Things have been a little slow here on Laelaps as of late, and for good reason. Between finals and the holidays I haven't had much time to sit down and write, but more importantly, I have been devoting most of my free time to working on the book.
I am still working on the chapter and human evolution, and it has become far more complicated than I had anticipated. Every time I think I have everything in order, I am reminded of something else important to the story I'm trying to tell. This is definitely going to be the longest chapter in the book, and even then some substantial cuts will have to be made. I'm already at 36 pages and I'm bound to add a few more (the other chapters run between 25 and 30).
I think all the effort is worth it, though. From religious fables about monkeys to Washoe to Orrorin, I am trying to use the changing perception of our own species to explain what we know about our own evolution. Fossil hominins have traditionally received most of the attention, but I have also tried to include our changing view of apes to highlight what we think about who we are. I'm hoping that what I have put together is a compelling synthesis and not a boring muddle!
I don't have to go back to work until January 5th, and then I have a few more weeks before I have to go back to school, which leaves me plenty of time to finish this chapter and get my proposal in order. There is still plenty of work to do, but after so much research, so many hours scrutinizing the words on the screen, so many drafts, I think I am finally ready to test the merit of my work. I hope I will have good news to report in the new year.
[My wonderful wife decided to help my effort by buying me a new (used) laptop for Christmas. Now I have no excuse not to write, and even if it turns out that no one is interested in my work, I still owe her a finished book!]
Here is the latest Wordle for the chapter;
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For previous posts dealing with this project, see the "Books" and "Great Book Project" archives.
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Conroy had the same problem with his book, and the entire thing was on human evolution. Trying to get this story into 25-30 pages is practically impossible.
You're good at getting complex concepts across, though, which helps a great deal when trying to accomplish something like this. I'm sure you'll be fine.
If I were you I'd let the content determine the form -- rather than trying to shoehorn something into a space that's too small for it to fit comfortably, give yourself enough pages to say what you need to say.
Don't worry about form until you have a complete rough draft. Just keep plugging away until then.