• • •
You totally could have put in that file, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll merge everything into the main file soon. We’re closing in on 15K words, boys!
Blake
• • •
Brilliant…favorite moment: he hopes the security camera catches him wiping the gore off his face. Also love the utility belt. I love this guy.
Blake
• • •
Pitch-perfect
Blake
• • •
It’s in the dropbox now, and is the complete manuscript with all our work to present. I need to write an Oasis scene, Joe needs to write a Jenny scene, and Paul needs to write a Shanna scene, and then we really have the 1st 1/4 of the book done. If anyone wants to revamp any of their stuff, please do it in the Draculas 1.4 full manuscript I’d like to get that finalized, and then we can turn our attention to our individual character arcs.
Goodnight!
Blake
August 21, 2010
I’m actually working on DRACULAS 1.5, adding the Jenny scene. No one touch it until it’s live in about an hour, then we can take turns doing rewrites. Jeff first, then Paul, then Blake. Each rewrite, make a new number: 1.6, 1.7, etc.
I took out the chapter numbers, as Blake and I originally intended—this thing is meant to read without stops. Also, HOUR 1 was replaced with HOUR ZERO and we go from there, but I’m not sure these headings are needed either. We’ll keep them for the moment.
Joe
• • •
But we’re going to keep chapter numbers while we’re working, right? Just to keep straight the order of events.
Paul
• • •
Sure, we can keep chapters in out individual scenes. I just removed them in the main compiled document. As a result, it reads quicker, more unrelenting.
But as we write them in our folders, chapters are fine.
Joe
• • •
Yeah, let’s keep the hours and character headings for now. I certainly need them to help keep my story straight and it’s a good way to scan. Maybe the last thing we’ll do is remove them, but we should probably think hard before doing that.
Blake
• • •
When we’ve all finished our main character arcs, we’ll have to decide how and if to splice them together in the main document. My initial thought would be to interweave them, breaking at cliffhanging moments. What will be really cool, is we can release an alternate version of the novel (an extra) where POVs are held together through the end. So you can read Moorecook straight through, then Lanz, then Randall, then Jenny, etc.
Blake
• • •
Okay, we’ve got 1.5 in the Dropbox.
Paul, we need a Shanna scene from you. Blake is doing an Oasis scene. Then we’re done with the first quarter of the book, and can start Hour Two.
Jeff, your first scene is Randall’s POV, going with Jenny to pediatrics, then leaving her to go after Moorecook. Randall will also be looking for gasoline for his chainsaw, and to turn on the generator when the electricity goes out. Enemies will be random draculas and Moorecook in particular.
Paul, your first scene is Clayton arriving, looking for Shanna. They’ll be seeking each other out, and Clayton will be trying to control the situation and get outside reinforcements, while they work out their relationship problems. Their main antagonist will be Lanz in particular.
My story arc will start with Jenny defending pediatrics against the draculas, Benny in particular.
Blake’s story arc will be his pregnant couple, defending against Oasis in particular, while going through labor.
If we can each do about 7,000 words within our arcs, then we can bring them all together for the final showdown during the last quarter of the book.
After the Shanna and Oasis scenes, we’ll all go back to our separate folders.
Does this work for everyone?
Joe
• • •
We should probably each have a specific number of chapters to write in our separate arcs (4?) so that when the story is pieced together we can just go A, B, C, D, A, B, C, D, A, B, C, D.
Jeff
• • •
That depends on the length of each arc, and what’s happening in the rest of the story. It doesn’t have to be so strict with trading POVs.
As long as we all write fast-paced, short sections (a few pages each) with cliffhanger-type endings, we can pretty much cut and paste and make it work in a number of different ways. This really won’t be hard to put together. We got 15k words already, and they meshed seamlessly without too much forethought.
Joe
• • •
I’m having a hard time getting to the keyboard today (not home). I’m gonna add Shanna after Randall’s “sumbich” line. She’s going to wander into the hospital proper to the snack bar, then outside in front of the lobby. She’ll try to tell Clay over the phone but won’t. She owes him a face-to-face. I like the irony of Clay thinking this girl is crazy about him - he
Paul
August 22, 2010
All - Draculas 1.6 is now up with Paul’s excellent new Shanna section. I’ve moved the 1.5 and Paul’s conflicted 1.5 over (saving it in case Paul did anything else beyond the Shanna section). Let’s all stay out of 1.6 for now and go nuts on our separate sections. Great job, all. These 1st 17,000 words really sing.
Blake
• • •
JEFF 2.0, wherein Randall and Jenny make it to pediatrics, is up on Dropbox.
Jeff
• • •
Nicely done. I laughed twice, and great action.
Two suggestions:
“Jenny pushed open a door marked “Pediatrics.” So that’s how it’s spelled, Randall thought.”
Also, Jenny shouldn’t want him to go after Mortimer, and should say so. First, she doesn’t want him to leave her. Second, she doesn’t want him to put himself in danger. This scene could be drawn out for some drama, and perhaps they should come very close to kissing. We want to feel that their love, which has always been there, is still strong. They should both feel reluctant, and nervous, and confused, and frightened at the thought of losing each
