Thesis: The Journey Begins
The journey of a thousand pages begins with a single word.
Well, all right, my thesis will probably not end up a thousand pages long. It does feel that way sometimes, when a scene stretches longer than I think it will, or when a character stands up and says, “Actually, I don’t think I should do X. I think Y sounds like a much better plan of action now. We can do X later.”
And the character is right. One such scene was demanded by my main character and it gave me an important secondary character I hadn’t seen coming.
I like that feeling myself, that sense that the characters have come alive enough in my head to have some say in their fates. I think it will ultimately make for a better story.
At the same time though, I wonder about my sense of the story. I originally saw the complete idea in my mind as comprising five sections. During our initial thesis meeting, my advisor, Bruce Holland Rogers, said that one advantage to that approach was that I would be able to cut sections if necessary.
Gee, you’d think the experienced author knows what he’s talking about or something.
I bring this up because I had planned on the first section of the book taking about twenty thousand words. I’ve already passed eleven thousand and I’m not sure I’m halfway done with it. Add to that that I will need to add more detail in revision, and it may have grown by fifty percent. If that’s true, I may need to scale back or cut another section, or risk the project becoming unwieldy.
Is it sick that I’m enjoying this?
Maybe it’s a question of perspective. Suppose for a moment that I need to cut down to three sections. That means that I have two section ideas that will not fit into the novel. I see those becoming short stories. Heck, if my thesis proves solid enough to publish as a novel, those short stories could help generate interest.
Now go really crazy for a moment. What if this first section needs to expand into a novel of its own? That means I have notes already toward four follow-up stories, possibly novels of their own. Ambitious? Just a little. Thinking way too far ahead? Oh, yeah.
The key, though, is tracking my options. I will be perfectly happy if the initial concept works out as a single volume. But I don’t want to become so attached to that idea that I lose flexibility if the story has places to go that I had not foreseen.
Limiting and controlling the story is part of revision. That’s when I’ll look at the various components and decide what stays, what goes, and what is missing. Drafting, though, is about letting the story out.
So for right now my outline consists of a rough sketch of what I expect to need to write next to get where I want to go. Usually it works. Sometimes my characters tell me otherwise.
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Submissions update: Iron Horse and Ideomancer have rejected pieces of mine since I last posted. Ideomancer sent me a thoughtful, encouraging rejection e-mail just last night, and I will be sending a thank you note tonight. I wish I had something ready to send them right now.
