David D. LevineScience Fiction Author

Word count: 71940 | Since last entry: 718 | This month: 5318 The rewritten chapters A and B were critiqued on Saturday, and the new Jason is definitely on the right track. But though the group liked the new chapters, there were still some good suggestions about how they could be improved — as well as a few difficult questions. For now, I hope I can get away with some of those problem areas with readers who haven’t read the rest of the book yet. As usual, I got somewhat derailed by success, which is why I haven’t posted here for several days after finishing the previous chapter. I also spent a good chunk of this weekend doing various things related to the kitchen remodel — looking at tile and granite, thinking about sinks, etc. — instead of writing. I did write a couple hundred words while sitting in the lobby before Sunday’s symphony concert, but didn’t post about it here at the time. Yesterday I was just fried when I came home from work, and though I did sit down to write, my eyes kept closing as I was reading over the last chapter and I didn’t put down one new word. But tonight, though I should really have gone to bed at 10:00, I instead sat down to write at that time — just a hundred words and I’ll be happy, I thought. But, again as usual, once I got started I didn’t stop until I had over 500 new words. (If only I could do that starting at 9:00 instead!) Looking to the future: If I keep up the pace of a chapter every 3 weeks — including those crit group meetings when I’m out of town, which I haven’t managed so far — I will be finished in late October. I would really rather finish the first draft before Worldcon (September 1). This means writing more than one chapter for each crit group meeting. Will I be able to do it? Well, I certainly won’t if I don’t try. So I have a new yellow stickie posted above my writing calendar: “I don’t care if you ‘don’t feel like writing.’ WRITE ANYWAY!”

Word count: 71222 | Since last entry: 933 | This month: 4600 Took the train to work today, and wrote the whole way both ways. On the way home, I arrived at 5599 words in the chapter, 1006 words for the day, the moment after the Big Revelation when Jason sits down hard and says “Jesus”, and my stop, all at the same time. Kismet. I resisted Fate at first, thinking that I still had to write at least a few paragraphs of anticlimax to get Jason out of the building. But it seemed such a good place to stop. And not only that, but when I checked my outline for the next chapter it starts with him still in the building. So what the hell — there it stands. Chapter done with two days to spare. Of course, once I deleted a paragraph of notes from the end of the chapter the word count went down to just under 1000. But I’m still giving myself a red star for the day, and a green star for finishing the chapter. We have theatre tickets tomorrow, so I might not write again until Saturday. But I really want to write every day this month, to make up for my appalling performance in April. Maybe just a little, to keep up the streak.

Word count: 70289 | Since last entry: 621 | This month: 3667 Jason finally fulfilled his self-imposed mission, and I passed 70,000 words. Jason’s happy now, but in just a few hundred words comes the moment that brings everything he thought he knew about what he was doing crashing down around his ears — and ties the two plot threads together for even the most inattentive reader. I’m not yet sure how much more of this chapter there is after that point. I’m prepared to play it by ear. I also went back and added a couple of sentences to address an issue my crit grop has had with one of the characters in past chapters. I never anticipated the reading they have of the character, but since at least two of them had the same idea I have to assume that some of the readers will as well. So I put that idea in one character’s mouth so another character could pooh-pooh it. It probably needs to be dealt with more thoroughly in rewrite, but for now I’ve at least acknowledged the problem. It strikes me that writing is a lot like software user interface design (my day job) — you have to anticipate the user’s reactions and direct them to do or think the next appropriate thing from where they are. Sometimes you get it wrong, which is why we have usability tests and critique, to spot those cases and give you a chance to correct the problem before the product/novel ships. On the other hand, in user interface design the eventual goal is not just to create an idea in the user’s mind, but to have them take action and accomplish tasks based on that idea. That’s both easier (a novel is an exercise in pure imagination, with no need to build any real-world functionality) and harder (there’s no interaction — the novel doesn’t know, and can’t take appropriate action, if the reader is off on the wrong track). Imagine a dialog box: “Are you absolutely sure you want to keep thinking it would be a good idea for Genevieve to go out with Leon? [OK] [Cancel]” I might take the train again tomorrow. It worked so well on Tuesday.

Word count: 69668 | Since last entry: 858 | This month: 3046 Took the train to work today, to be a good planetary citizen and to write during time that would otherwise be spent driving. (I can’t do it most days — usually I have errands to run, or tight schedules, that require the car.) Got Jason out of the box and moved him into position for the climactic moment. Lots of description of his situation — not as much tension as the previous scene, but necessary set-up.

Word count: 68810 | Since last entry: 581 | This month: 2188 Jason’s still locked in an airtight box, which is being smuggled into the UN for the big climactic thingie. He can’t see anything, can’t hear much, and is relying on only motion cues and a few muffled sounds to determine whether or not the lid is about to fly open, leaving him staring into the rifles of a whole platoon of UN guards. In between moments of sheer terror he gets to wonder how the hell he got himself into this situation. Hey, it could be worse. I let him remember to go to the bathroom beforehand. Although it lacks any actual action or dialogue, I think this is one of the scenes of greatest tension in the book so far. I might have to trim it a bit — the chapter is already over 3000 words long and they aren’t really inside the UN yet — but I’m happy with the way it’s going. By the way, I don’t buy into the whole Hero’s Journey thing — too easy to get formulaic — but I am alluding here to the myth of the hero who dies and is reborn. In this case Jason is, figuratively, shut into a coffin and buried alive. And by the time this chapter is over, his world is going to be turned completely upside-down. I feel deliciously evil.

