5300 words on Petra last week, bringing the total to 70K.
Am now officially embarked on my third act. I killed more people last week, including two of my viewpoint characters. I also had the pleasure of dispatching one of the villains in a wonderfully hideous and ironic manner–one of those little gems you just stumble upon along the way.
I have most of the ending worked out–I think–but there’s an important element I haven’t quite resolved. It could make all the difference. I’m not sure if I should spend some time now trying to make it work, or if I should breeze by it and worry about it in the rewrite. As I’ve mentioned previously, I don’t find the latter an attractive option, but I’ll do it if need be. I suppose the answer will hinge on whether or not I’ll lose productivity over the issue. If yes, I’ll probably skip it for now. But maybe something will come to me in the next day or two. (Ever the optimist, me.)
I had originally estimated this novel at 80K. I’m still not sure how accurate that will end up being. Can I really close this thing out in another 10K words? It’s possible. If I manage it, it will be one of the very few times that I actually estimated the length correctly. Which probably means it’s too long.
Here’s a funny thing I’ve noticed: some of the easiest parts of this novel have been those written from the POV of my principal bad guy. Getting in my antagonist’s head is one of several firsts for me; I wasn’t sure how it would go. For whatever reason, the answer seems to be very well–or at least, very smoothly. I have no difficulty making my daily word goals when I’m in his POV. I don’t know what to think about this. Sometimes I wonder if he’s easy to write because he’s too reactive, or too cut-and-dried, or too . . . I dunno. Too something else. Maybe I just can’t stand properity.
Or maybe I’m thoroughly evil. I mean, I was really tickled with the way I killed that guy I mentioned earlier. That was fun. Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! <rubs hands together>
Oops. Ahem.
Sorry about that, folks.
No updates for Write Club.
Moving on. See ya in the funny papers.
