Ermaggerd! I’m done.
I have written the end of Cody’s story, wherein he deals with his dad and some of his self-esteem issues. He has found a place he belongs and begun to develop a skill that people appreciate.
Question: Is he still a racist schmuck?
Answer: No. At least not the same kind. Can anyone truly be said to have no racial bias? (That is not a rhetorical question, by the way. I want to know.) Cody becomes less of a schmuck fairly early on. By the end, he and Autumn are good friends.
More questions: Does his dad meet justice? Does Drake make an appearance? Are there metaphysics?
Answers: Sort of. I don’t know. Maybe.
My kind of answers.
Of course, being done doesn’t mean that your story is perfect. It doesn’t even mean that it’s done. Achilles never catches the tortoise. Writing means rewriting. Each draft makes the story better, but you don’t get to a perfection. Melanie is finishing her storyline now, bringing us halfway to perfection. We will continue to get closer over the next couple weeks.
My favorite part of re-writing is adding details that foreshadow later revelations. Inserting a clue in chapter 4 to fit the solution to a problem you didn’t even know you had until you wrote chapter 17 -- making it look like you knew what you were doing all along. For instance, Cody’s dad has red hair. I had no idea until the second last chapter, but you can bet he’ll have red hair when the story opens.
If only life was like this!
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