The Kevodran 2.0: The Desert Looks Different From Here

19 Monday Sep 2011

Posted by André J. Powell in Retrospection, The Kevodran, Writing

As noted below, I reached the end of The Kevodran manuscript with version 1.70 on Friday, September 16th. Now that the first draft is finished the question of, “What’s next?” must be addressed.

The manuscript is far from ready to put to bed, or retire under-the-bed for that matter. In fact, save for the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November, I think the rest of the school year will be dedicated to developing and polishing The Kevodran, at least until summer arrives. At that time, I hope to return to November’s efforts and pursue The Three Moon Maidens.

This plan may be problematic as we will most likely be moving from my beloved Iona Cein, my beautiful home, library and back yard retreat, to some godforsaken rental having let the house “go back to the bank” as they say. It is definitely not something I want to do, but life is what happens when you wish it wasn’t. If the drama of it all interrupts my fiction’s muse and writing practice, I’ll make the best of it and compile a set of notes and journals concerning the loss and the emotional toll of leaving a place beloved, the humiliation of foreclosure, the symbolic and spiritual meaning of home, the dehumanizing aspect of the situation, and the fear of ‘starting over’ at 50 knowing that I most likely won’t live long enough to have a home of my own again. This, I believe, might provide some wonderful raw material for a small manuscript of poems and prose vignettes on the subject I’ve been considering in the back of my mind for some time now.

If I can, however, I’d like to keep the momentum going with the The Kevodran, despite my present lack of publication ambition. I have learned so much during the writing of this first draft. I’m sure the next stages of additions, re-writes and revision cannot help but teach me more about my practice and the craft. Who knows what amazing things I might discover over the next nine months?

My present plan involves a set of revisions. Each will focus on a major addition or re-write.

The Kevodran 2.0 would be a cleaned up version of the story and arguably the most critical of the versions as I plan to go through the manuscript and create a detailed plot outline from it. Though I, of course, had an outline to guide me during the initial writing, the organic nature of composing a novel-length manuscript took the story in unexpected directions. I need those surprise paths recorded and mapped out. A companion document dedicated to such an outline would help immensely as I try to see my plot line clearly.

I also plan to address all the “Notes” placed in the manuscript reminding myself of this needed addition or that important clarification. I hope that by doing so the manuscript will smooth out a bit and add a sense of euphony and continuity to the whole.

Once that is done, 2.0 will be complete.

The Kevodran 3.0 will focus on adding the character Orrja’s story to the plot. Heather’s Chapter After Chapter section “Braids” put a bee in my bonnet concerning the importance of giving a story depth and interest via additional POVs or story lines. In the beginning, Orrja was a rather flat and static supporting character. As the story progressed however, in one of the unexpected developments mentioned above, she became extremely important and almost a main protagonist herself.

I hope that having explored the main events of the plot in The Kevodran 1.0, weaving in Orrja’s story will be less problematic. That being said, I have no doubts the story will be pulled in many new, strange and wonderful directions that may then require their own serious revisions.

The Kevodran 4.0 will add a third strand to the braid with the addition of Selt’s back-story and his point-of-view. As this will be an exploration and less of a sure thing than Orrja’s tale, I will have to be very careful the story does not take off in a new direction. Selt has ever been the main character’s side kick, but he is his own character with equally as strong motivations. I could easily imagine his time with the demon Golden August being an amazing story on its own. If not the subject of a full length manuscript then at least a short story’s worth of material. I’m open to additional revelation, but I don’t want The Kevodran side tracked too far.

The next version, 5.0 will involve a process similar to that of 2.0 with a smoothing of the manuscript and a nudging it into shape before the true rewrite effort begins. In my mind this will produce a truly finished first draft with all parts present, all ideas added, all twists and turns completed, something I can take a proverbial editing hatchet to in the next incarnation.

The Kevodran 6.0 will then be the true revision. I would like this version to end up being not only smoothed out, but trimmed down by quite a few words and given a serious critique. I will give this version over to all the self-editing and revision skills I have in a ruthless appraisal. Everything undergoing an honest evaluation. If something doesn’t further the story along, it will be chopped. The remainder will again be re-aligned, smoothed out and evaluated for euphony and continuity.

7.0 will be the “Reader’s Version.” This is the one I will offer to a Writer’s Group, a Writing Conference One-on-One session or Reader critique for comments. The observations and suggestions offered by those readers will be evaluated and either disregarded or employed as their merit indicates. This will, of course, lead to an 8.0 version which would be the next “Reader’s Version” and thus begin a cycle of refining rewrites.

