Holidaze Battleship
Posted Tue, 01/04/11
Getting through The Keeper's Journal from the Collective Obsessions Saga was a monumental task. It took me just over two weeks to edit and rewrite almost five hundred pages of text, during which I managed to slim it down to 380 pages. I did one edit, but was completely dissatisfied so I went through it again. At the end of the second edit, I was beyond frustrated. The text loomed like a proverbial battleship, a term once used to describe uncontrolled storyline by one of my editor's at Tyborne Hill. However, the "battleship" is an essential continuation of the Collective Obsessions Saga, so I had to make it work. I sure as hell didn't want to start from scratch all over again. Thus, I focused my efforts on refining all aspects of the story.
After a rare good night's sleep, I jumped on it a third time with a different mind set. I began copying/pasting parts of text into a new document, assembling it in reasonable order. Before long, it began to fall into place. I trimmed unnecessary descriptions and dialogues without mercy, determined to finish the story once and for all. Finally, it came to a place that put a smile on my face: 169,890 words (299 pages).
The Keeper's Journal is one of the longest parts in the saga, second only to The Twain Shall Meet. That doesn't mean it has to be bloated and temperamental. The only way to truly address issues in the story was to set ego aside and get to work. At the end of two weeks, I have to admit I was exhausted. I worked through Christmas and New Years to get it done, foregoing any form of meaningful celebrations.
Taking a break is not in the cards for me. Now it's on to finish Book Six: Hearts Desires.