NEW Novel, Same Blog

Update #2 3-9 May 2021

Well in the last post we transitioned between the revision of the thesis novel over to the new novel. I’ve had my first week off of school, but still haven’t quite gotten used to the new schedule without school work.

I think I’m starting to get it all together.

While this blog is retaining the same name, Thesis Diary, it is moving on to other things. You can all expect to get writing updates now on the weekly. I will be posting my week’s word counts to try an maintain accountability. I have also started a work exchange with another author, where at the end of each week we swap chapters and workshop them.

What happened Last Week

We achieved a number of small victories.

First off, I knocked out the rough of my prologues (more to follow on that) and managed to get 4692 words done. (At least by Scrivener. I find that when I compile the text into a word .doc that Word counts differently).

Secondly, I finished a personal essay and submitted it to a literary magazine.

Thirdly, I applied for a side gig and made the short list and got paid for the sample I submitted. So, one week out of school I have made money as a writer and submitted an essay to a literary magazine (and have a list of four more places to try if I get rejected).

Plans for this Week:

I’m going to concentrate on getting a jump on the new novel. Push for a high word count right out the gate.

I have also decided that I need to get the Query letters going. I have fallen far behind on my old schedule. I believe in earlier posts I admitted that I crafted a schedule for the year without really thinking about my school work load or anything else. I just picked dates and deadlines for things to happen thinking I had given myself more than enough time to get the task done.

I was very wrong.

I had to drop some things to accomplish other things. Now, it’s time to get a bunch of the dropped things back on the table.

Also, this week on Thursday, we have the next Curse of Strahd journal. The previous post took the record for single day views and I’m excited to match or surpass that number.

The New Novel… Prologues… Plural?

Alright, let’s start a little writer’s rant. I know there are a ton of people who don’t get “prologues.”

In my classes I mixed with writers of romance, thrillers, and other genres of fiction… and invariably only the other fantasy writers seemed to get the purpose and use of a prologue.

Constantly I received feedback about removing it, dropping it, or just making it chapter one.

That last one is kind of interesting. While I have figured out many of the prologues I have written could very easily be relabeled as chapter 1. It is JUST wrong.

Hear me out.

Prologue as Chapter One

Apparently, many readers say that they skip prologues and move to chapter one immediately. I don’t understand this at all. I have never skipped a prologue in the (literally) hundreds of fantasy novels I’ve read. (Though I have skipped poems and songs).

Prologues are setting up events and giving the reader insights to understand the rest of the novel… at least if they are handled properly.

In my current novel I could easily split my prologue into two chunks and label it as chapter 1 and 2 and just move on with the book. But I feel that’s wrong.

Why?

Purpose of Prologue

Because they serve a purpose. In my mind, the story takes place over several months during the course of a bunch of events. BUT the events in that novel are set in motion from a previous time. Something in the past is important to this current event.

Now, the novel I’m working on is the first of five novels. These five novels take place over the course of 18-24 months and they overlap one another. There are three over stories that happen during the entirety of the five books, but each volume also has its own singular story that happens over a handful of months.

Book one therefore has a double prologue.

Prologue one is an important event that sets up the entirety of the series. It is the moment that one of the principal villains makes his first move. The second prologue is the set up for the story of this singular novel in the series.

Maybe I’ll end up making them chapters 1 and 2.

But personally, since both of these events happen a VERY long time in the past, I feel like they happen BEFORE the story starts. Ergo, before chapter one.

The Week Ahead

I’m putting myself to a 5–6000-word goal per week.

I’m stepping up my painting work.

I want to draft at least the first five query letters.

Workshop my partners first chapters.

Start reading again now that I’m not in school (I felt weird reading fiction when I could be reading school books for the last four years, so found it hard to concentrate on books).

Also, getting my second Covid Vaccine at the end of the week, so happy about that. That might impact next week’s posts if I’m as run down as the first shot.