Worried About Time

I have been worrying about timing this week.

I am writing the first draft of a novel, as you probably by now know, and I was very happy to find that I hit 50 000 words. Every 10k feels like an accomplishment to me. But, when I looked at where my characters were I realised that only three days had passed since I started writing.

I know there are books out there that happen over just a few days, and when I posted about my worry on twitter many people replied along the lines of ‘so what?’ The more I received this answer the more I became willing to discard the worry all together.

Now, having slept on it, I am convinced that my story needs to take place over a greater amount of time.

I know from my own reading that I often find it hard to believe when two characters fall in love or go through a dramatic change in just a few days. Perhaps love at first sight is real, but I like to think that I’d take a little more time getting to know someone before jumping into bed with them.

More than that, I need my main character to at some point be able to kick ass. At the start of the story she is timid, a little pathetic and kind of weak. The transformation she needs to go through is only just starting, but if I keep writing my days like this, more that 10k per day, then I’ll need six novels before she is ready so do the ass kicking.

I really dislike it in books, and films, when the clueless main character rises to the challenges put in front of him/her as if all it took was a flip of a switch. I think there should be so much going on to transport an innocent wanderer into a kick ass hero. I’ve only just realised that I am trying to address this issue with one of my main characters, which is why the passage of three days needs to be extended.

I know that days can be easily skipped, I have read books where weeks fly by. My main problem is that I love my characters so much that I do not want to miss out a single detail of their lives together. These are all worries that I should deal with in a second draft rather than thinking about half way through my first.

What I will do is once I have finished the first draft I will read it through and make notes on everything. Characters, settings and especially key plot moments. I often do all the work of a planner in the second draft stages rather than the first. It may make more work for me, and cause worries like this one, but I’m sure it will all work out in the end.

At least I am hoping so.