The Last Pieces

I have finally made it past the climax of my Designing Survival book. I'm satisfied with how it went. I might go back and add things earlier in the book to add more emphasis to things that happened in the climax, but I'm happy all the same. My word count is also looking great at 87,000 words. I need to right the concluding chapter and add possibly a chapter towards the beginning of the book but I'm thinking I'll end at around 95,000 words which is right where a debut fantasy novel should be. 

I have now come to the point where I'm deeply considering the original ending that was planned and deciding what needs to be added or taken away. I am very lucky and grateful to have a husband who is willing to let me talk about that sort of thing and talk me through it. He has been an incredible help in helping me make decisions and also a great sounding board as I've struggled through certain parts. It is incredible to have someone who knows the characters in my books. I was in a few writing groups when I was attending college but have had a hard time finding other writers since moving away. Having him reminds me of the importance of being in a writing group. I'll need to seek some old friends out to see if they'd want to start a group again.

For Designing Survival, I'll probably have finished the first draft this week and added the last parts by the next. After that it will be in the stage where I just let it sit for at least three months before beginning the heavy editing process. This is such a fun and exciting part to be in in the writing process. 

On the editing front, I'm chugging along with replacing overly repeated words and phrases. I know I said I was doing this last week too, but there are always a few and I want to make sure the new words sound natural and don't mess with the meaning of the story. In good news, I have been able to get my word count down just by getting rid of certain words that had no business being there at all. Fortunately, I've been working on the harder words first so I should be able to move a little faster in a few days. Already, I can tell that the edits are making a difference. I'll of course go through and read carefully through the manuscript a few more times, changing other things, but I'm enjoying the direction it's heading. 

Thank you for reading my blog. How do you know if you've written a good conclusion? What books have you read that have had conclusions that surprised you? What are techniques you use to cut content in your stories? 

Keep dreaming and daydreaming of the wonderful worlds in your head.