overconfident mumble grumble *slinks back into my lair*

I'll be done when I'm done, I guess.