Writing to a deadline

I have a deadline.

A novel I’m writing needs to be published in five to six months. I usually take years on my manuscripts, working on a draft, then putting it aside for a few months. When I pick it up again, I’ll see what needs work, fix, then put it aside for another few months. I’ll continue on a different book in the meantime, using the same method.

When I return to a draft and find only minor changes need to be made, that draft is submission ready once I make those amendments. In the past, this method allowed me to have a new book out each year, but that book had been developed over several years.

For example, in Virtual Insanity, Hudson was a two dimensional character in early drafts. Even with my notes about her personality, and the image of her I was using, she wasn’t coming across as a real person. So I found a manga image of her instead, where she was vaping. This sparked my imagination down a different path, adding to her persona, making her real midway through that story’s development. By the time the manuscript was polished, her sassy personality was well established.

Trying to finesse an initial draft, as I’m doing at the moment, is new to me. As any author can tell you, a first draft is where you put your ideas down. Further character and scene development happens in rewrites.

I had a light bulb moment while lying in bed.

The brief for this project is Urban Fantasy MM Romance with a wizard as a main character. Originally, I used your typical medieval aesthetic for the magic realm. Then, while I couldn’t sleep I thought, why not make that realm surreal. It’s original.

Five minutes later I thought, Kevin, all your stories have surreal elements. This is nothing new. But I went in this direction nevertheless. Comfort zones are okay when you’re speeding up a process.

Yet I’m also using present tense with third person limited for the first time, after reading a book in that style and admiring how intimate the characters felt to the reader. While I had author doubts at first, several chapters in, I knew it was right for this story.

I’m also writing absurdist comedy.

It’s the genre of my early novels so I’m comfortable with it. Yet in this project, the characters are more flawed, which is true of my recent unpublished stories because over time, the depth of my writing has changed.

One of my secondary characters has a drinking problem and initially, she was coming across bitter. I replaced her with a 60s style sex kitten, also with a drinking problem. She’s a better fit for this light-hearted story.

These decisions are being made quickly, as I continually review what’s written, trying to weed out problems which would usually be noted after several months of the work being put aside. There’s no time for this luxury.

I’m enjoying the challenge.

I bumped into the person who runs my writing group while waiting for the library to open. I told her about this project and she said that it’s good practice to learn to write to a deadline.

This tale has a lot of oddball twists and turns, while still grasping at a deeper theme. This time I’m exploring addiction.

And thankfully, even with my initial doubts, this story is working!