Milestone

Well, I reached my assigned goal for the semester for my novel writing class.

Yes, a class on writing a novel. You read that correctly.

So I learned about writing, and I had to write...50,000 words. Yep. Fifty-thousand. Words. (No, I did not write them all choppy like this.)

So, I thought that deserved a post.

It was a journey. If anyone wonders what there is to learn about writing novels or how hard it can be to write a novel or how long 50,000 words is (generally short for novel length, actually), send them my way. I'll educate them.

That said, I must point out this: I'm not done.

I have written over 50,000 words, and my first draft isn't complete. I have a large gap somewhere in the middle of my story where I jump toward the ending, and I haven't even finished the ending.

Now, I jumped to the ending because my novel instructor (remember what I said before about novel people?) wanted to make sure I knew how to write the ending (again, if people think there's nothing to it...). And, for class, I think this is a good idea. The ending is neither like the beginning nor the middle, though a reader should be fairly blissfully ignorant of this. Unless the reader is also a writer, trying to improve on the craft. That aside, I started too far back from the end. So I still have to write it.

But this doesn't bother me. After all, isn't writing what I signed up to do?

It is.

And I find I like it.

So, while I won't have weekly deadlines of 4,000 word "milestone" lumps, and no one else will be pushing me to write for a grade, I have plans and goals. And I have proven to myself that I can write 50,000 words. What's 20,000 or 30,000 more? And really, I can't leave my characters hanging where they are. Not in either of the two spots where I have left off.

I know my characters aren't alive and breathing. I've been over that before. But after writing, and following, their adventure, their dreams, their wants, their needs, I am rather attached. Which I count as a good thing. If I wasn't attached, how could I expect my future readers to be drawn into the story? Admit it, your favorite stories, you empathize with the characters; when you open the covers of the book and turn the pages, you are there with them.

That's how I am when I read. That's normal. That's the goal. That's when the writer has done his job. And that's what I want to do. So far, it's working, at least on myself.

And one of the reasons it's worked on myself is because I have either experienced what my characters have gone through, or I have experienced the emotions. Throughout my life, but more specifically, this semester.

Friends, it is not always a happy book. Once, my teacher, who may be a novel person, told the entire class that I was doing a good job of not giving my characters a break. His reaction was one of frustration and depression, even though he delivered it with comedy.

Maybe I am doing my job.

Have I been depressed? Sure. Maybe to the extreme of my characters, maybe not. But the thing is, all writing reveals something about the writer. It can't be avoided. And the saying, "Write what you know," doesn't have to mean factual information. Far from it. Facts can be researched. It is the emotions that you know. It is the emotions that I know. This story just so happens to be full of certain sad emotions. My main characters are in their teens, of course that's what it's full of.

The journey for me has been in living. Living through the past semester. Celebrating the ups, working through the obstacles, and dealing with the downs. The journey has been in my relationships and the increase and variations of my tasks.

And I have shared my journey with Makani and Tip. In some ways, they have helped me through the journey, because I could give them portions of it, helping me to work through things, particularly the things I didn't understand.

It wasn't a mistake that I had that outlet. God knew what I would need before I knew there would be any changes in my life.

I am grateful that I had this story to write. I am grateful that I still have it to finish. And I will carry it with me, unseen, even after I no longer work on improving it.

This is my first milestone of many.