The screenplay adaptation of my detective novel came in at 93 minutes. I learned a ton. One lesson was that I am capable of taking an objective view of my own work. I slashed mercilessly. Several beloved secondary characters were … Continue reading
I have 11 minutes of screenplay written for my adaptation of Desert Justice, a cop novel I recently completed. So far, writing it has been an amazing learning experience. I can already see how the novel needs to be reorganized. … Continue reading
I just completed a revision of my detective novel, Desert Justice, and it was major surgery. I took out 5,000 words, dropping the word count to a mere 70,000. Was the detective really so flabby that there were 5K words … Continue reading
The revision of “Robin,” the second android novel, is done. It’s a big improvement over the first draft, but it’s obvious there will be another re-write. As is my style, the story is too complex and I struggle to write … Continue reading
I’m still struggling to focus my latest android story on my lead character, Robin, one of two androids. I’ve put her on stage more frequently and tried to keep the spotlight on her. I changed an important dramatic crisis by … Continue reading
I finished the synthetic outline of my latest android novel. That’s an outline made after-the-fact, by writing a brief synopsis of each of the 33 chapters. In reviewing it, I discovered redundancies, excesses, omissions, and nonsequiturs. Redundantly, I had refuted … Continue reading
I’ve broken my own rule about letting a new manuscript marinate for a couple of months. My recently completed android novel was calling out to me from the darkness of its disk drive. It lacks a traditional story structure and I thought … Continue reading
I’ve heard about this happening to other writers. You’re almost at the end of your masterwork when a book comes out with great fanfare and it’s the book you’re just completing. I’m within ten thousand words of finishing my android … Continue reading
Pathetic though it is, my favorite part of the day is to check my log of words written on my current novel. I don’t count words written on emails, book reviews, blog posts, edits, and miscellaneous sketches that I write … Continue reading
“The first draft of anything is shit.” – Ernest Hemingway When I complete a first draft, I know I have created something out of nothing, no trivial achievement. I never throw first drafts away. I’m generally not too worried about … Continue reading