20K! Finally!

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It took me ten days to get here instead of five (thanks to five days spent backtracking on Eliza’s scenes), but I’m at twenty thousand words. Dead Rick is learning things about his own past — nice things, which are actually more painful in their way than the bad things would be. (Don’t worry; we’ll get to those, too.)

I’m approaching the midpoint of Part One, aiming for three parts in total. I may spend part of tomorrow working backward for where I want Eliza at the end of this section, to figure out what should happen between now and then; I should definitely spend part of tomorrow trying to figure out where I want Dead Rick to be headed. I know you can get to your destination by the headlights, but it would be great if I knew a few of the landmarks that lie beyond their beams.

Word count: 20,375
LBR quota: A brief hint of love. Even if Dead Rick can’t actually remember it.
Authorial sadism: Writing a whole scene of Dead Rick doing what he’s supposed to, then deciding to arrange things so that he actually wasn’t supposed to do it.

0 Responses to “20K! Finally!”

  1. la_marquise_de_

    20 k is splendid. It all sounds very alluring.

  2. swords_and_pens

    I like the “by the headlights” line. A similiar analogy one of the writers in my writer’s group uses (Lyda Morehouse) is taking a trip cross-country. Some people plan out every restaurant stop, bathroom break, etc. on their way to the destination; others just get in the care and drive. Either way, as long as you get where you wanted to go, there’s no wrong route (although, admittedly, some routes take longer than others).

    Thanks for the word count update. It makes me feel guilty, which will hopefully help light a fire under me. 🙂

    • Marie Brennan

      My friends and I used to do “Summer Novel Cult” e-mails, when we were all writing novels during the summer; the idea was that by reporting your own progress, you helped guilt the others into working. 🙂

      The thing I love about the headlights line isn’t just that it says there’s no wrong route; it reassures me that even if I can’t see the entire road ahead — even if I never see it — I can still get where I’m going.

  3. ninja_turbo

    Good job on 20K. Dead Rick is a great character name, especially if that’s actually the appellation throughout the novel.

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