This blog has blogged down

[Brian Hoffman]

I think it time that we have a serious discussion about writing crime fiction to keep this blog from becoming boring.

I propose that those of us who write commit to writing three chapters in our current novel and report to each other (via this blog) on our progress.

I'll start.  I've gone through a number of ideas on novels recently and settled on one named Alone with a Magic Death.  I'm on Chapter 4 at this time.  I commit to you my crime fiction friends that I will have Chapter 7 complete by the first of November.

[Karen Dionne]

Good luck, Jack. Here's hoping she loves it!

[Jack Getze]

Thank you, ladies. And I think we all need a little good luck to make a manuscript prosper.

[C.M. Albrecht]

I'd be wary of too much re-writing on spec.

I sent a "great" crime script (based upon one of my books) to a "producer". He loved it and we conferenced on the phone several times and I thought this was IT. But then he came around to the place where he wanted me to take two minor characters and focus the story on them and basically re-write the whole thing from page one. 

While I was thinking (a little bit) about that, I did more checking and learned that he has never produced anything more than tomatoes in the back yard and probably never will. No real office and as far as I can see, no connections. I already have plenty of no connections.

A very disappointing experience. But we all keep trying and hoping. Good luck, Carl

[Jack Getze]

I agree. You sure better know who you're re-writing for and why.

[Robert Hart]

I'm nearly done with the first installment of a new series. The working title is 'The Nowhere People'. I've plotted out 15 chapters; just about to start chapter 12. With luck and a prevailing wind, I'd hoped to be done with the first draft by Halloween. Then I decided to take part in the 'Varney the Vampire' remix. That'll take about a week (1000 word limit), so it looks like the second week in November. Possibly.

[Byron Leon McAllister]

My latest is bogged down. Well, actually I am, because though the  plot is (relatively) believable, the degree of excitement demanded by contemporary readers hasn't reared its ugly head yet. But Free Cell is better for me than alcohol would be, so I can't say my time is actually wasted.

[Stacy]

Well let me jump in.

I am getting ready to turn in the third installment in my recent mystery series to my publisher this week. I have two books I need to do rewrites and edits on then I started a new book today on a whim!

I am trying to do all I can because I am excited that I am about to enroll in college to get my Bachelor's so I hope I can still dedicate time to writing. Once I get in the flow of my studies I can see how things go but I won't let it get in the way of my writing! I will have to bite the bullet and multitask, and that's not my thing. I love to focus on one thing at a time. But I won't let my writing suffer and certainly can't sacrifice study time so however I can split the time successfully, I will.

[David DeLee]

I'll jump in too. I'm currently working on a novella in my Grace deHaviland bounty hunter series. I've completed the outline--basically I wrote the entire story in (a very sloppy) script format--it clocked in at about 19,000 words.

I'm working on the first prose draft now. So far, I'm 7,800 words into it. I'm anticipating the project to end up at around 30-35,000 words. Had a slow week this week, and slow month altogether, but I'm anticipating the family obligation that took me away from writing are done.

Anyone signed up to do NaNoWriMo?

David DeLee

[Jude Hardin]

So it's just animosity toward people who are pushing out in one month (or three days) something that takes others a year to do?

For some writers who take the craft seriously, I think, it's the whole notion that anyone with the desire to do so can crank out 50,000 words in a month and then call what he or she has produced a "novel." Occasionally something brilliant results (Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants, for example), but I suspect most of NaNoWriMo's participants end up with a pile of rubbish. Personally, I don't have a problem with it. Let them have their fun. And for a lot of pros who write full time, 50,000 words in a month isn't that big of a deal anyway. It's only 1667 words a day.

[Benjamin Sobieck]

Only!

If I did participate, I think I'd take my pile of words and use it as a starting point for something else. I sometimes takes me a couple false starts until I actually latch onto what I'm doing.