making up for time lost

So I started off my day with 2 pages done for Chapter 10, since yesterday I was unable to do more (and frankly I was happy to get anything done). Today, I did 15. I like to think it was to make up for the day prior, but in truth, it was more because I was able to get into a rhythm several times today and able to keep my focus solely on the book. Remarkably, I almost finished Chapter 11 today as well, but I've really run out of "daylight" so to speak. (realistically I need to get sleep because of an early morning tomorrow)

Also somewhere along the way I had it in my head this book was 18 chapters long. It won't be. It's actually 17 chapters (counting Chapter 0), so I'm actually almost to the end of the first draft. This is insane to me, both in how fast it's coming together and how short the story will actually be (even after it is rewritten). I honestly never thought I could write a complete story that was around 200 pages, but it looks like this book will possibly hit that and only just barely. Even if I try to pad it out, and really work on trying to add more scenes, 200 seems to be the threshold for this story, and not necessarily because there isn't enough to write more. The overall story is simply just too straightforward and not a lot of twists and turns. And to be honest, I'm sort of liking that aspect.

For every other story I've written, there has been a much broader goal in mind, with far more twists and a lot of mystery about what is exactly happening. In this case though, virtually everything will be solved inside this book, and not filled in later in following books. Even Blood Talon, which is very straightforward, the reasons behind the story will be further explained in a separate book (and even referenced in Cherry Blossoms).

Cherry Blossoms is one of those stories that, on it's own seems to be truly its own story. And yet, it's actually a lot more like (in movie terms) Back to the Future 2, a story that helps bridge the gap between points A and C. It's really just a short story to expand upon one world in the impending overarching story, to establish that world and several characters in it. Even so, it's proving to be quite an enjoyable experience.

So either I'm becoming a good enough storyteller to make even the straightforward ones fun, or it's dumb luck. I'm going with the dumb luck until I can prove otherwise. and since I refuse to try and prove anything, dumb luck will reign supreme.

David Barentine
www.wotps.com