Ticklefanatic15's Writing Journal

OK, I was hoping to have the first draft done and published by now, but I am extremely dissatisfied with it, to the point that I am struggling to complete it. The opening is done, and the ending is done; bridging the two has become a bit of a problem. Part of me just wants to shelve it and start on the next Ashley Grable story, but I do not want to start building a habit of leaving stories unfinished when I start getting tired of writing them. So, the problems I have with the first draft:

Probably the biggest is that the introduction attempts to keep up the uncertainty about who is the 'lee as much as possible. However, this is not really doing anything for the story at the moment: it still becomes obvious who is going to get tickled several paragraphs before the tickling actually begins, just as a result of the scenario I chose going in (the 'lee getting stuck in a window while trying to sneak out of a party; ironically, she is climbing out the window to try to avoid being tickled, but instead put herself in a position to get tickled more than if she had not bothered). The second draft will place more focus on the 'lee from the beginning, focusing more on getting the reader to like her and want to see her tickled.

The other big issue is that it starts with introducing the male 'lers, but they get no development; that is focused on the women of the story, both the 'lee and the two female 'lers, so I think de-emphasizing the men at the start would be the right way to go. Tying into this, one of the women ends up being the one driving most of the escalation, which only makes the initial focus on the men more dissonant.

I also started the first draft by writing out the ending, in the hopes that I would avoid getting burnt out on the story; the reasoning was that since the ending was where I burnt out on the last story, leading me to rush it and end too soon for my satisfaction, I would start with the climax and resolution, then just have to get there, rather than having no set, concrete goal to reach. I think in the future it would be better to avoid this problem by breaking my stories into smaller chunks, perhaps 1000-2000 words a piece, and publishing them separately, then collecting them together at the end with some editing and revisions.

So, the plan for the second draft:
3 or 4 parts, hopefully published over the next few weeks / before the end of the year. 1-2000 words a piece.

And, as apology for making everyone wait longer after getting so close to publication, a quick description of the main character/ticklee (who has thus far been kept mysterious):

Megan Huntley is a quiet (and, of course, insanely ticklish) young woman with black hair, green eyes, and a mysterious smile. An investigative reporter by trade, her suspicious nature and quick wits often help her discover what others have overlooked - but sometimes, digging into things causes more trouble for her than ignoring them. The initial concept was for her to be a foil to Ashley Grable; a character who would easily avoid the situations that Ashley finds herself in, while getting into trouble in ways that Ashley never would. The two exist in the same universe, though it will be quite some time before that comes into play...