Thursday 15 January 2009

Fixing the Daft Draft

It's lucky my characters can swim...

George gasped as he looked into the lake's still waters.

That's nice, but where did the lake come from? One minute the cast are collected on a path and a new character has arrived, and the next, a b****y big lake has appeared right in front or beside or behind them... No wonder George gasped. No introduction. It's just there. I wouldn't mind but George was picking baby teeth* out of his boots a moment ago.

I'm so lucky no one fell in.

Oh the joys of tearing apart a NaNoWriMo draft.


*No babies were harmed in the making of this draft, their teeth fell out due to natural causes.

16 comments:

Katey said...

Oh man, that sounds familiar, and I'm not even talking about Nano drafts! I wonder what hilarious bloopers will await me when I crack open mine.

Cate Gardner said...

I'm sure I have plenty more to come this draft.

Aaron Polson said...

"*No babies were harmed in the making of this draft, their teeth fell out due to natural causes."

Were they replaced by zippers? (yes, I've finally finished re-reading The Posioned Apple and should have some comments soon.)

I'm avoiding my nano draft.

Cate Gardner said...

Thanks, Aaron.

Jamie Eyberg said...

Maybe it is a magical lake or perhaps a mirage?

Cate Gardner said...

Oh it's far from magical. It's a very nasty lake.

Fox Lee said...

These things happen. If I had a nickle for every time I woke up in a lake, I'd be a rich woman!

Danielle Birch said...

Hi there, have stumbled upon your blog and have been having a read through.

I didn't do NaNoWriMo last year, although am definitely planning to do it this year. However, I do know the somewhat helpless/frustrating/daunting/terrifying feeling of editing a manuscript that has been written in a holy hurry, so can sympathise with you as I'm currently working my way through mine now.

I think your blog is great too by the way :) I'm having BlogEnvy.

Tuonela said...

Haha! Reminds of a script I wrote years ago, where a character was blown to bits on page 50 and reappeared on page 60. I do like the magical lake idea, though…

Brenda said...

Those darn lakes...they've showed up in the middle of nowhere in my stories also...only my poor characters fell in...along with the plot...grin...

I'm waiting on the translator to get back with me...I needed one to tell me what the heck my NaNo was all about... ;)

Jeremy D Brooks said...

Boy, that'd be a scary opening line.

"George never tired of the satisfying THK sound that baby teeth made as he pulled them out of the sole of his boot."

Cate Gardner said...

LOL! Natalie.

Hi Danielle, good to meet another blogger.

LOL! Ian.

Brenda, as I get further into the draft I think I'll need a translator as well.

WOW! Nice first line Jeremy.

Anonymous said...

My NaNo project is also being revamped. Also...there are worse things to be pulling out of your boots...

K.C. Shaw said...

You could make the suddenly appearing lake a feature, not a bug. Maybe he's the only one who can see it and the others are like, "What lake?"

Jamie Eyberg said...

I appears right before the giant slug beast comes out of the water and eats him. The end.

Mary said...

The magic lake could appear and disappear then reappear again throughout the story. ;)