I FINISHED MY 1ST DRAFT //writing tag (+SNIPPETS)

[WARNING: this post includes screaming in caps, snippets and long winded explanations of I-forgot-what about half way through explaining]

EEEK. YES.

The title speaks truth.

I am finished.
(as of today)

So wait on. What novel was I actually writing?? Glad you asked.

I was actually working on what was Monsieur Scattlocke and completely rewriting it, changing the genre, setting, characters, plot, all of the above. 
Several of the most significant changes are a) it's now called Rogue Escarlate because I completely got rid of the French bits and welp can't really keep the Monsieur in the title if it's not in the book, right? b) IT HAS A THEME THAT'S ACTUALLY HALF DECENT AND I'M HONESTLY RATHER PLEASED WITH. c) it fits with its sequel a ton better. d) I'm a lot more happy with how it is and way more enthused about it.

Good good. I hope I didn't lose the plot of that a-d list too rapidly.

Just in case you didn't get the point... *cue me spending an hour or so making a random aestheticy collage*

COOL EPIC STUFFS

This novel was not easy. Actually it was probably one of the hardest I've ever done. Particularly about three/four weeks back, I was really really struggling to keep going. I wasn't happy with my word count. I wasn't happy with how many chapters I had. I wasn't happy with how little words I was managing per day (aka 1k).

Then one day I did something that I probably should've thought of sooner. During my morning Bible reading I stopped and started praying. I listed off all the things that were dragging me down, the things that were feeling like burdens. Every single one. Then I took a deep breath and committed them all to God. 
Maybe my novel wasn't going to be as long as I wanted it to be, but that was okay. God would do what he wanted for me. 
Maybe I wasn't writing as much per day as I wanted to be, but that was okay. God has a plan for everything.

And I really believe that God was using that time as a lesson to me. He's so awesome and good yet somehow we still forget that when struggles are weighing us down until we feel like we're just going to snap we can go to Him and He's there ready to take our burdens.

And you know what? Not only since that prayer have I felt an amazing sense of peace and that He has a plan that He's working out in me. But that day that I prayed about my word count? I wrote five times as much as I had other days. And dude, that was not me. That was all Him.

STATS AND SYNOPSIS THINGAMY

As you hopefully gathered, my novel didn't turn out anything like the length I was hoping for BUT I'm cool with that. It might be only about half as much as I would've wanted really and yet God's taught me a beautiful lesson through it and I wouldn't have it any other way. 
Wherefore here are my chapters and word counts and stuffs.

I ended up with the full word count being 56,135 words, and thirty-one chapters.

Aaaand my scrambled thingamy of a synopsis which I really should try edit/rewrite before revealing it to your eyes but it's late and I finished my novel and I don't really care. :P


Two thousand, five hundred, and fifty-six days exactly.
Seven years of running from the Great Federation’s Agents didn’t leave much time for much else but running. That’s what an outlaw does.
Run. Or get caught.
Will preferred running.
And so he ran.

William Escarlate has spent his life running through the grasping fingers of the authorities. Escaping from the capital Moscow, he manages to slip beyond the borders of the Great Federation, only to find himself embroiled with another country’s rebellion. England is in the middle of a political struggle, gangs riot in the streets every second day, danger lurks to anyone who would step outside their door. 

Will is drawn into a gang of outlaws, fighting to regain his footing in a new country. It isn’t long before his hunters catch up with him, and he can never stop running if he wants to keep his life. Dodging agents for week after long week, he begins to hope that he might just have a chance of freedom after all these years.

But no one can escape the Great Federation forever.
Eventually everyone is caught.


SO YEAH. That's my synopsis at the moment. I think I'm actually going to change the seven years thing or else Will's age because I messed somethng up in my rewriting BUT THAT'S MARCH'S JOB. shh don't tell me that March is, like, a day away

WHAT'S NEXT?

GOOD QUESTION. Now...what is next??

