I’ve discovered a cure for the new release nerves. You ready? Deadlines. Yup, the way to keep from worrying about how one book will be received is to keep working on another. Or… three more.
My Soul to Save comes out in six and a half weeks, and I should be firmly planted inside the panic zone. But I’m not. There are a million things that could go wrong, but I just don’t have time to worry about them. Much. Not while I’m working on the rough draft of ALPHA, page proofs for
Shift, and revisions for
My Soul to Keep. All due within a month.
Then I have to turn in two short stories in January, and another complete novel in April.
For the moment, I’m focusing on
Alpha, which now stands at 99,000 words. Almost officially long enough! Though of course, an acceptable word count means nothing without an appropriate ending. ;-)
I wrote chapter 23 yesterday, half of which was that fight scene I mentioned, and wound up with 4,200+ words for the day. It’s weird, though. It took me most of the day to write the first 1,200 words, then only an hour and a half to do the next 2,300. (There were more after that.) Why such a difference in productivity?
That first part was the fight scene.
The fight scenes typically flow very slowly for me. And they come in several different layers. The first is basic choreography: Where are the fighters and what are they doing? This was a one-on-one fight, in human form, unarmed, so it was a bit simpler in theory than past scenes where Faythe and crew fought several bad guys at once, either in cat form or wielding rudimentary weapons. Like that first fight scene in
Prey.
However, it was that very simplicity (in theory) that made it so hard to write. Because of the particular (crucial) set up, they’re outside, on flat land. There are no walls or trees or bars to be thrown into. Nothing to be used as a weapon. No one to interfere or help. In short, nothing to make the fight interesting, other than the basic punching and kicking. Which means I had to get creative. ;-)
After the choreography comes the reactions. What the pain felt like and where it occurred. How it affects Faythe’s next move. How her blows slow the bad guy down—or just make him mad. Normally, bits of setting would also come in both of the first two phases, as integral parts of the fight. Being slammed into a brick wall (
Stray), falling onto the mat (
Rogue), being pounced on by a cat on the side of a hill (
Pride), clinging to a locked car door handle to keep from being dragged away (
Prey). But there was little of that in this scene, because there’s only the ground to interact with.
Next come the details that didn’t make it into the broad strokes above. Blood (or sweat) shining in sunlight (or moonlight) or dripping on the grass. The sounds of the fight: screams, grunts, moans, thunks, etc… Scents (very important to Shifters).
Last of all comes the internal monologue: what Faythe’s thinking as she fights. This should be sparse. There isn’t much time to think while you’re literally fighting for your life. But once I have just enough of that to establish her frame of mind… ta da! The fight scene is finished.
At least until it’s time to polish. Because yes, after all that, it’s still in rough draft form. ;-)
The scene after that was terribly traumatic for Faythe. (Always fun to write!) Don’t worry, no one died or broke up. It was a different kind of traumatic. But those really emotional scenes really flow quickly for me. Which is a huge relief after the fight scene. ;-)