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Post by Todd Tjersland on Nov 19, 2006 2:02:15 GMT -8
Chapters 8-9 completed (130 pages). Might've gotten more done but some bastard was bumping his bass next door and driving me batty. Here I am trying to write the next great American horror novel and all this stupid fuck can do is rot his brain with the latest Snoop Dog album... God, I hate rap music!
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Nov 19, 2006 22:24:04 GMT -8
Yay! 6th draft, Chapter 10 done! I'm 142 pages into the book now. The going is a bit slower than I'd like but I'm really happy with the results. On to Chapter 11...
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Nov 20, 2006 2:17:44 GMT -8
Chapter 11 done. It's amazing how much I'm cutting out of this draft; a line here, a paragraph there. I'm looking for anything that isn't essential--tightening things up. Pacing and tension have increased dramatically as a result.
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Nov 20, 2006 17:32:04 GMT -8
Chapter 12 of Deathbreed is complete and chapter 13 is well underway; I'm at page 171. I'm almost halfway done now with the 6th draft. It seems to be getting easier as I progress but that's because I spent more time reworking this mid-section of the book in previous drafts than the first nine chapters (which were practically perfect out of the gate, LOL).
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Nov 21, 2006 2:38:50 GMT -8
Chapter 13 is done (176 pages). I've managed to cut over a thousand words so far in this draft even after adding more in.
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Nov 21, 2006 4:53:05 GMT -8
Chapter 14 is done (191 pages into the 6th draft). Got slowed down by reworking one of the sound bites into a live CDC press conference on the zombie virus. Oh, shit! Is it really 5 a.m.? I'm goin' to bed!
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Nov 21, 2006 15:18:14 GMT -8
Woohoo! Chapter 15 is done so I'm halfway through the 6th draft!
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Nov 22, 2006 19:57:45 GMT -8
Chapter 16 done; I'm 215 pages into the 6th draft. Only another 170 pages to go...
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Nov 23, 2006 5:00:51 GMT -8
Chapter 17 done; I'm 225 pages in. Once again, I got hung up on trying to revise a couple of paragraphs that ended up taking hours each to find the right words. I'm averaging about three hours per chapter in this draft but this one took five and a half hours to do... Ugh!
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Nov 23, 2006 18:34:46 GMT -8
Goddamn, I hate the holidays! Too much stress, too many expectations. I'd considered spending the day with my parents but they decided they were going out to some shitty "all you can eat" buffet instead of preparing a home-cooked meal. WTF? Why do they gotta take shortcuts and ruin what little good there is in this stupid holiday? I ain't talked to 'em in months so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I didn't see the point in putting on a happy face and having my career insulted just for a free meal... especially if it ain't homecooked. Damn. Where's my Vodka when I need it? So I decided to spend Thanksgiving eating frozen pizza and eggrolls, working on my novel like any good misanthrope--er, I mean writer. Spent five hours revising Chapter 18 this afternoon--particularly the beginning and the end. It's finally finished; I'm 236 pages into the 6th draft and starting the next chapter. Between yesterday and today, I've managed to cut more two pages worth of text out of the book. It's all about streamlining now, baby. Cut the fat, leave the meat.
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Nov 23, 2006 20:32:14 GMT -8
Chapter 19 is done after *only* a couple hours. I'm 250 pages in; 133 pages and 11 chapters left...
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Nov 24, 2006 2:21:50 GMT -8
I took four hours off to cook pizza and watch Alias: Season 5: Disk 1. I made myself a promise though that I was going to get through Chapter 20 before bed and I kicked Chapter 20's ass in record time! Only an hour from start to finish AND I had to rework the end of the chapter to "punch it up." Now to reward myself with disk 2 of Alias and pass out...
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Nov 24, 2006 21:54:12 GMT -8
Took the afternoon off to work on the next Emma Steel screenplay (deadline fast approaching) and to discuss some issues regarding the redesign of the new ZombieNovel.com site with my web designer. Chapter 21 of Deathbreed is now finished. This chapter is a personal favorite of mine. It's also a bit of an homage to the infamous "Trash the Nude Zombie" scene in Return of the Living Dead. Chapter 21 closes the first two-thirds of the book, paving the way for the rip-roaring final 110 pages as things go from bad to crazy to impossible for our merry band of survivors. This is where we really get some dynamite zombie action and human drama, not that there hasn't been enough already! LOL
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Nov 26, 2006 2:38:10 GMT -8
Some more website and film production issues popped up Saturday but I managed to deal with them and get four more chapters revised. I'm very near the end of the book! Just completed Chapter 25, which wraps up on page 313, a nice barricade scene. So far, I've managed to trim eight pages out of the book even after adding the revisions in. Only five chapters and an epilogue left to go--another 67 pages and the 6th draft is done!
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Post by Todd Tjersland on Nov 28, 2006 1:34:10 GMT -8
Took Sunday off to shoot Emma Steel #4 and spent Monday in recovery... I was up until 7am, got up at 3:30 pm, and couldn't shake a massive headache so I took some aspirin and went back to bed around 8pm. Woke up at midnight--headache still present--and slogged through Chapter 26 of Deathbreed. Was able to insert a quick little scene I hadn't considered in earlier drafts. The extra scene not only made perfect sense but it could be seamlessly inserted. There's only 48 pages left to revise and the 6th draft is done! Now if I could just shake this flippin' migraine I might get the damn thing done today!
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