Common Cause Rewrite: Day Seven (July 12, 2019)

 Chapter Four is done! Basic bookkeeping fapping about word counts away!

Total word count for Common Cause is now at 18,464 words, which puts me at 107.53% of the original 17,171 word count (admittedly, 'original word count' in this sense means 'word count of the draft I'm working from and have decided is the source material because of reasons). 

Chapter Four is now 5,470 words or 139.01% of the original 3,935 word count. The other chapters shook out like this:

• Chapter One went from 2,713 words to 4,239 words for a 156.25% increase, 
• Chapter Two: 2,542 words to 3,576 words (140.68% increase)
• Chapter Three: 3,804 words to 5,179 words (136.15% increase)

Chapter Five, which was written back in 2007, but which has never been posted, is coming up next. I'm probably not going to start working on it today because I have to leave for work fairly soon and I'm at a pretty decent stopping point for the day. I'm also thinking, I might not work on it until next week, when I'll have a couple days where I can spend more time working without having to worry about making sure I leave in time to get to work.

 So, since I’m not wanting to get immersed in writing Chapter Five, I’m going to immerse myself in projections about how long Chapter Five might end up being. These projections are rough estimates, based on the average percentage increase in the previous four chapters (approximately 140.61%):

• Chapter Five – Original word count: 3,935 words
• Chapter Five – Estimated word count, once revised: 5,390 words

It’s likely that Chapter Five is going to end up longer. It may also end up being split into two chapters. Originally, I’d planned that Common Cause would be six chapters and an epilogue, so that would be within the spirit of the original draft.

There's also an epilogue which is the puniest of the series:

• Epilogue – Original word count: 344 words (seriously, there's not much to it)
• Epilogue – Estimated word count, once revised: 484 words.

The Epilogue though, will probably end up being either higher, since I want to add more to it, or shorter because I might just drop it, since I’m not sure how much it’s going to add to the story. I do kinda like it though.

Rambling Thoughts:

I’m anxious about starting Chapter Five. This is where all the threads I’ve spun out over the last 18,000 words need to come together into a coherent and satisfying whole. Now, this is a draft so I’m not expecting to write perfection the first time out, but I do have to make things make sense and at least lay a groundwork for making further improvements to the story.

It also doesn’t help that this is a story that has remained unfinished for twelve years (thirteen, if you go back to when I first started the story). It’s become something of a bête noir, as I’ve mentioned in other posts. The fact that this story has remained unfinished for so long has, despite me knowing this is ridiculous and superstitious and highly illogical, left me with the feeling that until it is done, I cannot expect to be able to finish any other longer, more serious work.

So far, the rewrite has been going well. Like, really well. It’s only taken me about seven days to get to this point, with most chapters taking between one to two days to finish. Chapter Five will likely take me longer, even if I start writing it tomorrow, I’m expecting to have to put in three to five days’ worth of work into it.  Because of how my work week and my girlfriend’s work week shake out, the nice thing is that I can spend my days off at the library plugging away, listening to YouTube videos and occasionally people watching.

One of the things that I think has helped a lot with this revision – other than the fact that I’m working from previously written material -- is that I’m not spending every single day writing it. I’m taking breaks in between and giving myself time for my mental batteries to recharge. How well this will work for fiction that hasn’t already been written will remain to be seen, but I am currently, cautiously optimistic.