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Thesis work - short novel
RichDecker (Raho) Writing DK30 Fall 2020 8 6
Description
Hey, my thesis is split into two parts. One is a scholarly work - in my case an analysis of a specific theme in literature over the course of the last 150 years or so. The second (the one I will be working on during this DK30) is a short novel or a short story - set bare minimum for this part is roughly 5k words. I will be aiming more for the length of 20k-25k words… Not to attempt to impress the professors, but rather because of the demand of what I have planned out. It would not suit a shorter form and I do not have the time to subsequently edit down a longer work.
But what am I actually writing? A short novel split into 7 chapters (incl. a prologue and epilogue) all from different perspectives of different characters with a few breaks, taking the reader back to the present time of the story (characters will start bickering over some details of the past or get interrupted). Genre-wise it will be specifically an apocalyptic, dystopian, sci-fi-ish thing with the main focus on an apocalyptic event.
Why apocalypse? Well, the answer is somewhat simple. The idea was born during the coronavirus lockdown in my country. Locked alone in my flat only with a bottle of wine and too many cans (actually glasses) of spaghetti sauce, I started wondering… How would an apocalypse look if it was formed today? What if all the little somethings went wrong? And then I spent months thinking about it a bit too obsessively - not as much about the apocalypse itself (somewhat writes itself nowadays), but mainly about the human mind.
I will not be following any of the recommended or even almost traditional storytelling methods we often see in fantasy literature (the monomyth or the hero’s journey), instead I will delve into how the world is perceived by the human mind while much larger and near ineffable events happen over the course of lives of multiple generations, yet all represented in a physical manifestation of [redacted].
Disclaimer: because of the law (or at least the uni. regulations and rules for approving it for defense and publication), I cannot show any part of my thesis work publicly before it is finished, defended and graded - thus I cannot go into full specifics of the story (I described as much as I could) here. However I will try my best to describe my progress in updates and answer most thoughts or questions in the discord server or over DMs (and respectfully ask you to not spread them before 2021 is done).
My intended workflow is roughly outlined in the weekly goals, but summed up, the main point is to structure out a daily regimen of sitting down and banging out a good chunk of work.
Recent Updates
Day last
(the update is a bit late - having a bit of a hectic schedule)
First a bit more concise description.
The goals(in the order of importance): Work consistently on the work for the duration of the project except Sundays. Finish the first draft. Reach 20 000 words.
Achievments: 19 days of work (roughly 1-2 hours daily on average). First draft not finished - but somewhat close. Reached 10 000 words (overall length is somewhat shorter, but still feels ok with the scope).
Now a bit less in numbers and more in thoughts.
I’ve greatly enjoyed working on the project this time round. I genuinly do not care much about not reaching the word number goal (it was an arbitrary one anyways). I’ve done what felt best for me! Built a regular schedule for working on the thesis and so I did. But it also made me realize, that I have to put in much more time into my thesis, that I initially anticipated and that is very valuable data for keeping everything on a proper pace before the deadline.
I’ve also enjoyed our little weekly meetings. They have a been a great thing this time round and I hope we can keep em running even outside of the DK30!
Day 4 + 7
Decided to switch to weekly updates - Sundays or Saturdays depending on how tired I feel on Saturday. Progress has been slow, but consistent. Slow because most of my writing sessions were cut short by other uni assignments (writing two short stories for the main class, reading books for classes and some non-writing assignments). Consistent because I had to sit down every day for the uni assignments anyways, so I worked on the project after them.
Expected progress - 6000 words (20hrs) Achieved progress - 2700 words (12hrs)
Day 4
First #writing meeting done (everyone was awesome, excited for more!). Got some more ideas on what to refine during the following week - mainly also on where to shift most of my focus.
Today is the rest day, so I’m working on mostly school stuff for next week and also gonna alter some things on my white-board of the plot.
Day 2
Work on the character description pages is done (couldn’t find them, made new ones). Tomorrow, we do the first big writing session. Excited. Intimidated. Hopeful.
Day 0/1?
Reviewed all [written down] plans and ideas I have for the thesis and I noticed somewhat of a major issue. My papers on each character-narrator are nowhere to be found. So the goal for tomorrow is to try and recover those; or make completely new ones. Otherwise the plans seem very clear except for some changes.
First real writing session should start on Saturday.
Estimated Timeframe
Oct 15th - Nov 15th
Week 1 Goal
Plain and simple, in this I plan to review all of the plans and get straight to work.
Below applies on all subsequent weeks: Input has to be at least around 2-3 hours a day during weekdays, 5 hours on Saturday and Sunday will be a day to rest and recharge. Output is expected to be around 5000-6000 words - circa an average of 1000 words a day.
Week 2 Goal
Keep on working. Main thing is to keep up the pace while also dealing with schoolwork and my job - will have to compromise and work less hours (we are getting hour cuts anyways, so that will probably resolve itself).
Week 3 Goal
At this point, majority of the work will be finished, so the main focus is to keep all consistencies within - one day will be reserved to work out all cross references inside the text, speech inconsistencies and psychology of characters.
Week 4 Goal
During this week and after (the last few days) will be spent discussing the finished body of work with my classmate and also server members (if any are willing to spend some time in VC discussing the work from what I describe them - I will not be translating the whole thing to English, not enough time). After the project, the main focus will shift back to the other part of my thesis and after Christmas, a redacting/editing process will start on ideally both written works.
