Motivation Is a Wonderful Thing

Act II is finished, and I've written several short scenes to start Act III. Don't have an official word count, because some of it is still in longhand, but I'd guess a little over 54,000.

I feel such a rush of relief and confidence now. Act II is where so many attempted books have died (okay, maybe not many, exactly, but of the six I've seriously attempted, three have died in Act II, one got lost in Act II but had a quickie ending tacked on so I wouldn't feel like I'd failed completely, one was Blue Falcon, and one is this). Getting past that huge daunting fight scene and wrapping up that part of the story makes me feel as if successful completion of the book is now guaranteed.

Which is not to say that there are no challenges left. The finale of the book of course needs to be bigger and more spectacular than the Act II climax, but I plan for it to be simpler. A big piece of the Act II climax was the heroes finally identifying who their enemies really were, so there was a sequence of misdirection, action, revelation, action, more revelation, more action, etc.

None of that is a factor in the finale. The sides are clearly laid out. The agendas are clear. It's just a matter of getting the heroes through the obstacles to final victory (or defeat, but this being a superhero story, what are the odds of the latter?).

So yeah, I'm getting excited again. I'm trying not to get too excited, because there are still a lot of words to write between here and "The End," but I'm a lot more confident of getting there than I was two weeks ago, and worlds more confident than I was, say, two months ago.

I wonder if I should get one of those word-counter things?