Here comes the push.

[wordwhacker]

It's currently 3AM. I'd like to make a fairly concentrated effort to finish my project for crimsonata sometime around 7AM. So this is me, making a journal entry that I'll update with my progress every hour, on the hour, so as to not get totally off-track like I'm prone to do.

Edit the First:

I'm glad I brought my notes with me. Currently the story is taking place in two parts, cutting back and forth between Sunday morning and Saturday afternoon/evening. The Sunday morning scenes are introspection on the part of the main character, and the Saturday scenes are the action, the tension, the showcasing of the characters and their interaction. I was never sure how to approach this story before, but this way came to mind just yesterday evening and I think it'll let me pull it off.

I feel like it's a bit of a copout, but hell, if it's an effective copout that makes the story work for the reader, is it really a copout after all? Whatever, as long as it lets me lay down the bare bones for this story, I'll be happy.

I'm intimidated by the next section. I need to just write it and hope it happens. I need to have the characters fight, and with a level of intimacy that can carry over from angry tension to passion. I know it can work, but my question is... am I good enough to make it work?

I need to know the characters. They need to know each other. I need to trust that I don't suck as much as I sometimes feel like I do.

Okay, enough rambling, time to pick up where I left off and see what I can do.

Edit the Second:

A fairly decent hour of writing, though I've been avoiding the "hard" bits in favour of writing the little incidental parts that take place on Sunday morning. Introspection is easy, man. Convincing, tense dialogue? That's hard. And that's what I'm going to have to write next. I have to say, though, that the introspective bits are giving me a good platform to jump from. Now I just have to, uh, jump.

Hoping to get at least one section written in the next hour. Wish me luck.

Edit the Third:

Well, some dialogue happened. I think it's doing what it needs to do - there's some animosity happening, and I think the reader is starting to get an idea as to how the chemistry between my characters works. At least, I hope so. I can't help but wonder if anybody but me cares about these characters, or is interested in them at all. I'm sure every writer wonders this, especially about characters they have a particular attachment to. I'm trying my best to make the prose fun and interesting, at least, and at least a part of that is coming from the character himself, since it's in first person. So I can hope that it's working. I think.

For the first time I'm starting to be able to clearly see the series of events and how it's all going to work. Or I hope it will work. Anyway, the end is in sight. I might take a little break now and try to freshen myself up in order to finish this thing. At this rate I'll either nail it before I leave this morning, or be able to tidy it up tonight.

Edit the Fourth:

I'm starting to lose concentration. I took a walk earlier to try and clear my head, but opening up my document and actually writing in it is starting to feel like quite a task.

Time to keep plugging away.

Edit the Fifth:

Okay. So I kept writing. Got a couple of scenes down. It looks like I'm not going to get this thing finished this morning, but it's really well on the way. There are only two more scenes to write, in fact - one for the Saturday night, and one for Sunday morning to wrap things up. There might also be a transitional scene of some description, but it would probably be pretty short.

I anticipate this next section as being the hardest one to start, but once I get going I think it'll come fairly easily. It's... just... getting them talking. That's been the thing all along - getting these two talking at odd intervals. Honestly, it would probably be easier to write a novel - then I wouldn't have to figure out how much or how little detail to leave in, where to start and stop the snippits of what is obviously a lot more dialogue than I'm actually able to show, etc...

I'm sitting at 2,500 right now, so things will probably round out at just about exactly 3,000 words. Right on target. Booyah!

Getting excited again. I might just have to run home and keep working on this there. I'd really love to have it all finished up and posted before I go to bed. Then I could really go to sleep with a smile on my face. (Until I wake up and remember how much it sucks. But hey, first draft. I reserve the right to suck a little.)