Creator Journals 8/16/25
I’m on chapter 10 now, 2k words in. This is the penultimate chapter. I’m getting close. A lot of what I have left to write is action scenes and dramatic resolutions.
Starting chapter 10 involved going back to the original draft of the climax and trying to figure out which parts I still wanted to use. Not a lot was honestly salvable. When I started this project in May, the idea was that I would take the 14k rough draft I wrote last summer, put some meat on the bones and release it as an indie book before July. Well, now I have a 100k manuscript that I’m hoping to pitch to some agents. Four months. A lot of writing. Big change.
I’ve never been one to “Kill my darlings” but I realize I have experienced that now. I was reading over the original draft and there are a lot of good jokes that I really like in it, but that are not really usable in the current version of the story. I felt a little bit sad realizing that. I’m happy with what I have now, but having a bunch of character based jokes that I can’t use feels like a waste.
Maybe I can find ways to use them in later volumes.
Today’s writing tip: Let your characters change the way they want to. Don’t force them to fit a planned pattern. Let them learn and grow, just like real people do.
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