In the bleary-eyed hours of the morn I managed to finish the first chapter of “the Project.” It clocked in at 4500 words, which is far too long. My objective was to provide an opening situation where I can show the three different ways the magic system can work, and so I did. However, I’m not sure what will survive into the second draft.
Of course, the second draft is a long ways out.
In the first draft, two main characters, Anden and Trellia, are introduced as cadet soldiers in a mercenary army that fights magic. They go to arrest an illegal mage, but meets far more resistance than they expected. Trellia, who is an excellent fighter but often rash, accidentally kills their mark using a forbidden form of magic.
We haven’t yet met the main female character, Ivy. Ivy is the true engine of the book, even if the story is Anden’s view on the events that transpire.
I’m going to ignore the editor telling me to stop, go back, and shave 1500 words or so out of the chapter. That is really hard. I’m tempted to print out the manuscript, slip it in a binder, and read through it to keep me cognisant of where in the story I am. But I know that as soon as the ink touches the page I’ll be reaching for my red carmine pencil. I’m going to try to hold off for at least two more chapters.
After I finished the chapter, I dumped the text into the Mediawiki I have running. I sorted through the text, using the wiki markup to turn the important stuff . . . place names, characters, and ideas. Then, I take important quotations out of the text and file them appropriately. Finally, I delete the whole page, leaving behind just the pages that once linked off it. The “index cards” if you will.
So far, I’ve found the wiki’s category system to be a godsend. My favorite part of the system so far is the fact that I can write, and just pour out the verbiage, without having to worry about, “Oh boy, am I going to remember this later?” The machine remembers it for me.