Somewhere down the road, if the manuscript really even makes it that far and hasn’t long before been put to rest beneath the bed, it will be as ready as it can be for professional rejection. Will that be 9.0 or 12.0 or 20.0? Who knows? Regardless, by that time, I’ll have my intro chapters and a detailed outline ready, probably a polished query and all the other silliness required for publishers to sniff over the carcass. I’ll then send it out into the world and see what happens.

After that, of course, if there is any interest in the tome at all, there will be other revisions as various professionals in the world of modern literary publication all have their crack at the manuscript.

Again, this doesn’t daunt me. I’m sure at such a time, I’ll feel like any other writer: eager, anxious, disappointed, elated, rejected, harassed, etc., etc. But really, as Beowulf said, “Fate goes ever as it must.” In other words, what is going to happen is going to happen…or not.

In the mean time, I’ll be working on my next manuscript which, I have no doubt, will also end up like the first: in a place of honor under my bed. Still, I look forward to the ride and all I will learn in the effort. Hopefully, as a result, each manuscript will be better than the last.

In truth, what really matters is that I write and there is so much of it to do, most of it having little to do with editors, agents and publishers and everything to do with pursuing my passion

Originally posted in The Salamander’s Quill 1.0 now deleted.

I Have A Crush On Heather

17 Saturday Sep 2011

Posted by André J. Powell in Review, Writing

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I bought Page After Page, read the first chapter or two, got scared and left it on my nightstand untouched for nearly a year. The cover freaked me out, the writing style had an odd air to it that didn’t sit well with my sense of composition, and, I told my self, the first two chapters were all too familiar…sounding, on the surface, like a repeat of “You can do it!” rah-rah. The truth was, I was terrified…terrified because I could feel the truth in the vibrations of Heather Seller’s words as they plucked at the strings of my writing subconscious. I believed I sensed that I was about to be challenged with truth, and, for whatever reason, maturity, age, experience, circumstances, forced to confront it and make a life-change decision about whether or not I was a Writer (note the capitol ‘W’) or someone who simply writes about wanting to be a Writer.

When I finally got over my fright and more than a year later blew the dust off the cover and cracked the tiny tome open, yellow highlighter and mechanical pencil in hand, I discovered, as I suspected I would, not a book of ‘how-to exercises,’ though there are writing exercises throughout, but a book of seeing, a book of truth, a book of mirrors. With each chapter, “Lover on the Side, Lover in the Center,” “Butt in Chair,” “Being Away From the Work,” “How to be Unpopular and Why,” and “When Do You Say It?” to name a few, I was forced to confront my assumptions, my delusions and my purity-of-intention in terms of my ‘writing life’ and by the time I ended the book, I can honestly say my entire attitude and vision had been changed. If it sounds like I had a spiritual experience…at the risk of sounding dramatic, I’m going to say, yes…yes, I did—especially in terms of a deep inner adjustment and outward life-style change.

70 days after reading this book, and others that came a long including Heather’s Chapter by Chapter (Hail Oh, “Six Wise Guides”), I began and finished the first draft of a novel length manuscript. Do I lay this heretofore un-accomplished ambition on Heather’s altar, pouring out libations to my new found Writing Goddess? Of course not, I’ve been writing for most my life and have been Jones-ing to write a novel length manuscript for some time. It was inevitable I would eventually succeed on some level. I would be less than honest, however, if I didn’t say that her philosophy of what a Writer is, how our sometimes faulty perceptions influence that belief, her thought provoking essays on the process and craft of writing were vitally critical in helping me to that long cherished yet unfulfilled goal. It would not be too much to say that without her thoughts, I would still be dreaming about writing a manuscript and not actually writing it. Nor would I refuse a drink with the lady and, in the spirit of present honesty, I will admit to a certain crush on the lushishly long haired writing guru.

This does not mean I agreed with everything she had to say or am now the prophet of some ultimate “Way of Heather.” Some of what she had to say simply did not apply to me…yet. My present experience and place in life left some of her chapters a bit less applicable than others. “The Rents” for example, and its references to the, at times, negative influences our parents have on our writing did not jive with my experience (though that chapter’s exercise about “Adding new parents…” and exploring the influences of our favorite authors was well worth doing and gave me a lot to think about…and yes, I added Heather to my writing family tree…lol). Other’s however, like “Lover on the Side, Lover in the Middle,” “Butt in Chair,” and “When Do You Say It?” rang like dinner bells in my inner ear and forced me to confront my own writing practice and perceptions.

