Rock Mesa Book Two
Work is sporadically progressing with the second book in the Rock Mesa series. It’s been harder to find the time to write, but the month of July is looking like fairly smooth sailing. I think my life is going to settle into something resembling a routine, which should give me the time I need to get some writing done.
The work I have gotten done, I’ve been very happy with. I’m in the middle of chapter seven right now, and the pace is starting to pick up. I’m fond of saying that the Rock Mesa books are “books about nothing”, but I think the events that unfold do affect these girls’ lives, and so while it’s true that there’s not much action, there is still a character arc there.
As the books are set in New Mexico, I’ve tried to sprinkle in some New Mexico flavor, without going too overboard with it. In the first book I took the time to explain most of the references I was making, but in the second book I’m letting it fly a little more loose. I figure if you’ve stuck with it for one book, you’ve probably picked up enough that I don’t have to do as much hand holding in the second. I don’t know, we’ll see how it goes.
I enjoy writing the little moments between the characters, the throwaway pieces of dialogue that don’t really serve to advance the plot but are very much in keeping with what I think they would actually do. These are the “funny moments” in the book. They don’t really make me laugh, but they do make me smile. I don’t think I’m capable of writing something that’s laugh-out-loud funny on purpose.
One thing I’ve noticed that’s not necessarily troubling but at least worth keeping an eye on is my chapters are starting to run a little long. As a general rule, I try to keep the chapters in these books around 3000 words. Some are a bit short, most are a bit long, but for all of New Wolf I was able to hit that mark pretty closely.
For this book, which I’m tentatively calling Cryptid Bros, chapter five clocked in at just under 5000 words and chapter six at right around 4000. Those might just be anomalies and I’ll go back to hitting my normal marks again soon, or it might be an indication that I’m trying to do too much and when it comes time to edit, I’ll actually have to cut sections instead of elaborating like I prefer to do.
My rough draft is mostly about the action. Who says what, where are they going, what’s happening around them, etc. I use my second draft to flesh out their emotions and how they feel about what’s happening around them. If I’m already at a fairly lengthy word count after my first draft, I’ll have to find some things to pare back after the second.
It is possible that the reason these are getting longer is because I’m incorporating more of those emotional details into draft one, and so there will be less work to do in draft two. I wouldn’t rule that out. These books are very much a learning experience for me and I know I have a lot to do to improve my writing. If I can finish one chapter a week, I’ll have this done in 3 months, so we’ll see around October which thing is true.