Gut checks

After my forced hiatus I thought it was a good time to evaluate what was working with my current draft and what wasn't. Over the course of writing any story it's easy to loose focus and get bogged down in the mire of churning out paragraphs. Yeah, the paragraphs need to get out there but there's also got to be a destination. Here's where my draft stands in my latest estimation:

The Good

1. Plot

I've got this plot laid out very neatly in my head. A first for me. I've got the arc, the backstory, the destination, the conflict. It's all there. I know where my characters are going and how they get there.

2. Setting

Another first for me. My stories have always had vague setting at best. I think I always wrote this off as being "Postmodern". Yeah, right. But this time around I'm loving my setting. Working on it is a blast.

3. Prose

I think my prose is improving the more I write. I still don't have a very strong voice but I think this is just going to take time. Honestly I think "voice" can be overrated too. I'll settle for telling a story, not a Levi Nunnink Story.

The Somewhere-in-Between

1. Specific setting

I mentioned that I love my setting but I think my next draft is going to need to give the reader more clues as to the specifics. I can't just say "house". What kind of house? A hut, a farmhouse, a cottage? The good news for me is that I know the answer.

2. Dialogue

I feel like my dialogue is OK. But it's not exactly great ether. Could use some improvement but I'm not making it top priority.

Needs work

1. Characters

For me my characters are usually my strong point but this time around they aren't. I blame it all on trying to write two of my main character as angsty. Just for the record, I'm not an angsty person. Apparently that means I don't write angsty people well. I've had to go back and change a lot of my character development. Penelope used to be full of anger and bitterness; now she's in denial and emotionally distant. That's something I can relate to. The only exception to this is Lilith. She's a really strong character for me. Nothing about her is going to change.

So there we are. I need to work on my characters.