Well, now on day 99 of my writing streak. That’s a small accomplishment, but an accomplishment none the less. I’ll take what I can get to this day. Have what seems like a bit of an overwhelming task these next few days now, of editing my 50,000 words of draft on my first novel. It seems a little bit intimidating, as I suppose I’ve never done it before. I’m thinking, the first approach to take, would be to define the overall structure a little better, and see where what I have currently fits into that structure. Kind of a reverse process, as I should have used the 7 point structure to start with, but apparently, people that write without an outline do it this way. Which, is sort of what I have done. I think it will still work, and may actually help me with the ending. Given that according to Dan Wells, who came up with the 7 point structure methodology, the ending is where your supposed to start. At least, it’s where he starts. And of course, as with all rules for writing, you can totally throw them out, once you have a good grasp of them, and have an educated reason for throwing them out. But for the moment, I’m going to follow the structure and it’s rules as best I can. What can fit will fit, and what, doesn’t. Likely, the closer I can come to those rules, the better the story will be, but we’ll just have to do our best. And, as my good buddy Tony says, your best is always good enough. So, time to get at it. It’s already, the 11th of the month, and I would really like to have this story already to go with a cover before the end of the month. If I can get it into the hands of my brothers long before that, that would even be better. They haven’t agreed to editing it yet, but I’m sure they’ll agree to at least give it a cursory look. Maybe even sending it to them without an ending wouldn’t be so bad. Although, that probably won’t happen, as I think, that my first step with the 7point structure will be to come up with an ending. Whether I get it written or not, is another thing altogether, but we’ll see how that goes. I just need to grab a wagon full of confidence, and plow ahead with the project. It’s the only real way I can see to get it done. If you can get the editing done, and get it off to the boys within a week, that would give me plenty of time to work out a cover. As much, as I might like to do one of my own, it may make better sense, to buy a premade cover. Something, that can be reused for the subsequent novels would be best. Something, where a slight change, like in the text colouring can be done for each novel in the series. Or, there have been a few simple covers done, that were quite successul books by a few indies writing zombie novels. Like Jeff Olah, and that other guy on the Writers Cafe. He did his own simple covers. You could do something along those lines, without being too complex. The trick, seemed to be getting some good stock art, and just coming up with a basic concept you could use for all your future books. I do really, like the idea of doing my own. Just nothing too artistic or flashy to start with is the key I think. A lot of the zombie covers, aren’t too artsty, like the fantasy stuff, that seems to require a real artist to draw something from scratch to get things started. Many zombie novel covers, have something industrial, or junky, or rotten on the covers. Think the intro to the walking dead, and all the dark and decaying images they use. Often urban stuff, even outdoors, nature sort of things can work. Delapidated houses, like you see in Detroit these days. That city is prime location for a zombie infestation. The whole place, looks like it’s been overrun by zombies for years. It would be fun to do my own cover, as that it’s just another creative outlet for myself. If it doesn’t seem to be working, then down the line, you can always change it and go for something grander. That’s likely the best approach I think.
TIGERBLOOD: no DAILYMOOD: nuetral-tired LOCATION: home office WORDSWRITTEN: 0 PUSHUPS: 0 – shoulder sore did plank for 1:20 instead TODO: editing TV: smallville, greys, dr who BOOK: none GAME: none EXERCISE: none WEIGHT: 174 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: big ass salad DINNER: chicken, carrots SNACKS: orange, grapes, nut mix ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 12 and 1:30 AWAKE: 9:30
