Reaching the End of a Draft...
In my current writing project, which I'm pretty sure is the best thing I've ever written (because this time, instead of being incredibly plot-heavy, the characters actually make some decisions for themselves), I'm about forty pages away from the end of the current draft. Finishing a draft is exciting no matter what draft it is, but I'm pretty sure that this is the final draft of this one before I start querying it.
I'm not a complete stranger to the query game; I did try to query an older project that I've since shoved on the backburner (I'm half-heartedly rewriting it every so often, but it's a project that I've pretty much accepted is either never going to be published or will take a while before it gets there), but it's been a while. And with this project, I'm almost more nervous... because while it's good, and there are aspects of it that I think people will really like, there are also aspects of it that... well... okay, my main character is a douche of epic proportions.
It's something that I've realized I have a proclivity to do, and that's make main characters that are just complete dicks. I'm sure this says something about me, but I can only think of one or two projects that I've written where the main character is actually likeable. Nice. Would be all right to be around. At least in this one my protagonist does have consequences; his dickishness does end up isolating him. At one point. Sort of?
But it's his personality that's making me the most nervous about this project in general. And without him being like this, it's not the same story at all; he's gotta do this terrible stuff or literally none of the story would happen. While this isn't as plot-heavy as I usually go (probably because it's more contemporary-leaning than otherwise), there are plot points. They're just character-driven. And that makes my main character a douche.
But I'm hoping that other people can see the aspects of him that will maybe make people like him a little bit. He is hardworking. There's that.
But either way, I've just got forty pages of his POV this run around to go. And finishing this draft, which could possibly happen by the end of this week, depending on how productive I am on Saturday, is slightly terrifying. But the sooner I finish this draft, the sooner I can collect rejections on queries for it, but more exciting, the sooner I can work on another project.
I'm not a complete stranger to the query game; I did try to query an older project that I've since shoved on the backburner (I'm half-heartedly rewriting it every so often, but it's a project that I've pretty much accepted is either never going to be published or will take a while before it gets there), but it's been a while. And with this project, I'm almost more nervous... because while it's good, and there are aspects of it that I think people will really like, there are also aspects of it that... well... okay, my main character is a douche of epic proportions.
It's something that I've realized I have a proclivity to do, and that's make main characters that are just complete dicks. I'm sure this says something about me, but I can only think of one or two projects that I've written where the main character is actually likeable. Nice. Would be all right to be around. At least in this one my protagonist does have consequences; his dickishness does end up isolating him. At one point. Sort of?
But it's his personality that's making me the most nervous about this project in general. And without him being like this, it's not the same story at all; he's gotta do this terrible stuff or literally none of the story would happen. While this isn't as plot-heavy as I usually go (probably because it's more contemporary-leaning than otherwise), there are plot points. They're just character-driven. And that makes my main character a douche.
But I'm hoping that other people can see the aspects of him that will maybe make people like him a little bit. He is hardworking. There's that.
But either way, I've just got forty pages of his POV this run around to go. And finishing this draft, which could possibly happen by the end of this week, depending on how productive I am on Saturday, is slightly terrifying. But the sooner I finish this draft, the sooner I can collect rejections on queries for it, but more exciting, the sooner I can work on another project.
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