More:
J. W. Rinzler
  • All Up
  • Star Wars Books
  • Books on Cinema
    • Unforgiven, An Interpretation
    • Raiders of the Lost Ark and ILM
    • The Jaws Blog
    • 22 Underrated Films
    • Tron-Rinzler-Connection
  • About
    • Events
    • Book as a Speaker
    • Contact
    • Comments
    • Blog
  • Riddle of the Black Cat
  • A Dilettante’s Rock-n-Roll Concert Journal
  • An Interview with Will Eisner
  • Selected Paintings

Writing All Up — The Seven Year Foundation

7/6/2020

2 Comments

 
Blog #1
  
While writing All Up, as I’ve done for all my books, I kept a running, dated chronology of my progress. I noted self-imposed deadlines, number of pages written, goals, and so on. It’s a way to set milestones, to keep to a schedule, to get the job done. My deadlines were reasonable but strict; I find myself a reasonable taskmaster. I do it because, otherwise, particularly for All Up, I would be toiling in a void-like purgatory. A structured schedule is a great way of remaining sane. It might not work for everyone, but does for me.
 
However, I never anticipated taking so long to write All Up. I underestimated the work and the research; I also ended up overwriting and had to spend months cutting things down. Yet it was all necessary. That was the “journey” (yes, an overused word) I had to take, and it was fascinating.
 
I offer these dates and the implied evolution to other writers and to anyone interested in one writer’s trajectory. It can be viewed as a cautionary tale or simply a nutty record of one man’s struggle with words and a cat (Stinky) that kept walking across the keyboard…
 
Thanks,
J. W. Rinzler
 
All Up, The Chronology
 
1962: Born. No intention of writing novels.
 
1969: Woken up by parents to watch moonwalk. Impressed.
 
2005: Visit Huntsville museum. See actual Saturn 5. Mind blown. Learn more about Operation Paperclip. Start playing with idea of writing a novel about first Space Age.
 
2005 to 2012: Idea gestates. Fear of not being able to do it. Write books on cinema, and a licensed YA novel about Indiana Jones (Indiana Jones and the Mystery of Mount Sinai).
 
That YA novel receives a very positive reader review on Amazon that makes me think I might be able to do a historical novel. Little did I know what was in store.
 
June 3, 2012: I start and, a month or so later, falter; work stops on novel.
 
February 19, 2013: I start again on All Up: Odyssey of the Rocketmen.
 
Spend roughly two hours a day for one year doing initial research for book while on bus commuting from Petaluma to San Francisco/Lucasfilm. Read dozens of books on Space Age, memoirs, bios, histories (see “Further Reading” on allupjwr.com or jwrinzler.com).
 
February 9, 2014: Complete 80,000-word rough research outline.
 
Begin work on turning that outline into rough draft (before/after day job): goal is to convert at least 5 pages of outline per day; 15 pages/week; 12 weeks to finish very rough draft.
 
May 2014: Late, but finish Very Rough Draft.
 
I give a chapter to my wife, Geneviève, to evaluate. Is it worth continuing? I always ask Geneviève to look at work that I’m not sure about; she is a natural editor. Gen says yes, continue.
 
I make a character list and divide book into five acts.
 
April 12, 2014: Begin writing “real” rough draft: two chapters/week; goal is to finish in 75 weeks, circa October 2015.
 
June 9, 2015: Ahead of schedule, finish Real Rough Draft; it’s approximately 276,000 words. I’m not worried about length. Big mistake.
 
June 19: Begin work on first draft.
 
November 28, 2015: FINISHED FIRST DRAFT.
 
December 21, 2015: Start second draft; novel still needs much work. (Note: During all of these early drafts, research continues.) Want to finish end of June 2016.
 
April 1, 2016: Finish second draft.
 
I give whole book to Geneviève to read and comment on.
 
April 25, 2016: Up till now I’ve worked, except for notes and miscellaneous, almost completely on laptop. I read and edit third draft on paper. Eyes and inner-ear read it differently on paper; important necessary step (for me).
 
Word count is dangerously high at 299,447; I still don’t care. Still big mistake.
 
July 23: Have incorporated my edits and Geneviève’s edits, and cut down word count to 259,603—third draft finished.
 
After more cuts, by August 26, 2016, fourth draft is down to 256,686 words.
 
I solicit criticism from readers—friends and family and professionals—about five of whom actually have time to read and comment.
 
Month or so later, better than expected feedback. I incorporate, make more changes.
 
September 29, 2016: Start looking for agent. This turns out to be one of the more frustrating experiences of my life.
 
October: Start what I’m calling fifth draft. (Date finished is unrecorded.)
 
May 8, 2017: With time between writing books on cinema, I decide to do a sixth draft. Geneviève re-reads whole thing. Word count now 231,808.
 
Still no agent.
 
October 8, 2017: On the advice of friend, I begin reading whole novel aloud, editing as I go. Makes a big difference to read out loud. Call it a seventh draft.
 
November 1,  2018: I decide to cut out Jack Parsons’ storyline; I can’t make it work in terms of Apollo 11; and there has been a lot of attention about Parsons, even a TV show; I’d be late to the party.
 
December 13, 2018: Major revision, more or less done. Novel now less than 160,000 words. Title shortened to All Up. Call it an eighth draft.
 
Wizard of Oz moment: I realize that the ideal agent has always been around: long-time family friend and veteran agent/publisher, Peter Beren.
 
April 2019: Beren masterminds solicitation plan; Permuted Press decides to publish All Up.
 
June 27: Start last polish/ninth draft; finish on September 30.
 
February 2020: Receive proofread version and re-read novel, making corrections and several simple but important improvements (tenth draft).
 
May 2020: Mind racked with existential problem: How can I explain to potential readers what kind of book this is in a few sentences—and get the word out? Marketing only goes so far.
 
Pray hourly…
2 Comments

    Author

    Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

    Archives

    November 2020
    July 2020

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.