Keepers Week 11
I have definitely hit the endgame of Keepers. Three of the four story lines have connected. The fourth one will be there soon. It really has been the best part of writing this novel was knowing I was going to connect all the plots together at the end but not exactly sure how I was going to do it. Like my novel, Shadow Men, I had the last scene in my head for most of the writing of this book. I have merely written towards this scene. Although, it isn’t the last one anymore. The book will end on the one character who is an outsider to the main players.
At first I was going to leave his outcome a little bit of a mystery (I am still planning too) but as I wrote I knew I had to give a tiny more to the readers than I had planned. I haven’t decided yet if this is a character I plan on using again if I write a second book. I guess when I get to the end I will have a better idea.
Speaking of ends. My original estimation for this book was to come in around 90,000 words. Well, I am going to hit 80,000 words tomorrow. I can tell you without any doubt I will not finish this story by 90,000. My best guess now is this will be the longest book I have written and come in around 115,000 words. I think I will still be able to finish by the end of April but if I am a little late it will be somewhere right at the beginning of May.
What is really crazy for me is that I think when I go through on a second draft it is going to get longer. I have notes for several major scenes I want to add in. A couple of characters have some fleshing out at the beginning of the book. I usually make cuts in the second draft so it’s possible it won’t get any longer.
This week I will get a real writing test. We are on Spring Break and heading to Maui on Tuesday (it will be the longest we have been away from our kittens since we got them. I know I am a big softy. My brother will just have to give them extra hugs) and I have a lot of writing to do. Being in Maui is not going to be an excuse to not write. I will have to make sure I carve out time to hit my word count everyday. It is exciting to be nearing the end of another book. I am chomping at the bit to dive into the third book of my Dark Lands trilogy. I am a writing machine people.
