I typed “The End” on Lucy Harker, Vampire Hunter earlier this week. It’s a milestone that I’ve passed, but there are a lot of miles ahead still. But then I looked back and realized there are many miles behind.
Out of idle curiosity, I did a search for files on my computer that mentioned Lucy Harker. I found my original one-page synopsis for the novel. And I blinked when I saw the date
I had the first idea for it on January 24th, 2016
I completed this frankendraft of three shifting plot points on January 26th, 2022.
Six years to complete a full version. Why did it take so long?
I came up with the idea about the time I was halfway through Chaos Wolf, so I was still learning a lot about writing a book. I sidetracked into a couple of other projects that never came to fruition but were time-sensitive. My thought was I would release Chaos Wolf, then work on getting Lucy Harker into shape.
What I didn’t expect to happen is several family health emergencies that stopped me from writing from mid-2018 to 2020. At that point, I had decided that Chaos Hunt needed to be out first. So I made plans to write Chaos Hunt in 2020 and use 2021 to complete Lucy Harker.
And you can see how well those plans went for 2020. (Gestures in COVID19, and then winces from the memory of the arm injury.)
So I completed and sent off Chaos Hunt for editing in August 2021 and did my first edit past in October. That left November to start Lucy Harker’s rewrite as part of NaNoWriMo.
When I was working on the story before, something felt off, but I could not put my finger on what it was. I was thirty thousand words in when I had a lightbulb moment about the relationships between several of the characters. I had finally identified the issue that was bothering me, and I knew it was one I couldn’t let stand. Of course, it meant changing major portions of what I had already written to make it consistent with things going forward. I’ve been told by other writers to drop notes in my story where things will need to change and then go forward. Worry about finishing the draft. It will all be fixed on rewrites.
Now the draft is finished. And I have to make those changes and make sure they are cohesive. But Chaos Hunt’s edits must be completed first. I received those last Friday, so Lucy is on pause again. I passed a milestone, and now have the next one in my sights.