44,046

...and the first draft is DONE!

And it's a good thing 'cause I've got to get up at 6am tomorrow to get ready, ship the pets off to jail, pick up 3 people, and get all our butts to the ferry terminal on time...

...'cause we're got a MARINERS game tomorrow!!

Woo-hoo!

I'm looking forward to this weekend, not only 'cause of the game, but because we're taking a different ferry than usual. Normally, when we leave Vancouver Island, we take the BC Ferries route over to Vancouver (well, technically Tsawassen), but this time we're taking a Washington State ferry which drops us off at Anacortes.

The ferry trip is longer, but it'll be fun 'cause there'll be about 10 of us on the ferry together.

...and I REALLY didn't want to be packing my laptop and hiding away somewhere trying to finish this first draft...

By the way, I know a bunch of people have asked to beta-read 'Brake Fluid', and sorry, I can't remember all who... except for the couple people who have begged harassed threatened asked me a number of times recently, so if you were one of those interested parties, send me an email, don't trust me to remember.

I'm shooting for mid-to-end of July for having my first editing pass done, and I'm not looking for anything too hard-core/fancy since that one pass is all I'll be doing before handing it over.

Just point out where things are confusing, what makes you roll your eyes, and where you want to smack the characters upside the head. Since it won't be in a polished state, no need to worry about grammar/etc unless you just really like finding those, then feel free, 'cause I never turn down good advice ;)

And yes, feel free to use those terms :) I'm a little slow sometimes, so dead-straight-honestly is the best way for me not to get confused. Just keep the four-letter words to a minimum ;)

...now, I better turn off this computer and pack my bag for tomorrow...

Since I'll be in transit on July 1st... Happy Early Canada Day to all my fellow Canadians out there!!!

Getting away with it

As I'm struggling through the final scenes of the 'Brake Fluid' first draft, a thought has occurred to me.

Do you guys (as readers) want the two main characters to get away with it?

The 'it' of course being, the stealthy disposal of Jackson's body.

And I suppose I'm putting this out to any followers who have read chunks of the story, or those who have read the *blurb* on my 'what I'm writing' page.

The line that put this thought into my brain is this:

So what happens when everyone’s at fault, but no one’s at fault?

The ending for this story was always very clear in my mind (which is unusual), but I think that's 'cause I recognized Jackson's death for what it is. A catalyst. But at the same time, it's the end result of another catalyst: the original bet at the party six months earlier.

Sure, half the plot is the slow reveal of what actually happened on those two past nights, but the other half of the story is the journey to dispose of the body.

It's essentially an exercise in dealing with consequences and guilt, not just for Triss & the MC, but everyone involved, including Jackson.

Hence that particular line about 'fault'.

I think this is a particularly tricky question when we're talking about YA.

'Cause when I think back to what I was like at that age... I was involved in a hell-of-a-lot of stupid stuff. Some I got caught for, and some I still feel guilty about even now. Consequences and guilt were things I thought about a lot at that age, not only in weighing choices, but in figuring the angles on how to get out of potential trouble depending on which path I took.

You can rationalize a lot with only a split second to think.

Which is why when I was writing this story, I wanted to muddy up the reader's desires... to make it difficult to say for sure whether Triss & the MC should get caught, or get away with it.


Can you think of any books where you've equally wanted the main character to 'get away with it', yet also want them to get caught and punished?

How much emphasis (or thought) do you put into the consequences/guilt of a character's choices?

Nearly there...

I'm about.... 500-800 words away from finishing my first draft of 'Brake Fluid'.

I'm rushing 'cause I've got a funeral to go to today in less than 1 1/2 hours and I still need to eat lunch and get ready.

...but I'm almost done :)

Favourite gross-out line of the day?

The trunk smells like... well, I can see why Eric thought a cat got cooked on the engine.

Favourite subtexty-description of the day?

Back in the trees, the chill wind has died down, as if the storm that almost-was is now rethinking where it wants to fall.

But unlike the rain, my mind is set. I’m going to do what I need to do. No more wussing out.

My word-count at this moment is 43,243. Low, but I know there's a lot of things that need clarifying during the editing process. I'm betting the first draft will come in very close to 44,000 words and with editing, I'm guess-timating it'll end up around 55,000 total.

I've already got a small mental list of consistency issues too... like changing all the mentions of Cherry Coke to Wild Cherry Pepsi, having Triss smoke throughout the entire story, Jackson's deck of cards needs to be shown earlier, and I have to weave more music stuff in places where I simply skipped over it to get to the next scene.

...and also I have to make sure the MC isn't strongly skewed towards either gender.

I also have a... quite disgusting *reference* question I need to ask a member of my writing group who, even if he doesn't directly have the answer, knows someone who will.

alcar...I'm lookin' at you ;)

How about you guys? Are you close to making your end-of-the-month-goals?

How about everyone doing NaNo June Camp?

Okay, time to shove something edible down my throat and get changed.

...there's been way too many funerals this past year...

Learn something new

Today, the husband and I, along with a bunch of people our age from work, are taking the Canadian Firearms Safety course. We're doing the rifle course, which you have to take before taking the restricted firearm course -> aka, handguns.

I'm not sure what to expect, but it should be fun, interesting, and I'm certain I'll learn new things which I can incorporate into later stories :)

...any new adventures this summer?


EDIT: the course was fun! ...despite the fact it could have been shortened from a 10 hour 1-day course to about a 4 hour course if the instructor had limited the number of hunting/moose-killing stories.

Also, I got 100% of my written and 99% of my practical ;) top mark ;)

We're going back tonight for the restricted (handgun) course which *promises* to be shorter and almost entirely practical.

Argh. Details.

My dear husband politely informed me last night that Triss' favourite drink (Dr. Pepper & Cherry Coke mixed 50/50) would be impossible to get at a fast food restaurant since they carry Pepsi OR Coke products... not both.

And Dr. Pepper is a Pepsi product.

Yargh.

Details, smetails.

Sigh.

...I suppose I should make a mental note to correct that during the editing process. Hmmmmm I wonder else would mix well with Dr. Pepper... maybe vanilla Pepsi?

Any funny little consistency hiccups in your own WIP's?