So here we go. Here are my post-manuscription-completion thoughts for HESPERIA, my YA Fantasy.
Some stats:
Started: sometime around November of 2013
First draft completed: November 2014
Number of times dropped: beyond what I can count
Back when I wrote this post for ILWF, my manuscript numbering system was already starting to get slightly unruly. I considered ILWF my third manuscript completed ever, but I also considered it my second manuscript completed with the goal of publication in mind (as I've mentioned elsewhere, I sent out one query for MS #1 completed ever before realizing that the MS just wasn't anywhere near publishable). So what is HESPERIA, now? MS #4? Or MS #3?
I think I'm going to stop referring to my novels by the numbering system. Maybe every now and then, I'll refer to HESPERIA as my fourth MS ever, but it's starting to get a little hard to keep track of, especially when I think about how I began this journey of mine wondering if I would even be able to churn out a second, let alone a fourth, completed novel.
HESPERIA was definitely a hard one to write. Stylistically, it was different. I hadn't written in first person past in a while, and switching away from the present tense to the past was a bigger transition than I expected. I really believe that the tense you write a novel in makes a big deal. It just gives the story a different feeling, and while I knew I wanted to give first person past a serious try, I wasn't quite sure. Even when I've gotten to chapter 20, I was still playing around with the idea of switching the tense and person-narration of the whole thing. I wrote some chapters in first person present. I even wrote some chapters in third person past. Ultimately, my initial choice--first person past--was the one I stuck with, and I am glad I did because it's one of the things that sets HESPERIA apart from my other novels in feel and means of narration.
Plot-wise, I believe it was more complex that anything else than I've written so far. I'm a very loose outliner, so while I knew there were going to be twists, I didn't expect twist after twist to pop up. There were times where I'd just be on the treadmill in the gym (hah! The days when I still exercised...) and I'd start thinking about how a twist was going to work out, how to even build up to that twist so that it wouldn't seem like I was waving my writerly wand and slapping you in the face. I started to listen to my writing playlist on repeat while doing my miles, just so that I could think about my plot in a better ambience (like, to the sound of epic Two Steps From Hell music rather than the usual gym-sounds of dying people, including myself).
Character-wise, it initially had one of the largest casts I'd ever tackled. Through the drafts, some characters have gotten cut here and there, but there are still a large number of characters, and not just ones that I name-drop or introduce in a couple scenes (as was the case of INGENICIDE and ILWF). No, most of these characters had their own backstories and they wove in and out of the narrative. At the same time, I got really attached to all my characters, which is a surprise. Normally, I'm very attached to my main character and the love interest, and maybe a side character or two. But this time around, I just knew so much about my side characters that I couldn't help but root for them, too.
Luckily, the world came pretty easily to me. I was very inspired by Chinese stories and legends, and Deviantart also provided a lot of the artwork that inspired my visions of the setting.
Mechanical struggles of writing aside, my drafting of HESPERIA came at a time in my life when a lot of things were changing for me. Thus, I had a lot of dry spells, and there were times when I seriously wondered if I'd ever be able to finish the novel. I loved the story and the characters, but as you've seen, it was one of the hardest novels I've attempted to write, and that didn't help how I was generally having a tough time writing. Even when the mood struck, it wasn't one of those stories where I could randomly plant my butt in a chair and write for an hour. It required a lot of thinking and just figuring out how things were going to pan out.
That's why at one full year, it's the novel that has taken the longest to write (and it's also my longest novel, with draft 3 clocking in at 96k). At the same time, I venture to say that it's also one of my cleaner drafts in terms of character development and *most* plot elements. I still had to do some heavy revisions in parts, but overall, I came out of draft #1 pretty satisfied with Hesperia's character arc and her interactions with other characters. Lack of satisfaction in this area factored into my decision to pull ILWF from the query trenches, so I was pretty scared that was going to happen again.
And something else I've noticed? I've improved as a writer. After four novels, this might come as a given, but it's taken a long time for me to accept. I'm with my writing every day, and just like it's hard to notice changes in yourself until someone who hasn't seen you in a while comments, it's hard for me to see sometimes how I'm gradually getting better.
But I am. In a way, HESPERIA was sort of a turning point for me--I've never given up on a novel that I've seriously committed to in terms of finishing, but this one time I found myself on a precipice. I didn't fall, and now I'm ready to tackle my fifth novel.
*Thinking about HESPERIA makes me sort of sentimental. It really couldn't have happened without the support I've received from all my writerly friends. Thank you, Rivka and Deborah, for taking the time to read some of the rougher stuff and being excited about the work. Thank you, Molly, for honing it into the draft that it is today. Thank you to the boyfriend who didn't run off in fright when I asked him if he could read the rough manuscript to me aloud (and thanks for putting up with all those conversations regarding the novel).
And lastly, thank you, Anne, for sticking with the story despite the month's of silence and being the kindest, most generous cheerleader you are. I churned out some of those chapters thinking this might be the last--I can't write another, but then you would demand more, and I really couldn't turn you down.
With that, I'll finish with some of the art that inspired some of the scenes in the novel:
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| by Fel-X |
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| by pictsy |
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| by TylerEdlinArt |
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| by JJcanvas |
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| by Exphrasis |
