#WIPMarathon Check-In #2

Last check-in word count + chapter count: Last time, I was at 41,000 words of my MG fantasy and 5000 of my Not-So-Secret-WIP (YA post-apocalyptic fantasy).

Current WC + CC: Well, as I posted in my What's Up Wednesday post, I finished the first draft of my MG fantasy! It ended at 46,000 words, the shortest first draft I've ever written (unless you count my first two trunked manuscripts). Then again, it's a very rough first draft. The put-it-away-for-a-month-before-coming-back-to-see-if-there's-anything-worth-salvaging kind of draft! But it's done. So I've achieved one of my goals already!

In fact, I've actually achieved two of them! I finished the first major edit of Darkworld Book 5 the other day, so now I can put the series away for a bit - at least, until my publishers get back to me about Darkworld Book 2 edits (the wait may be driving me slightly crazy at the moment!).


My new WIP is at 12,000 words, so steady progress. I've been getting around 1000 words a day, and now the craziness of Pitch Wars/finishing my draft is over, I'm hoping to increase that!

WIP issues this week: Surprisingly, I had no issues with finishing my MG draft, but I always find endings easier than middles. As for the WIP, my only issue was finding time to write it with all the craziness going on!

What I learned this week in writing: I learned that I go through three phases when I'm drafting. First, it's the "I love this book and it's awesome" phase, which lasts approximately 20,000 words until it sinks in that I'm actually trying to write a BOOK. Then I enter the Oh-God-I-Can't-Do-This-Everything-Sucks phase, which is occasionally interrupted by flashes of "Hey, this isn't too bad" and "I actually quite like this part". And then finally, something clicks. I always breeze through the last 5000 or so words of a book, because it's that point that everything comes together and makes sense! Even if I went off track in the middle, it's OK because I can go back and revise later. I can breathe again!

So that's why I wrote 5000 words in 2 days when finishing my MG draft. Problem: I think I may be about to enter Phase 2 for my WIP...

What distracted me this week when writing: Goes without saying, but Pitch Wars kind of distracted me...if just because I couldn't stay away from the Twitter feed! But it was mainly good distractions, not bad ones. I got some amazing feedback from the Pitch Wars mentors - one lovely mentor even said my book was definitely ready to query!!!!! 

So...I am. Yes. I've entered the trenches. For the first time in a year - the contest was the push I needed! And, um, it might be just a tiny bit distracting... *bites nails*

Last 200 words: (The last sample from the WIP went down well, so I've selected another snippet from later on in the chapter - bear in mind that this is a rough draft!)

My throat closes. The noise came from right over the roof. They’ve found me already. They’ll have followed my trail. Like sharks can smell a drop of blood in water, the fiends can sniff out if a human’s so much as tip-toed through a place.

Another screech joins the first. Great, there’s more than one of them.

I tread softly back into the landing. I’m going to die, there’s no doubt of it – I’m unarmed, not that any ordinary weapon can harm the fiends anyway. I brace myself against the wall as the first tremor shakes the house. My bones jar against each other, my teeth rattling in my skull. I hear the splintering sound of glass breaking. One of them has thrown itself against a window. The bedroom window. Gripping the wall so hard my fingers leave dents in the plaster, I start to make my way downstairs. Slowly. I feel every time one of the fiends slams into the side of the house, rattling the floorboards beneath my feet. I want to be on the ground, not that it’ll do any good once they get in the house.