A writer, reloaded

At last something of interest, a replacement title for Velocity. Thank you Mr. Dean Koontz for confirming Velocity was a great title by selecting it as well. As a precaution on the blog it remains Velocity ( or book two ) until I have a check/representation. It’s an indulgence, and perhaps one borne of superstition, but one that I consider reasonable. I’d rather not blow two more days on a title a third time on the same book. One more coincidence like that and it’s Star Wars – Reloaded. Bring on the lawsuits, Herr Lucas.

Writing output is way up as of late, so much so that October 2005 is the projected finish date. Thereafter my writing priorities are three-fold: query actively for Velocity, revise a screenplay ( more about this later ), and draft an outline and synopsis for the sequel.

I pray that the next synopsis is my last because revealing the ending of a story I invest months, years, god knows how long on, is painful. Unpleasant as it may be, there’s little alternative option for a writer trolling for representation; agents don’t invest time reading unless they sense the writer can deliver the goods. While I sympathize with the plight of a thousand manuscripts and twenty-four hours in a day, a big whatever to that practice!

Seriously, three pages is sufficient ink to reveal a diamond. If the story is still agreeable, keep reading. Continue until completion or the warm fuzzies fade. Don’t like the pages? Toss it aside and grab a manuscript that delivers the goods, like say, Velocity.

Guess what feature that automatically saves documents periodically that I didn’t have enabled when the power dipped at the end of a productive writing day? Auto-Save is now enabled and it took about two hours to recreate what was lost.

Yeah, that’s what I learned today.

Recently several unrelated events confirmed my theories on writing.

1)Dean Koontz released a new novel titled Velocity. While annoying in one sense, I invested so much time trying to find a title that had never been used before, it demonstrates that my title selection is sound. Besides several trips to number one on all the best seller lists, Dean has been a consistent performer throughout a very long career. Personally, I don’t care much for his subject matter or themes, but he has good ideas and his wife markets them well. Confirmations can come in all shapes and sizes even where least expected. A new title is in the works which I won’t disclose until the check for the book is in my hands. Cause like now I’m superstitious.

2) I crossed the halfway point for the book formerly known as Velocity. There’s no certainties in this process, yet an invisible marker is behind me. A stack of index cards with remaining plot points sits on my desk, and I don’t feel short on content or ideas. In fact, I may have too much, which in my opinion is a good problem. Slicing the excess away is easy for me, getting it down right the first time – difficult.

3) After a few people read the first 50 pages, I was surprised in a good way by their comments. For instance, to paraphrase: “The few issues with Velocity can all be addressed with light revisions, rather than rewriting. Burn the Ridge Runner, concentrate on Velocity and don’t look back.” OK, so that’s positive. Perhaps burning something that I spent two years working on seems harsh, but it’s expected. Many authors first, second or third attempts are not as good as their famous works. I’ll take this as a sign of progression. Other comments – “The weakest part of Velocity is better than the best part of the Ridge Runner.” Again, more progress.

4) I learned about the rule of three. In short, the precept states that it takes about three years of consistent effort to become proficient in a discipline. Mastery takes ten years. While it may be possible to compress that time period, I don’t think there’s a shortcut ultimately. Even those lucky few who are successful right out of the gate stumble about until they’ve paid the toll in full.