I've broken the 90k words mark on my science fiction novel. Okay, that's not 100% true. 90k is the total number of words for all three parts of this series (it started as a single novel but then morphed into a three-part series), but the bulk of that is in Book 1. I need to find an alpha reader for it, like yesterday!
I'm not sure if I've bit more than I can chew with this one. There's been moments when I love the story and moments when I've literally fallen out of love with it. Nevertheless, I still feel there's something here that's worth completing. I've also realised that I need to find a way to get into writing short stories that will enable me to get feedback on my writing in general. Maybe find a group. Maybe go find a group right now instead of writing about needing to find a group. Talk about procrastination, eh? :)
Anyways, so I think I've basically got the outline and plot worked out for Book 1. I've tightened some of the motivations for my characters and added details in each chapter that I didn't think of before. Unlike my first novel 'The Matchmaker of Campiglia', I have plotted out this sci fi novel. Whilst it was fun pantsing my debut novel, I realised I wanted to see if it's a much different animal when you outline your novel in advance. What I've found out is that outlining a novel beforehand can sometimes make the writing process feel 'dry', perhaps because you're using your head to work out how the story flows, whereas with 'pantsing', you're usually in that writing mode and (hopefully) your heart and gut instinct is very much involved right there and then and the two herd you in a particular direction in a scene. So it'll be interesting to see what happens to my plot outline once I dive back into the re-write / second draft of Book 1. Hopefully the story will stick more or less to the outline I've made. But if it doesn't then that's okay as well. Steady as she goes.
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