Every now and then I feel like my writing plans for this year are slightly insane...but really. They are. They are insane. (I'm hoping to write at least three books and rough edit two and fully slam bang red pen edit one other. As I said. Insane.)
That said, my hopefully-completable-in-the-near-ish-future plans are more along the lines of

- Plot out Operation Flint! Aka the third and final book of my trilogy. I'm actually really excited for this because more Ben and Lexi and Jonathan and eep yes. And then I plan to write Operation Flint in April Camp NaNo. Which shall be epic fun.

- Sketch a rough edit over Rogue Escarlate. Mainly grabbing the typos, and adding in a few more scenes of a character that I forgot existed for most of the book.

- Once that's done I'm going to hand it over to my epic sister Clare and run away screaming as she cackles evilly and scribbles red pen all over it. Hopefully I might be able to get to that point by the end of March. Hopefully. GOSH THIS YEAR IS DISAPPEARING SO FAST ALREADY. I can't handle this.

- Yes yes official beta reading will happen eventually. I don't want to give out any dates but I desperately hope it will be this year. *screams into the abyss*

- I also want to try find time every week for some reading because I'm waaaay behind and I'VE ONLY READ FOUR BOOKS THIS ENTIRE YEAR AND THAT IS SHAMEFUL. Last year I'd read twenty-six books by this time and four isn't even comparable to that. But I really like reading and it's good for me to chill a bit and do something I enjoy and to keep that inspiration coming along nicely.

- And on top of all that, I want to keep up with my school work and being an epic big sister (and little sister hopefully too :P) and not shut myself away but to actually Live.

Phew. I would be daunted but...God's got this even though I don't.

FAVOURITES

I think my favourite chapter would probably be the climax because it has hopefully character arc and theme and making the 'right' choices and ironic poetic justice.

Not sure if that made sense to anyone else but anyway.

Favourite character is SUPER easy because BEN ALWAYS. Not sure why but Ben is just the best. He's probably my top favouroitest character I've ever written. I can seriously do so much when he's around though, and I pretty much never feel like I'm not sure about something with his personality.

And also, he doesn't like tomato soup, but tomato soup likes him. *wise nods*

YES I PROMISED SNIPPETS

So here goes!!

And since few days ago I got tagged for this writing tag by Gray, I thought that this would be a perfect post combo and boom yes it worked out quite well. (Thank you very much Gray!)
(also note, Gray is a brand new blogger and has already gotten some great writing posts so you should go check them out) So this whole post is some sort of mishmash of me rambling and some sort of tag that got lost off the cliffs of insanity. 

(and for those people that noticed, I accidentally posted this half of the post, like, when it was half written and not properly done and I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER CLICKING PUBLISH??? I just clicked save. I'm sure. But anyway. Ignore that post. This one is the right one. *face palm* Oops.)


Snippets? YES I LOVE SNIPPETS.
Except...that means...I have to show you my unedited first draft of a scene.
And it also means I somehow have to choose a scene?? Good luck with that.

Okay brace yourself. I'm going to throw snippets at you now.

- - -

“How did you do that?” Will couldn't move, everything frozen in the whirling thoughts and theories darting through his mind.

Ben shifted. “Well, uh, I hit that one, and then I hit that one and then I kicked him.” His lips lifted in a smile. “And hey, looks like we’re even now.”

“What?” The frown creased his brows tighter.

“You saved me, I saved you. Even.” The boy paused then shrugged. “Or not. Never mind me.”

“That’s not how you’re meant to use a gun, you know.” Will looked him up and down.

“This is generally not what you do in the middle of a street riot, you know,” he replied instantly.

An explosion came from right nearby and the boy stumbled a pace, almost tripping on a loose brick. Will caught his arm. “Don’t crack your head open, preferably, kid. I’m not finished talking with you yet. Now come on.”

- - -

-not sure I mentioned but Will kinda gets motion sick which can be interesting-

- - -

In reply the car serged forward, wheels spinning for a moment before gripping and skidding forward. The police scattered, diving aside with shouts of warning. Will braced himself, and the car slammed through the doors, smashing them into flying shards.

