Long Term Relationship?

So how long have each of you been working on your current Work In Progress?

The Dark Knut

So I saw the new batman last night. My sister found me this morning still rocking back and forth clutching my teddy bear. It was intense! It took me until now to decide that I liked it. But it was disturbing. The very thought of having a villain who has not only no moral code, but no conscience was a scary thing. He was truly evil.
I don't know if any of you have read anything by Mette Ivie Harrison, but if you look on her website, she gives 20 universal rules to bad writing. It's all a load of corn, don't read it. Lots of her rules are true in some cases, but not true in a lot of others. Anyway, as a demonstration, she states that it's bad writing to have villains who are evil and mysterious.
????
Isn't that what villains are? I mean, sure you can have a disagreement between good people, and that can be your conflict, but isn't it better a lot of times to just have a bad guy for your bad guy? It creates sympathy, right?

I think some of the best stories are due to villains. Good conquering evil is classic, and will remained loved by all through out the ages! Viva la Villains!
But, what makes the best villain? I guess all types of villains are good, but what kind do you guys like? Funny villains, scary villains, villains who climb on rocks? Or maybe villains in the form of authors who publish a couple books, think they're all that, and then tell everyone else that they suck because they're villains are villainous?
Sorry, I guess that was harsh.
I digress. I've wandered from my original point. But do please tell me your opinions on villains.
Anyway, I wanted to ask about anti-heroes, which is why I brought up Batman. He is the ultimate anti-hero! Everyone loves them! But they are so hard to pull off. The original was The Shadow, who Batman was based off of. He lasted for over thirty years, being very popular, until they turned him all nice, and took out his anti. Han Solo was a great Anti-hero who no one did enough with. Howl, from Howls Moving Castle, was another good one. House, from the tv show, he's an anti too, but in a different way. What is it about anti-heroes that make them so great? Is it that they're not perfect, they're loners, or that they seem to just need someone to hug? How does one write a good anti-hero and what kind of situations are best for them? What kind of characteristics are good for them? ANY WHY ARE THEY SO HARD TO PULL OFF???? If you don't do them right, they end up too harsh, or else wishy washy.
Until I find an answer I have put my epic on hold. I suppose I could study Batman, but I'm afraid I'd just get caught up in Christian Bale and forget what I'm doing. Oh well. I ask for help and opinions.

So What Are You Reading?

What are some books that you read over the summer?

NOW WHAT?

I finished my first draft. I read my first draft. It needs a lot of work. It is a first draft.

I have never faced an entire FIRST DRAFT of a novel before. As a chronic multi-drafter, by the time I write the last word of a book, the first chapter has been re-written about thirty times already.

Not this time. This time I closed my eyes and jumped over the cliff. All 50,000 words are rough and raw.

So what do I do now? I have two options. I could take one chapter at a time, mark it up, think it over, and then revise that one chapter before marking up the next one. On the other hand, I could mark up the entire manuscript and then start back at chapter one. Which is better? Anyone have experience in this sort of thing? HELP! I'M LOST!

Visualization

I used to think this was a vain and foolish thing to do, but after a visit to Pixar Animation Studios I realized the importance of visualization. The people at Pixar decorate their whole studio with art and promotional materials from their movies, and everyone knows they're the best in the business. So, go ahead and design your book cover! Create posters! Write book blurbs! Paste promotional material for your book up all over your room. It isn't vanity, it's visualization.

In this vein, I drove down to Tucson over the weekend (6 hours) just to get this great shot for my mock book cover. While I was there I toured the Titan Missile Museum and hung out with my rocket-science friends who work at Raytheon. Research trips rock.

Still Writing

Hello everyone! I have been quiet... perhaps too quiet... but anyway. I am now writing chapter three of the new novel that I started since the conference. Yes, I took my 'precious' novel that I had been working on for years and years, and PUT IT AWAY...

It has been so hard, but already I can see the benefits. I'm not so attached to this new story, so it's a lot easier to just sit down and write it. I've gotten great reactions from the people who've read it so far, too, which always helps. I think that, since I only have a loose storyline to work from, it's coming so much more naturally and easily. I have a deadline with myself of October before I turn it over to Carol for review, and hopefully send it off to an agent or something. Gotta get it finished! But for once, I actually feel that it's possible. It's totally doable.

And you know, even though I'm working on this other story (actually writing almost every day - gasp!), I'm still getting new and better ideas for the story that I put away. I'm getting very excited to work on it again later. I think it will be so much better this time.

What about you guys? Did any of you put your multi-draft novels away and started something new? How is that going for you?

Half-Way There!

I can't believe it. I wrote the 25,000th word of Earthcrosser some time during the last hour. I'm half finished with the first draft!