Write-a-Thon Week 3

Off to a good start this week, in a way. I decided to take a break from To the Happy Country for today, and I started work on a new ghost story set in my home province of Saskatchewan, called The Empty Slough. It’s meandering, but that’s fine: I fully expect to draft it to roughly 5000 words and then cut 30-40% of that in the end. It’s a weird ghost story, but I’ll say nothing more about that until I find out whether it works or not, since the “twist” in the story is metaphysical, and by “metaphysical” I don’t mean supernatural.

In any case, the daily progress is:

The Empty Slough: 2140 words
Weekly Total: 2140 words
Write-a-thon Total: 32985 words (37% finished my total quota of 90,000 words)

And in other news, I’m going to start in at the gym again tonight. Taking it easy for the first little while, but happy to finally be back to it. When I come home, if I don’t collapse, I’ll be doing some work on an editing gig I’m somewhat behind on. (And maybe even this (apparently dreadful) Bollywood superhero film I’ve been waiting to see, Krrish.)

Update: Tuesday, July 3rd:

To the Happy Country: 1317 words
Weekly Total: 3457
Write-a-thon Total: 34302 words

I’ll probably get back to the Slough thing when I’m once again set back on Jang Won’s story, but for now, it’s on track so I’m gonna stick with it. (Though I have a strong desire to make The Empty Slough work, during this month no less.)

Update Wednesday, July 4th:

To the Happy Country: 2899 words
Weekly Total: 6356 words
Write-a-Thon Total: 37201 words

Well, Jang Won’s life is now properly messed up, and on its way to be even more shoopah-comfortable/totally-derailed, which is of course what needs to happen to him.

Update Thursday, July 5th:

To the Happy Country: 2020 words
Weekly Total: 8376 words
Write-a-Thon Total: 39221 words

Jang Won’s life is derailed, other people are almost completely in control, and he’s not even sure it’s a bad thing. Though of course, it is, and his wife is already starting to figure the whole mess out for herself.

Update Friday, July 6th:

To the Happy Country: 3027 words
Weekly Total: 11403 words
Write-a-Thon Total: 42248 words

That leaves with with about 3600 words left to draft tomorrow, and it’s going to be a late night because the afternoon will be taken up with a piano concert in Seoul, and then perhaps a little quick shopping and a nice, light dinner on the way back.

Things are somewhere between up and down for Jang Won. His company — the Justice Army — has just come across what might be the most powerful superhero character in the whole story — a little hunchbacked old lady named Gun No-Rae who’s got one hell of a voice on her, and by the way, Tina C., it’s your family name that hers is based on. I think you’re gonna get a kick out of her. She’s a riot. Literally. Anyway, she’s now part of the Justice Army, and things are going bananas. I’ve given up limiting this draft to 90,000 words — I figure if I got to 120,000 or so, I’ll have enough to work with that when I cut 20-30% of it, I’ll have an actual novel draft. I’m also just sort of exploring everything.

Meanwhile, reading Tom de Haven’s It’s Superman!, I’m going, “D’oh!” because I love how he’s switching perspectives scene by scene, so that all of the characters get some kind of mental stage time. That would make the novel really interesting, but would, I think, make it harder to follow, and would completely wreck the original novel. de Haven can get away with it because the story of Superman is so familiar, that the leaping around is grounded in the known. Since my Korean superhero world is wholly alien, especially to the majority of Anglophone readers, my protagonist is the anchor, and the narrator’s voice helps things along, and that’s how it has to be.

I think.

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