Deniable Unit Archives - Page 11 of 12 - SUSAN TIPPETT BRAITHWAITE

Word Count 2nd July 2021

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Added another 661 words to Running The Asset‘s manuscript–after many deletions and rewrites 🥳

Writing Update and A wee bit about Genre Scribes

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Hi all!

This week has been a hard slog…to no real progress. Well, none that moves the percentage bar. I’ve come across a few issues with my scenes in the form of wishy-washy scene goals. Up until this week it wasn’t noticeable. That was until I started working on the Character pass. It would have been okay; the characters all have scene goals in there, somewhere, and the story still flows and entertains.

It didn’t become a real problem in my eyes until Monday when I was nearing the end of a novel by one of my fave authors. There were several issues in the book, but the one that stood out–because I was dealing with it myself–was that the characters just seemed to go along with the story to get to the overall story goal. It didn’t engage me the way that that author normally does. The problem? The characters didn’t have any concrete scene goals.

Looking at my big stack of index cards with lots of weak-ish scene goals wasn’t too daunting. Yet, I couldn’t get myself to focus. At all. Day after day, my progress slowed to a snail’s pace. Something was wrong.

After a quick look through my planner (I’m a planner geek), I realised that I hadn’t had a day off since 11th June. I promptly freaked out at the thought of taking a day off, until I remembered that Jez was off work for a couple of weeks. So, I’ve decided to take a week or so off to give my inner chimp (Neenee) some downtime, and me some time to unwind and refill the creative well–movies, Halo, and some baking.

Which brings me to the wee bit on Genre Scribes. I’m going to take a break from Genre Scribes until October. Once I get back into Working the Asset, I really want to focus solely on that.

For now, I’m off to make some wheat-free, sugar-free, dairy-free cookies. 🤤

Thanks for reading, stay safe, stay awesome!

Working the Asset – Update 27 July

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Time for a quick update on Working the Asset. My goal for July was to complete Pass #3 (Premise). Amazingly enough, I managed to achieve that on Saturday–a whole week ahead of what looked like a tight schedule!

So, this morning, I started work on Pass #4 (Deepening Audience Delight) and am 7% of the way through.

The story is starting to come alive. I love Elle and Adam and their enemies-to-lovers journey. And, I’m not ashamed to admit, I have a soft spot for Trevor, their Big Bad–he’s so much fun to work with.

Until next time, thanks for reading, and take care.

Working the Asset – Update 23 July

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I had zero plans of posting a progress update on Working the Asset until Sunday. In my last post, I said that I had the foolish goal of finishing the second editorial pass of the outline by Sunday. Well, it’s Thursday, and I’ve done it! The second pass is complete. Woohoo!

Here’s how the last few days went:

Tuesday
Wednesday
Today!

I can’t wait to get back on it tomorrow where I’ll start work on the third editorial pass. The focus of this pass is on the premise (Act IIa). This is where I’ll work to ensure that Adam and Elle (my co-protagonists) are taking action on their story goals, that the adventure, suspense, and romance elements fulfil/exceed genre expectations, and that I’ve not inadvertently created an escalation problem.

Ah canny wait!

Thanks for reading, and take care.

Working the Asset – Update 20 July

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It’s been a few weeks since I last updated on my progress on Working the Asset. As I mentioned in a previous update, I’m writing my outline with my non-dominant hand (lefty) owing to CRPS in the right one.

Fast-forward 27,000 words, a stack of index cards with writing so small only a fruit fly can read it, and a terrifying amount of coffee and this is what you get:

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Working the Asset – Update 2 June

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I’ve had my head down this week, getting more of the outline for Deniable Unit 1: Working the Asset fine-tuned. I’m now 80% done with the editorial pass for the plot (1 of 7 passes)!

happy dance

With every action step I complete, the outline transforms into a better, stronger, and more cohesive story. I can’t wait to see it fully formed and in stores!

If you’re wondering what I mean by “action steps,” they’re from H. R. D’Costa’s Sparkling Story Drafts (affiliate link)–it’s a fantastic series on outlining screenplays and novels.

Deniable Unit 2 Progress Update: Oct 2

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Progress Update

I’m now at 12% on my outline for Deniable Unit 2!

Well, it’s been a while since I posted an update on my current work-in-progress (WIP).

I started work on the intentional outline for DU 2, made a ton of notes that made total sense, and then went on holiday. When I got back to work a few weeks ago, those notes made absolutely zero sense.

So, I’ve spent the last three weeks getting back up to speed with the outline, made a lot of changes, and now I’ve got the plot to where it should be.

Now that I’m over that speed bump, I know that my progress is going to pick up speed.

Raring to go for the next step!

Outlining: Deniable Unit 2

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On Wednesday, I completed my intentional outline (stage two of three) for Deniable Unit 1.

To give the outline a wee bit of breathing space, I’m now working on the intentional outline for Deniable Unit 2—work started yesterday.

I’m working the same way I did for DU1: fixing plot, protagonists, genre, tone, and theme in turn.

With today’s work complete, I’ve made a total of 7% progress on this outlining stage!

Deniable Unit 1 Progress Update: Aug 28

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Progress Update

Less than a month ago I put up a little progress bar on my WIPs page for DU1. The bar was empty and looked like it was going to take forever to get to full. But, I promised myself that I’d keep chipping away at the job of pre-editing my outline, that even progress of one percent would get me there.

Well, today, I just filled that little progress bar all the way up!

I’m 100% done with my intentional outline for DU1. The story has transformed from a pretty good one to one that I’m proud of. There’s still another stage of outlining/pre-editing to do before I get to write a pretty clean draft. But, I know that working this way is going to save me a tremendous amount of time and effort in the long run.

For now, I’m going to celebrate hitting this milestone with my wonderful husband who kept me fed and watered while I got lost in my own little world! Thank you, Jez! Woohoo!