This is not a self-help book however, and I hope I have not made it sound like such. That being said, it is a book that helped me toward a greater awareness, confidence and belief in my persona as a Writer and the only such book to speak to me on a level and in such a way that I could understand that indeed, I am a Writer…despite the fact that the cover creeped me out.

Originally posted in The Salamander’s Quill 1.0 now deleted.

A Bit Squishy Yet Ultimately Satisfying

01 Thursday Sep 2011

Posted by André J. Powell in NoWriMo, Retrospection, Writing

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The AugNoWriMo was successful, and though it did not have the same exciting “first-timer’s” crunch that the July experience did, it was nonetheless a wonderful experience. A HOL acquaintance, who will remain nameless, disparaged the July challenge in favor of the August one. Rather rude considering I was excited about the July challenge which had only just begun when I mentioned my ‘newbie’ participation in the HOL chat-room. This is an irritating hazard about ‘online-arms and armor’ when worn and used by folks with little or no communication skills and lousy effective filters. They say shit that is dispiriting and simply boorish.

I can only imagine the thinking process behind the pronouncement, “Oh, this guy is trying his hand at a NoWriMo. He seems excited. It’s his first time. I’m excited too! I remember my first time. I’m excited about the August challenge. I have a computer. I am online. I’m in a forum. I can use emoticons. I plan to write for the August challenge. It’s better than the July challenge because that’s the one I’m in and so is my friend ‘X’. We have done it before. I’m a veteran. I know a lot. I’m going to tell him what I know and declare that I know it to all my chat-room peeps. They will be impressed.”

The basis for this judgment may have had to do with a few of AugNoWriMo’s unique features. Rather than a mandatory 50k, writer’s can set their own word-count goal. Almost anything is acceptable from five to 100K or more. AugNoWriMo writers may also work on multiple manuscripts as long as the final work count matches their declared goal. Should things take a turn for the worse, the goal can be re-evaluated and changed, up or down, in increments of five K. The AugNoWriMo also offers a unique publication option in its compendium of short stories, Milestones, for those interested in seeing their work in print. All in all, it’s a good set up and run by some enthusiastic mods. I look forward to receiving my reward certificate via email sometime in the near future.

The certificates are worthless in the sense that they mean little save to those who participated and met their goals. For me they are an important symbol of my accomplishment, level of commitment and discipline. I purchased my trophy coffee cup, a tradition I started with the JulyNoWriMo and plan to continue. I ended up designing my own as there was no Café Press store link posted on the AugNoWriMo’s site. More important than certificates and coffee mugs however, I came away from this experience with long-term rewards and signs of achievement: knowledge.

I learned that the 50K+ of the JulyNoWriMo was not just a fluke or the happy result of a lucky month. I can, with discipline, sustain a viable and productive writing practice every day (so far).

I learned that I can make my, ‘2K a day’ word goal despite working full time, at least with a vacation’s head start to get my momentum going.

I learned that my golden hour, discovered when school started, is from 04:00 to 05:30 when I have to put up the pen and get ready for work. This truly was an epiphany-like discovery for me. Before work, I can crank out up to 1,600+ words in that 90 minute period. The same amount of time at the opposite end of the day, 16:00 to 17:30, results in less than 700 words. I believe this is due to two factors. One, if I have “prepositioned,” (Thank you, Heather Sellers!) before bed, crashed around 21:00 and got about seven hours of sleep the night before, I’m fresh. My mind is unclogged, and after a sip of coffee or two, the words flow like water. Two, I know that in 90 minutes, I MUST put the pen down or I’m going to be late for school and I need that hour of prep before my students arrive for class. This keeps me focused and productive.

Thus, while the JulyNoWriMo helped me to an understanding that I can write a single 50k manuscript in a month, the AugustNoWriMo helped me realize I can sustain it for more than a month and do this while working full time.

I suspect that every time I take on such a challenge, I will learn something new about my practice and the craft of writing.

I am tracking my progress during the month of September without the incentive of a NoWriMo to encourage me. I will finish the first draft of The Kevodran during this month and will have to augment my word count with blogging, background development, HOL extra-credit and letter writing.

Originally posted in The Salamander’s Quill 1.0 now deleted.