Philip Brewer's Writing Progress

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Thursday, 03 May 2001

Wrote the "last" scene of island story, bringing it up to just over 4000 words.

I put "last" in quotes because it's going to have to change a lot. The ending I had foreseen suffered by being either too obvious or else too "out of the blue." But I see now how to fix it. I go with the presentation that makes it obvious, but then make it unattractive--maybe even worse than his current situation. Then the satisfying payoff is when he finds a way to get the best of both worlds. I think it can work. Most of the stuff I've got will stay, although some will move up earlier. I scribbled some notes. I need to go through and outline just what I want to do.

This always happens. I usually end up writing stories four times before I get them the way I want them. It doesn't seem to help much to outline them in advance. My only consolation is that much of the prose can be preserved, even if the story structure changes a lot. And it goes quicker each time.

Yesterday was one month until I head to Clarion. The date kind of slipped by while I wasn't looking. Today is one month until I arrive. One month from tomorrow will be the first class.


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