Revisionland Over Finals Week

I really should continue studying for my final, which is tomorrow evening, but no, my novel is calling my name from my Google Docs.

 I am much more compelled to refine my first 11 chapters than stuff facts about pepsin and the ratio of gut bacteria to the rest of the human body into my mushy memory.

I've been very burnt out this semester. I'm trying not to make this blog post a rant. Just want to say typing and revising draft #2 of my novel is a lot more fun than applying myself to austere academics, and I am very, very apathetic about finals. I haven't had a proper rest from school in an extremely long time (my past 3 summers were dominated by summer classes), and I'm intellectually worn out. I just hope my winter holiday break in Asia (Tokyo and Taipei! I'm so excited!) will provide the much-needed rejuvenation my mind and body needs. And, of course, I'll be typing up draft #2 and revising along the way. As I said in an email I sent to my creative writing class yesterday, Scarlett and Jude have dominated (pun intended) my life for the past 5-6 months, and they won't leave me alone any time soon. Not necessarily a bad thing.

Their presence in my life is made much more bearable by the incredibly giddy fact that I have willing beta readers. They make me very, very happy, a much-needed injection of holiday cheer for me. :)

I credit author Erin Morgenstern for coining the name "Revisionland."

Draft #1 of Novel Finished

On November 30 at approximately 2 AM, coinciding with the last day of NanoWrimo 2013, I have finished draft #1 of my novel! It's a very crappy first draft though, and the biggest thing that needs to be polished, in my opinion, is the strength of the supporting characters, but draft #1 is finished, nonetheless! In class, everyone was asked to provide images that could be potential covers for our stories. I created a moodboard to create a sensibility of my story, as opposed to a definite book cover.

 

I've been sharing snippets with my creative writing class. Oh wait, that reminds me, did I ever share a summary of my novel? Let's see...looking at my past blog posts, I have not! *smacks head*

Anyhow, the main idea of my story is that it is a BDSM steampunk Little Red Riding Hood-inspired new adult novel. Below is the summary:

SUMMARY DRAFT

Scarlett vows to save her virginity for marriage. Haunted by the sexually-transmitted disease V.A.I.N., which killed both of her parents, Scarlett studies at Sylva University with the hopes of researching for a cure. While she is determined to stay innocent throughout her academic career, one wolfishly handsome professor, Jude Tanner, sees her virginity as a prize to be won. As much as Scarlett denies his advances, he knows that she is not as innocent as she seems. When Jude catches Scarlett violating a university policy, he sees this as an opportunity to toy with her and put her virginity and future at stake. He makes a deal with her: she can choose to stay a virgin until marriage, or be expelled from Syla University and become his slave.

Of course Scarlett chooses the former, but the deal is not so simple. Scarlett becomes Jude’s housemate, and during their time together, he takes her to a sadomasochistic amusement park, and tempts her and slowly breaks down her innocence. Will Scarlett be able to honor her parents’ deaths by remaining a virgin and finding a cure to VAIN? Or will she succumb to her primitive desires and become Professor Tanner’s slave?

I was sharing excerpts in my creative writing class, and I was overwhelmingly giddy to see how engaged my classmates were with my characters. At the final class of the semester this past Tuesday, everyone was demanding to know what happens in the end, and asked, "Do Scarlett and Jude finally have sex in the end???????"

I told them what happened, to relieve them of a whole semester's worth of literary sexual teasing (they deserved knowing the ending!). But if you're reading this, and you want to know, that's for you to find out! ;)

I'm typing up chapter 3 of draft #2 right now!