As you can see from the progress bar (until I nuke it, that is), I’m 99% done with the first draft of “The one with the mask,” which is now officially titled “Masked” (until I change it). No, I’m really not just one word shy of finishing. Rather, I’ve written all the scenes that I know are part of the story and it’s just a matter of putting them together.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t do it in time for the last group session, as I promised. They didn’t seem to mind. They seemed more upset at the idea that I wasn’t going to bring the story back. I mean, it’d been six weeks already. Luckily, they were almost unanimously willing to individually look at a finished version once I got it together, which should be in a few days (I hope).
Here’s what they had to say…
The Good
- The portion I shared got the adrenaline running, it seemed.
- I snuck in a revised, condensed version of some of the stuff I shared last time. No one seemed to have a problem with it. In fact, one person noted that I effectively implemented the fixes that were suggested in the last session. Hey, reduce, reuse, and recycle, right?
The Bad
- I knew there’d be problems with the flashbacks sooner or later. I tried to stick with the rule about how to frame them grammatically in a story, but I floundered in places.
- I had a couple of longish sentences.
- There were a couple of minor plot points and details that could stand to be cut out.
The Ugly
How ugly could it have been when apparently it’s now the rule (as a joke!!) that I’m to read last so no one has to follow me? Okay, that was shameless of me to repeat that, but that’s what they said. No, for me the ugly part is that I just couldn’t get it all done. But, I’ve acquired a tool lately that will go a long way to removing some of the barriers to getting shit done that aren’t directly related to my will power.