Pratt Day 1

I finally entered a writing contest. I have to come up with about 50,000 words over the course of November and mold them into something resembling a novel.

I took a long, long walk this afternoon to clear my head and iron out some details of some ideas that came to me overnight. I decided over the weekend that I would go with the Pratt story, because I've given it the most thought over the last few months.

I turned off all the lights in my apartment--except for a lava lamp--lit some incense, threw on my big-ass headphones, and started typing whatever came to mind within the Pratt idea. I decided to start the beginning, because I have parts of other sections of the book done, but not much for a while between the intro and the middle. I wrote 3,853 words in about 3 hours, which is a satisfactory pace by any measure. I could have easily done more, but I felt like I laid a good foundation for going forward. I like what I have so far, even though most of it will be scrapped or extensively reworked before all is said and done. Basically, I got halfway through describing his early morning routine. I know certain details will have to be added later, but I'm sure they'll come during future edits.

I've decided that my approach will go something like the following. I'll write like crazy all day and night during the week. On Saturday I'll do some editing, consolidating, composing transition portions, and possibly some real writing. Sundays I will do half-days, maybe 2,000 words to lay the foundation for the rest of the week.

Out of my blackout/hangover of this past Halloween weekend arose some seriously fantastic thoughts regarding the plot. This point has troubled me for some time now--the fact that I had a great beginning, a great ending, but not much in between. Where's the direction of the story going to come from? What's the point? There have to be highs and lows, or I'll risk losing the audience 50 pages in. The plot idea I came up with is a pretty great one, I think. I won't divulge it just yet because it could very well change, and I want you to buy my book. But, as I am a trickster at heart, I've decided to make the death portion of title applicable to the plot itself--not just Rich the man dying, but the self-imposed death of an important portion of his life. Double-entendres kick ass, even when they're not of a sexual nature.

I promise I'll keep blogging about whatever comes to mind, including thoughts about where I am in the writing process. I might even post snippets of the novel as I go along, to see if you guys like it. So keep checking back often.

And that is that: Day one of my first sincere attempt at being an author. Wish me luck...