It’s a journey I’m still on

Well, I am less panicked now than I was. I skim-read the opening few chapters, noticed some exposition which I removed, and did a bit more of the showing. Then I strengthened the protagonist’s wants, while also showing his needs a little more.

This led to the need for a few more scenes in the next section, which then led to another couple of conflict points. Then I realised that the climax I had was not the true climax, so I reworked it, added in some more chapters and wrote the real climax.

That meant I needed another character, who needed their own needs and wants to be shown, so another couple of chapters. Once they were added, I could see how they would cause conflict for the protagonist and antagonist, so a few more scenes.

Basically, what I am saying is that the story that I tried to write was too simple. The plot was fine, but a bit thin, the cast was fine, but too small, and there was conflict, just not enough. So, I have strengthened everything I have, and I am still strengthening it, as I see it.

I’m still on the first draft, it is just adding to it to make it stronger. I still won’t make it to 120K, but I’m fine with that. It was an arbitrary figure, plucked from the internet on the average size of sci-fi novels. On further investigation, it actually appears to be 109k, but who cares.

My story will be as many words as it needs to be, I may wrap early, say 100k by the end of October, but it doesn’t matter. I’m enjoying the journey, discovering the story as I write it, and making it as good as I can. I enjoy writing, mostly.