“This is insane,” Kins panted hard, steering the car straight down the hall, scraping the sides against the too near walls.

The front doors of tinted glass came speeding toward them far to fast. Will twisted, covering his face in his hands. The sound came like an explosion, shattering glass scattering across the sides of the car and onto the floor of the building. A chip cracked in the windscreen but it remained intact.

Kins whirled the wheel, turning onto the main road and speeding faster. Will’s stomach lurched, and he wrapped one arm around it, the other hand pressed against his firmly shut lips.

“That way!” He pointed frantically as Kins almost missed the turn off to the route back to the base.

Kins slammed on the brakes so hard that Will’s head knocked forward, forehead slamming into the roof. Stars spun in front of his eyes. Kins looked up anxiously. “You okay?”

“Just look where you’re going.” Allan yelped, grabbing the steering wheel as they almost crashed into the side of a brick wall.

“You can also go slower,” Will managed through his teeth, not daring to say more in case something came out that he didn’t mean to.

- - -

- - -

A small smile tweaked the corners of Ben’s mouth and Will shook his head. “What’s the point of being infamous if it doesn’t gain respect?”

“I have full respect for your infamousness.” Ben’s face was completely blank.

Will grabbed him into a headlock, rubbing his knuckles into the top of Ben’s head. “Oh really?”

“Ow,” Ben yelled, struggling and bursting  into laughter. “Lemme go.”

“Full respect, eh?”

“No.” Ben slapped at his arms, choking against the laughter. “I have no respect at all actually.”

Will released him, ruffling a hand through his hair. Ben ducked away, a wide grin transforming his face. “That’s better,” he said, satisfied. A moment later, he realised he was smiling.

Maybe that wasn’t such a strange thing after all.

- - -

- - -

Will rolled up the sleeves of his blue and green shirt, brushing a bothersome strand of hair from his eyes. He looked across the table at where Ben was sitting, his eyebrows going upward questioningly at the grimace on the boy’s face. 

Ben wrinkled his nose, mouthing something. 

A frown creased his brow. ‘What?’ he mouthed back.

Ben’s lips moved again but he still couldn’t make sense of them. He lifted one shoulder in a helpless shrug. He returned his attention to his bowl, waiting for the pot of soup to come down the line. When it came he reached in picking up the small tin they used as a ladle and dribbling the thick liquid into his bowl. Ben grimaced again from across the table, blanching slightly.

“Something wrong?” Will asked softly.

Ben leant forward as he passed the pot along. “Can I have your slice of bread?”

“Why?”

“I don’t like tomato soup, remember.” He grimaced. “It’s, like, the height of gross.”

A smile broke across Will’s face and he nudged the bread from the edge of his plate over to Ben. “Sure.”

“Thanks.” Ben scrunched his nose again. “I don’t know how you eat the stuff.”

“I guess we’re just tougher than you.”

Ben snorted. “Or I’m just better educated in the art of eating food that actually tastes nice.”

Will swallowed a mouthful of the soup. “If it makes you feel better to phrase it like that.”

The boy sniffed, grimaced, and took a bite of the bread.

- - -

And I just realised that practically all of those snippets are Ben moments. OH WELL. XD I'm keeping them there anyway.

I'm very proud of that last one. See look. They're doing a practical thing called eating. This is an unfortunately rare occurrence in my books.
On that note they didn't actually get any further than the snippet shows because SURPRISE. Something action happened and they never got to finish. 
But hey, Ben mentions food in the climax! That's got to count for something.


Well. this is probably one of my longest rambly posts in a while. No guarantees that any of it made sense although it was written before midnight. (yay me for being super speedy and whipping up this half decent smash of a thing to throw at you)
*gives pizza to anyone who actually read the whole entire thing* GOOD JOB IF THAT'S YOU.


Has God been giving you any lessons through your writing recently?
Feel free to share some snippets from your novel!!
(aka PLEASE DO SO BECAUSE I WANT TO READ THEM)
What are your writing plans?