h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, I did it. I went back to the beginning of Dreaming in Stone and worked my way through it, rewriting.

I added a sub-plot - a sort of teen romance between Steve and Nathalie, which makes sense because it impacts on the main story. (Nathalie tells Steve his mother is having an affair with her father.) I also added a bit of description here and a chunk of back story there - filling out the characters and their lives. I changed the end, making Brian die in the fire that destroys the house. The result is stonger, I think, but bleak. I want to believe that both Alison and Steve will recover from this experience, but will they?

I recently reached the end of the second draft, or thought I had. And I saw a competition, run by Cinnamon Press, for the best debut novel. They asked for £12 and 10,000 words. The prize was £1000 and publication. Now my general view of Dreaming in Stone is that it's not bad. it's not amazingly original and the middle might sag, but it's not awful. But I decided that I could afford £12, so I sent my 10,000 words off. I don't expect to win, but it would be nice to be on a long list.

Then I started worrying. Suppose, I said to myself, they do want it on their long list, they will then want the rest of the story. I've got it, but it's all in bits. So, I've started putting it altogether in one long document and, of course, as I read through, I find more bits that I feel need to be changed, bits that need to be added.

Will I ever finish this thing?

Good luck with the competition!

Thanks Lil.

Hey writerlady!

That's amazing that you sent Dreaming In Stone to a competition! Good luck, indeed, and well done.

Brian died?? Ohmigod. Don't do this to me. Cor honestly, writers. They juggle sub-plots and rearrange the fates of people in my life. I was involved, see, with Brian. hmm. Now I'm thrown.

Hmm, well I guess I'll allow you to juggle sub-plots, or even main plots. Imagine if you get on that long list! What long list? Oh, , I get it. . Long list. That would be the shortlist for possible winners? A long shortlist.

A second draft? ... sounds like it is already written. Time to work on the second novel

Sorry I didn't reply to these posts. I was in France for two weeks, then I didn't discover them for a while.

I've found all the relevant chapters and scenes of Dreaming in Stone and cobbled them together. I'm just rewriting the last scene but I don't know if it works. I might have to rethink. AGAIN.