A documentation about writing the ultimate heist novel.
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Ok, first off, I finished the first draft today. 40,068 words. I limped across the 40k line, the last 1,000 were absolute gobbledygook and served no purpose other than hitting the arbitrary benchmark of forty thou.
What makes it complete? That I feel like I’ve put at least something down for each and all of the obligatory scenes and conventions of the genre I am writing in (‘A Heist’). I don’t feel like I can make progress by adding more clay. The best thing I can do now to further the process is put the pen down and now take stock of what exactly do we have and begin a punch list of everything we feel we need to do before we even think of starting on draft two.
There are several methods and tools I’ve been studying from the ‘Storygrid’ methodology by Shawn Coyne that I am now going to apply in this process. What it will amount to is reading through the first draft probably 4, 5, or 6 times and testing something different with each pass.
I’ll record my findings with each go and yes, this phase is going to involve lots of spreadsheets…one second, Lila is waking.
Ok, back. She just wanted to down a little milk. It’s 11:11pm right now, what we officially call ‘Lemur Time’. Lemur Hours are a nightly event and run from like 8pm til about midnight, sometimes 1am.
What it is, is Lila and I sit out in the living room in the dark save for 1 lamp and we read, study, write, post stuff, edit podcasts, drink milk, sleep, and listen to podcasts about writing. It’s a very productive block of time that we look forward to every day and can only get away with because mom is willing to get up as many times as necessary from 1am on to take over. Part of me will be a little nostalgic when Lila starts sleeping through the night. Here we are in real time:
Anywho, part of what I’m learning about this process is that writing requires the subconscious mind to sort out and reveal answers along the way. And it can only distill a few milliliters every day. So sitting down and trying to brute force as many words out as possible can only get you so far. It just takes the sequence of days and nights to figure some things out.
But what is required of the writer is to show up each day and do that days’ work. Collect the sap that’s coagulated overnight and make some room in the pail for the next batch. Everyday. And with each collection you park a new intention into the subconscious so it can chew on that problem next.
Tonight we were given a clue to help unlock the midpoint. Rather than Mac reveal to Sheridan his heist plot it’s Sheridan who discovers Mac’s secret plan, thus making it a destabilizing turn of events. That’s taken me a few weeks to receive that nugget.
Ok, tomorrow’s Monday and on the bus ride in we’ll start to spreadsheet our scenes from draft 1 and do the first pass at the manuscript to simply take stock of what exactly we have.
I had thought that number, 40k for draft 1 sounded about right when I began it in January 26th. Funny how the mind sometimes just knows the distance like that. Your body knows more than you do, so be sure to always listen.
Have some thoughts? Feel free to drop a comment or hit me up: charlie@charleskunken.com
Other Posts In The Hollywood Heist Series
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