I’m in the final, final stretch. 35 pages are left to be colored and then some adjustments and things will be finished. I wish I could show you all how this thing is looking right now, but I cant (meaning I won’t). It’s coming out really well. With each finished page I feel more and more that I’m making something worth people’s time. Lots more to come in t he next month. My official deadline for finishing this book is September 28th. Buckle in, the days are about to get long, but the end is around the corner.
Book 2 Starts Early Scripting – Breaking a Story
Alongside of everything going on with coloring the book, I have started the early work in writing book 2. It’s been slow goings though. I know the major things that need to happen in this story, as far as book 2 and the story as a whole, but getting those things to make a cohessive story has been tough. But here are a few things I have learned in the process so far.
1. Decide what HAS to happen
In writing a long form story like this, there are lots of parts that feel like they can shift or end up in different places. You have to cut off the fat first and get simplified in your outline. I found that I have had three competing storylines in the book. The trick for me has to combine at least two of them and then get the other to run alongside them. I think I am getting to that point. But taking the time to identify how to make your plot leaner and more focused will really help your story have more impact.
2. Don’t Be Afraid To Start Over
Even though it was still early on in the process of making this book, I had invested some serious time into a treatment of the book that I was going to work through until it was right. In the end I decided the story was just simply not working and decided to scrap the whole thing and start again. With the first principle in mind the I was able to figure out where the story was lacking its punch and (so far) things are moving more smoothly.
It’s still a ways out, but with those two early reminders in place, I feel confident I will arrive at a book that will be what I want it to be.