On Novel Writing V

The first draft of the book is now nearly done.

My writing has slowed considerably lately for a number of reasons. I hit a section of the book that I hadn’t extensively planned out in my head, so my writing slowed as I devoted time to thinking about what I wanted to compose. Then I’ve also been busier lately, leaving less time to spend on composition. Finally, I’ve lately realized that I spend so much time thinking about this story, and having fun wrestling over how I want it to develop, that I think I’m somewhat subconsciously hesitant to actually finish it. As long as it’s still a work-in-progress, I can continue thinking about it and developing it. However, once it’s “finished,” thinking further about what I want to do with it is a pointless exercise. However, I have lately found myself considering more ideas that may be integrated into the sequel book.

I’ve always envisioned this story in two parts, and although the world setting is certainly big enough to allow for an infinite number of tales, I’ve never seriously envisioned this story as anything more or less than two parts. I’ve also never seriously thought of myself as a novelist, and I’m certainly no NisiOisiN who can churn out a complete light novel in under a month. But at this point, I’m now into the “epilogue” and have completed over 200 typed pages and surpassed my target goal of 50,000 words. I put “epilogue” in quotation marks because I’ve thought of this final scenario in the story as an “epilogue” for years. However, just yesterday I realized that it really ought not to be an epilogue. The prologue is specifically a prologue because it occurs before the introduction of the protagonist and establishes the foundation of the narrative. But the “epilogue” does focus on the protagonist, so it’s really more accurately a final short chapter than an “epilogue.”

I’ve also recently come to realize that I think I’ve actually managed to craft a reasonably original story. The tale draws inspiration from a wide variety of sources, including Tori Amos and X Japan songs, medieval poetry, and certainly anime and manga like Gunnm and Five Star Stories, but I don’t think that it clearly and immediately resembles anything else I’m familiar with. While K-On is a variation of Lucky Star, which is a variation of Azumanga Daioh, and “sad girl in snow” eroge anime are similar enough to be categorized “sad girl in snow” stories, my novel is overtly a sci-fi revenge story that’s not entirely a revenge story. My tale actually pre-dates Tow Ubukata’s Mardock Scramble novels, but while my story bears some very loose parallels to Mardock Scramble, the similarities are so superficial that I’d immediately dismiss any serious attempt to compare my novel and Mardock Scramble. Both Bloody Angel and Mardock Scramble are futuristic stories in which reconstructed young women seek answers and revenge. But that’s where the parallels end. In specifics, my novel Bloody Angel has no similarities to Mardock Scramble at all. So I’m pleased to believe that I’ve composed a moderately unique story, but that occurrence is largely coincidental as I didn’t consciously set out to create something “totally original.” I only sat down to write the story I wanted to tell, and I’m pleased to find that I think it’s turned out quite interesting. Provided that I may actually finish the initial draft tonight or tomorrow, I’ll then begin re-reading and revising it, hopefully to get a workable draft to a small handful of my “test readers” sooner rather than later.