Another Milestone (Millstone?)

So in October and November I wrote parts 1 and 2 of Dark Prophecy. I had ambitious plans to have those parts edited and ready for mass-consumption (read: literate victims) by the end of March.

Alas, I was daunted.

I have never edited writing before. I know how Stephen King does it and I think that I'll take his approach (hard-copy, blue pen, big brass cojones and a heart of ice). That, however has not happened yet. And thus, it is not the main point of this post.

Part 3 has been fully plotted. What that means is NOT that I am finished writing it. It also does not mean that it's just a matter of transcribing my notes, adding some comic relief and going on my merry way.

No, sir. What it means is that the major plot-points have been decided on. How the characters get where they're going, what they learn, the conflict, the dialogue, and yes, even the comic relief, are still sitting in the back of my head. I haven't written more than a page or two of part 3's actual story, all of which is likely to change now that I know what's going on. I wrote those bits with absolutely no eye on eventual goal, and more of a way to kick my ass back into the writing chair. Now, I know where I'm going and I can actually set the characters up, add some foreshadowing (because that's the kind of thing that good writers do, I hear) and type away to my heart's content.

In a piece of news that is either bad or good, depending on whether you actually care to read the book or whether you believe a writer must be unfailingly true to his story, I have discovered that this will actually be a four-part story. Don't worry, I'm not succumbing to story-bloat (which Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind and George R. R. Martin have been accused of). I have the end of the story in my heart. Surprisingly, the end is absolutely nothing like I had envisioned it, what, 14 years ago? Then again, maybe it's not so surprising. What occurs to an 18 year old as a closing (of a project that looked like it might take a couple months) should look completely different than the end of a decade and more of conception to a 32-year-old man. (That's right. I turn 32 this month. Live with it. I am.) So the set up contains what I thought was the end of the story back then, and the end has its own bit of climaxiness as well as a twist that I hope I can pull off as well as I imagine.

We'll see.


Well, I'll see. If I can't, you may never see this book. Heh.