12-in-12

Progress Report – First Quarter

January, I completed the first novella in about two weeks; it came in a series of high-energy spurts, three and four thousand words at a time. It’s currently called The North Country of Winter, though I fully and completely intend to change that title–unless it sticks. Thus far, it hasn’t. In essence, it’s a Twilight Zone type of tale in which our main character crossed, via a motel off Route 9 in upstate New York, into some other, not quite earth realm. (Note: this is a recurring theme of mine.) When I finished, I wasn’t entirely sure it was a real story; it was subtle, perhaps overly so, and the nature of the conflict was different than is usual. North Country of Winter ended with a word count of 20,569. (There is no actual word count goal, per se, but I am aiming for between 20,000 and 25,000 words for the novellas.)

February, I started a story that eventually earned the title The Dry Dusted Sands, another crossing-worlds tale; this one starts with a map, and train tickets, and goes on at a rather quiet, even keel until, at the end, everything gets out of hand and it all goes over the top. It ends like an anime film, and clocks in at 20,289 words. I didn’t actually finish the first draft until three weeks into March.

Also in February, I started the third novella, The Making of a Shadow, which takes place entirely in our world and involves alchemy, perhaps some magic, and an old book written by the main character’s father. (The book, by the way, is The Making of a Shadow; this is no great secret, as it’s revealed quite early.) I completed the first draft on March 31, which means I’m exactly on target to complete 12-in-12 (none yet have been novels; at least two, possibly three, will be). I started this a day or two after the other because I was not at home, didn’t have my laptop, and didn’t want to waste a chunk of time I knew I could devote to something. The first draft is finished at 24,136 words.

I bounced back and forth between the two without marathon days, at most doing 1,000 – 1,500 words per story on any given day and some days accomplishing much less.

What’s next? I don’t know. I’m taking the rest of this month off. (At the time of this posting, that’s seven whole hours.)

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply