Getting started is hard on the knees

So now that I've put out this collection of stories (again, with other formats coming soon) I've also begun work on a novel.  It's not my first novel, which may come as a surprise to some people.  No, when I was a wee teenager, I got it in my head that I should write, of all things, a 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' novel.

How prophetic.

Kinda.

It was a pretty terrible novel, I can admit that.  Actually, let me take that back; I was really proud of the story that I had come up with, but I'm sure that if I read it now, it would just reek of amateur hour nonsense.  The basic plot had to do with (sigh) vampires invading the Federation.  Of course, only the crew of the Starship Enterprise could stop it!  Anyway there was a whole thing where there was actually this vampire cloud in an episode of the original 'Star Trek' series, and I postulated that this cloud was, in fact, the origin of vampire myths around the galaxy and there was lots of cool stuff going on with fighting vampires and fighting... vampire clouds... Whatever, it was cool.  Trust me.

So now, now I'm working on a real novel.  Y'know, one that I can publish for real.  Not just 120,000 words of fan fiction.

But it turns out that writing a novel is like really hard, man.  Part of my problem is that my writing style is typically very stream-of-consciousness.  I tend to just sit down, start writing, and see where it goes from there.  I also have developed what seems to be an aversion to second drafts.  I don't like going back and revising things.  This caused lots of problems in school when I was forced to produce a second draft of a paper, when I felt very comfortable with the first draft and felt no need to change it.

Writing a novel, on the other hand, is a different beast than a five page paper, or a 7,000 word short story.  I'm forced to create what they tell me is called an "outline" and even that isn't very structured.  My impatience has led me to write approximately 6,000 words of this novel before the outline is even finished.  I don't like planning; I'm not a planner.  I like to just write.  But if doing all this extra work helps me put out a more cohesive novel, then so be it.

By the way, I've already written the last line of the novel.  I'm not going to tell you what it is, even though lots of people like to read the last page of the book first.  (Weirdos)

Current Soundtrack:
"Fast & Furious" by Brian Tyler