Wow, think it's finished

Ok not 100% finished but first draft kind of thing, last chapter done and dusted. If you wondering how so quick, no not a sudden burst of hard work, I spent nigh on all yesterday playing FF12, Pro Evo 6 and Project Gotham Racing. It just happened that last chapter is really just an epilogue, two and a bit pages. Just wrote out there in last hour or two.

Well what now? Still work to be done. A last mini edit. Last 3 chapters i'll print out, read over and make changes where I see fit. Still unsure about penultimate chapter, think it's ok but it's more or less the end of the story and well didn't realsie until I finalised that following chapter was just an epilogue style thing. It's a message from one character to all the rest a few months after, tieing up a loose end or two and a small overview of how things that happened during story have had effect elsewhere and letting you know roughly where characters are now.

Once I've done that I'll print out the revised first draft, what's on my computer now after first changes. I'll read it, try and spot any typos and blatant small mistakes i may have missed. Same sort of changes to dialogue and writing as i make with mini edits if I'm not happy with what is on the page, of which I know there is some. The thing with quotation marks I mentioned a few posts ago will need sorting, that'll be a pain.

Then reprint the 2nd draft. Put it aside for the moment. Dig up by copy of writers and artists handbook and take the advice in about trying to get a novel printed. Involving writing letter(s) describing novel and seeing if there is any interest in it. If there is I'll be both amazed and over the moon and if there isn't I'll be utterly unsurprised but quietly depressed about it.

After that I shall attend to my screenplay, which will be a considerably shorter project before i begin again.

*word total 90163 subject to revision in editing. Probably go down a touch if anything as it includes a pro logue or indeed two at the beginning which i'm deleting as think they redundent but were handy as guides near the start when I was still quite unsure about what I was writing.
90,000 words of rubbish is still rubbish but I quite pleased still that I wrote irrespective.

Another chapter done

Well i think it is, chopped and saved elsewhere a bit at the end i thought was opening up further storyline. I might go back and change the end of it a bit but it felt like an ending to me, almost could have ended the story itself I thought. Still got one more chapter to do, which is more or less an epilogue, the story has largely played out and anything of import that happened now would really be for a sequel, which there won't be unless this gets published.

Therein lies the really onerous task once editing is done with, writing letters and stuff and trying to sell it. Still if nothing happens there I shall not get to despondent, I have other ideas and in particular a screenplay thing which is already started. Get back onto that, pimp it when done and another novel project. What exactly I'm not sure but I have a few ideas, whatever seems easiest to flesh out I should think. My favourite two ideas just now might need quite a bit of research which I'm not renowned at being good at.

Night of the Living Dead

Ok not quite but did spent an evening in a room full of mostly middle(the youngsters in the room) to old aged gentleman, I could insert a cheap joke at this point but I'll move on and just let the reader know that I was in fact at Motherwell Football Clubs 101st AGM, rather than say somewhere seedy involving businessmen paying to get flogged. Though some of htem did have a look that suggested that that was where they were off to next.

It so happened that I'm friends with someone who got themselves a few shares but is currently residing in Germany, so I took the opportunity go along as a proxy shareholder for the evening.
It was quite connvivial in it's own fashion, the order of business was ran through, a bit of a Q&A followed by a more informal chatting session afterwards with a very passable buffet, wine was on offer though as I'm not really a wine drinker so I didn't partake and can't comment on the quality of plonk dished up.

I personally found it a worthwhile experience, I was a bit shy of asking a question, though as my point got covered anyway I got saved from having to ask. Was told it was a shirt and tie affair, not attire I feel overly comfortable in so added to asking a question as not even a proper shareholder I have to admit to feeling a little embarrassed to speak up and quite glad I felt I didn't have to.

There was questions about the team, the pitch(mostly related to potential groundshare with gretna next season), finances, fans concerns about this that and the other but there a certain sense of detachment between board and fans that can't be gulfed. You get feeling both look down upon the other for different reasons. A question was mentioned about the treatment of our away support at Parkhead when we're away to Celtic and how despite this treatment getting even worse over the past few seasons nothing had been done and the person who made the complaint was getting essentially blanked. Up spoke man of the people director to say how yes he had noticed this problem sitting with the fans with his son. I could only think well why the fuck did you wait til now to try and do anything about, your on the club board. You can phone Celtic direct and they'll at least talk to you. Promises were made but you get feeling it case of placating someone and then porbably forgetting about it.

We all have opinions, but of the board members there only three reallt spoke and only one of them seemed like a decent guy. Other two were twats and of those relatively quiet in background I already had no doubt of the twattiness of one of them. Pompous self important dicks that have more interest in the perks of the position than the club or the fans that support it.

Iran

The latest world bogeyman

I found this link interesting, it's often argued that Iran wants to wipe Israel from the face of the earth and is a dangerous rougue state. It's certainly backwards in many ways regarding treatment of women and the power of religion within the state but is it being misrepresented in other ways for political ends?

Working title

Redo

Essentially another word for change, change or a desire for change is a definate theme in the book. So far first and only title I have thought of. If anyone can think of a better title from the vague details I've posted I'm more than happy to hear suggestions.

A title

I still don't have a title for my book. I never had one in mind from the start, was hoping one would just pop into my head when book was further along. Well I'm almost finished and still no title, I suppose it should reflect what the story is about.

So what is the story about? Well it's science fiction set couple of hundred years hence but in a world largely recognisable as our own, problems we have today are largely the problems there are in the novel. A world where global powers such as the US try to shape the planet to their own needs. The state of the planets environment, resources, a complient supine media that bends to corporate wishes because part of corporate world. Disenfranchised people rail against it but to what effect?

Well I guess it's about my own desire for change, the need for some exterior agent of change to lift our horizens from the systems of government and control we've made for oursleves. And seeing as I don't believe it god, it's not him incase you wondering. Change or a desire for change is what it's all about, I'll go get my thesaurus and go look about the net to see if I can't find something suitable.

Edit and next chapter done

Title says it all really, one chapter more done and two more to go I think. Harder going though trying to tie things up, good bad or indifferent it's been easier to write stuff when you know you got other chapters coming. When you know you want to finish it becomes trickier, can't just deal with any overspill later.

Hoped to be finished by end of this month, first half of april and i'll be quite pleased.