My last post here was in February so I figure I'm due for another even though not much has changed. Tainted Sliver is still a WIP, but one that actually seems to have some hope for being completed sometime in the near future. How near? Well, as of today I'm at ~51k words into what should be the final draft, putting me somewhere in chapter 6 (Tales from the Green books tend to have 10 chapters. That's not planned, it's just how it normally turns out). Most of my problem areas have been in the setup of the book, whereas the events leading up to the ending have been pretty much fixed in place since the beginning. After spending much of the spring slowly chipping away at writer's block progress has once again resumed at full speed.
So, how have I gone from almost finished in February to just halfway finished at the end of May? Over the past few years my writing style has evolved somewhat, as have my standards for quality. Things I might have once let slide now require multiple rewrites until I get it right, and in the case of my current book required the insertion of 6 new scenes into the early parts of the book and substantial rewrites of the rest to make it all fit together. Events that used to happen in chapter 2 now happen in chapter 5, and what's more they actually make sense when they happen. That's right, you can expect much less Deus Ex Machina in Book Three of Tales from the Green. The end result will benefit from all of the extra work, but in the meantime I suffer endless writer's guilt on not moving at a faster pace.
So, how have I gone from almost finished in February to just halfway finished at the end of May? Over the past few years my writing style has evolved somewhat, as have my standards for quality. Things I might have once let slide now require multiple rewrites until I get it right, and in the case of my current book required the insertion of 6 new scenes into the early parts of the book and substantial rewrites of the rest to make it all fit together. Events that used to happen in chapter 2 now happen in chapter 5, and what's more they actually make sense when they happen. That's right, you can expect much less Deus Ex Machina in Book Three of Tales from the Green. The end result will benefit from all of the extra work, but in the meantime I suffer endless writer's guilt on not moving at a faster pace.