Word count: 68229 | Since last entry: 1607 | This month: 1607 Okay, I might as well admit it: April was pathetic. But I’m making a new commitment to write every day in May. I got off to a good start by working on the novel on the plane both ways for my recent trip to Palm Springs. The bad news is that I have locked Jason in a tiny, dark box with nothing to do but think for two hours. This might not be the best strategy for a chapter that is supposed to be the action-filled climactic moment of his story arc…

Word count: 66622 | Since last entry: 541 | This month: 1853 Sometimes success is worse than failure. It seems that whenever I have a major writing milestone or achievement, I stop writing for anything from a week to a month. I think it’s a combination of basking in the good feeling and fear that I’ll never be able to top that previous achievement. The last time I slacked off this long was, I think, after I finished the three-chapters-and-outline for the Wiscon writers’ workshop last year. In this case it was finishing the Lupton contest entry, plus the Hugo and Campbell nominations and the Zeppelin story sale. And I was sick for a week or so, and I’ve been to Minicon and the Nebulas (where I talked with a couple of agents — one asked to see sample chapters now, the other wanted to see them when it’s done) and I edited an old story and submitted it… and received an immediate rejection, and submitted it again. But during that time I have not done any novel writing, so I haven’t posted anything here. In the last couple of days I’ve been doing what’s known as “cat vacuuming” — just about any kind of chore or errand other than writing. The good news is that I got some things done that needed to get done. But I finally realized tonight what I was doing, and I made myself put my butt in the chair and write. Huzzah. I continued a scene I started some weeks ago, where Jason argues with Sienna about what they should do in Flea’s absence. That argument’s just about finished now, and the real action of the chapter starts next. Two weeks to finish the chapter. I should be able to do that. Of course, I think we’re going to be home for dinner only one night this week…

Word count: 66081 | Since last entry: 151 | This month: 1312 I’ve completely fallen off track on the novel. For one thing, I went to Minicon and — despite the usual best intentions to write on the plane — I did no writing at all during the weekend. The only time I turned on my computer was for my reading, at which only one person showed up. But she enjoyed it. For another thing, I’ve been sick since returning from the convention. I’ve also got a deadline at work on Wednesday, which kept me late yesterday and will probably keep me late tomorrow. The 151 words noted above are revisions on a story called “The Last McDonald’s” that I first wrote a couple of years ago, had critiqued, but never got around to revising until just now. The prompt in this case was an invitation to submit to a major market that is in an unusual situation (that’s all I can say, sorry). Having revised the story to my satisfaction, I sent a query to the editor; I hope the story will go in the e-mail tomorrow. But the most interesting reason I haven’t written a thing on the novel in the past week is this: I’M ON THE HUGO BALLOT! TWICE!! My story “Tale of the Golden Eagle” was nominated for the Hugo for Best Short Story, and I’m up for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (my second and final year of eligibility). So I spent most of yesterday evening updating my web page with the news and responding to the many emails of congratulation that poured in. On the same day I learned of my Hugo nominations, I also received word that my Zeppelin story sold to All-Star Zeppelin Adventure Stories. So, though I’m blowing my nose every five minutes and I don’t have any novel progress to report, it’s been a darn good week.

Word count: 66081 | Since last entry: 357 | This month: 1161 Started in on Chapter F tonight. This is the big climactic chapter that Jason’s whole plotline has been leading up to, the place where Clarity’s plotline started, the place where even the most unobservant reader can no longer possibly fail to notice how the two plotlines are connected. I hope to have this chapter ready for critique before the Nebulas. You may note that the “word count” above has taken a big jump — much bigger than the 357 words I actually wrote tonight. This is because I moved the new/revised chapters I wrote for the Lupton contest into the novel itself. The new chapters are about 2000 words longer than the ones they replaced. But, though those words do legitimately join the novel, so the “word count” goes up, I have rejiggered my word-counting algorithm to subtract them from the “since last entry” and “this month” figures because I already counted them last month. But I am now nearly 2/3rds done with the planned 100,000 word novel. Jeez. In other news, today I received my author copies of the June 2004 Realms of Fantasy, including my story “Charlie the Purple Giraffe was Acting Strangely,” with a neat color illustration. Now I need to whomp up a page about the story for my website. Also, yesterday I picked up copies of Science Fiction: The Best of 2003 with my story “Tale of the Golden Eagle.” There are some really good stories in there!

Word count: 63736 | Since last entry: 444 | This month: 804 I had planned to finish up the proposal, proofread it, print it out, and get it in the mail this weekend. I finished it up and printed a draft-quality copy to proof, but when I went to print out the entry form for the contest I discovered the deadline has been extended to May 5. I could take this opportunity to seek more feedback, do more editing, and just generally obsess about it some more. Instead, I will let it rest for a day or two, then proof it, print it, and mail it this week anyway. Thus I defy the Fates. Ha! Next: back to drafting!