It starts.

So I appear to have accidentally started to edit the novel, before finishing The Other Thing or hearing back from my betas.

Understand me: I really did not mean to do this. For the last two months there has been a self-imposed injunction against even opening the file, even sneaking a peak at anything I and my co-author have done. But then last night I was like “Well, it’s been a couple of months, I’ll just have a quick look to warm up for starting in the next week.” And then half an hour later I had gone through the intro thingy and also a chunk of the first chapter. So I guess I’m editing the novel now.

The working title at this point–really just from my end and for my own purposes–is The Helix Dance. I am very much open to other ideas. This has proved to be a stubborn bitch to pin down.

So yes, I really didn’t want to start this without hearing back from people first, but provided that the feedback doesn’t consist of OH GOD NO WHY WOULD YOU COMMIT SUCH A HORROR BURN THIS THING IMMEDIATELY AND IF ONLY YOU COULD BURN THE MEMORY FROM OUR MINDS I don’t really foresee an issue.

The current wordcount is 165,820. I estimate that approximately 15 to 20k words need to come out before it can be sent anywhere. If more can be carved out, so much the better. My general impression–and it may be wrong–is that the basic plot, characters, themes, etc. are all essentially sound enough to not need any radical changes. The primary issue is the prose, which is also pretty okay but a little puffy in the description-area.

So. 10 pages out of 373 done. Here goes nothing.

My copy of M-Brane SF Quarterly #1 is supposed to come today. I am excite.