Halftime Musings, Scheduling, and Mild Nervouscitement · 4:43am Aug 22nd, 2013
So, we're officially halfway through The Last Human. Probably a little more than that, but I'm awful at predicting how long a story will end up being. I never planned on this little story being longer than 50k words, but it sort of got out of control, took on a bigger life than expected and thank goodness for that.
I've learned a lot from this fanfiction. Strict scheduling is probably the most helpful. From 2013 onward, updates are almost always a month apart, with two weeks on the rough draft and two weeks on the final draft, absolute minimum of four writing days a week, 800 words a day, no excuses. It also proved over and over that because a rough draft is ugly it doesn't mean the final draft will be.
The other thing I learned is how to break down the core elements of a story.
Over and over people are surprised to discover this fanfiction is an inversion/ponification of The Last Unicorn and (aside from not being unfamiliar with the work) I think that's due to how I approached the story. It's very easy to accidentally copypasta or paraphrase the whole thing, or to go off on an unrelated tangent, or just things boring by sticking too close. What's important with this sort of adaptation, perhaps more than anything else, is remembering not so much what things happen, but why they happen. What an event means in the context of the work, and will do to characters involved. Just the change of setting and working with a lone human rather than a unicorn changes a hell of a lot. Both main characters have the same basic goal, but they're very much different characters because of different backgrounds and are driven for different reasons. Or at least, that's what I aimed for.
I was a little worried going in to this, because The Last Human required a few analytical rereads and what if under the microscope I discovered my favorite book wasn't as wonderful as I thought? As it turns out, I love it more than I ever did and appreciate it to a deeper extent because I can see the cogs moving inside it. Pretty pretty cogs made of metaphors and diamonds that are also probably metaphors. (I also learned it still makes me cry for reasons I sometimes don't understand.)
I originally planned on taking a break before starting chapter 13, but after a week of brainstorming and the superb encouragement of chapter 12's reception, I think tomorrow morning I may start the rough draft of chapter 13.
That said, the update may still be late. A lot of the next section needs fleshing out, and I'm not as sure of it as I was other sections. I think it will ended up differing from the source material moreso than previous chapters, simply because of the new roles characters have and locales, etc.
Then again, I was unsure of the chapter with the Wildwood Company deer and that turned out wonderfully, so the hell do I know. I'm also pretty excited about finally introducing the last of the main characters and look forward to developing them. And the protagonist finally gets a name...sort of!
Also, the next chapter will likely be a short one and take place from the POV of a background pony, much like "The Molasses Morning Did". Or maybe not. We'll see what happens when the pen goes down.
Besides, the longer I wait, the greater the chance I'll psyche myself out and get schedule slip. New chapters (or even paragraphs) can be terrifying if you let them, I must turn up the lights before the shadows grow too long.
-- Patchwork Poltergeist
PS: You're all beautiful and awesome readers and I should really tell you guys that more.
Waaait, halfway?
I was sad because I thought it was almost over!
Awesome!
"Besides, the longer I wait, the greater the chance I'll psyche myself out and get schedule slip. New chapters (or even paragraphs) can be terrifying if you let them, I must turn up the lights before the shadows grow too long."
This is oh so true. It looks menacing until you start, and once you start you can't stop writing!
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Either halfway over or two thirds over. I'm guessing half, since it's the halfway point for the book, but I honestly don't know yet. (I think chapter 11 was closer to the real halfway point, but chapter 12 just makes a better bookmark.)
But it's 60% over at least.
Man, how do you get 800 words out every day? I keep running time during the day. Though I guess part of it is that I just can't write first thing when I wake up.
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My general rule is on the four days I take time to write I write for at least three hours or produce four pages of rough draft (est 800 words), whichever comes first. Admittedly, it's an easier schedule to keep up in summer and with changes in my new schedule it's now more like a minimum of 500 words a weekday in little pockets of time I can gather.
(Meanwhile, I ended up taking that extra time off after all and only just started chapter 13 on Thursday, by my rough estimate the upload will be the week of the 25th)