I kicked butt tonight. Probably 2000 words, maybe 2500.
Didn't blog post and stayed up way too late, but got a lot of work done.
A fight between Sammy and Lydia. Tension between Sammy and Mr. Vonachen. Rising action. Blah blah blah I hope it doesn't become melodramatic, but I do not think it will, I do not think the characters (and the depth of said characters) would allow it.
I am encouraged tonight and know that my dream is attainable. It is as if at the end of a long corridor, and in the corridor is a rapid current flowing towards me, a river I must find a way to travel upstream and past. And so while the going is slow and the terrain treacherous, I am making progress, I see my goal, and I see others who are no different than myself up ahead of me, and that is enough to press forward.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
On Writing a Novel, Entry #10
Not quite sure where to go from here. Mr. Vonachen has kind of (uncharacteristically) spilled his guts to Sammy.
I feel like Sammy has to reply somehow...but I'm not sure how to do that. Basically my story has been vacillating between Sammy/Lydia conversations, and one other day of the week when Sammy interacts with others. Perhaps just to fit in another day--just a day at the alley. Maybe league night, on the weekends. Sammy could run into an old teammate. That still bugs me--if this is a sweet bowling alley and supported by the surrounding community, then I'm sure there would still be people who tried to seek out Sammy.
His high school coach, for one. Old teammates. Ex-girlfriends? Regardless, he's close enough to home that people would definitely have dropped by the alley by now, and yet there's no mention of it.
I've kicked around the idea of a high school coach coming out and really helping Sammy, although Mr. Vonachen's kind of taken that role. Would they be rough? Crude? Sympathetic? Farther advanced in life (married, kids even?) or stuck in high school still?
Retreating to an earlier note, I'm wondering if my chronology (two days per week, essentially, and implied minutiae in-between) needs work. Do I need more days, more interactions, more happenings throughout the week, or is it okay to climb ahead at the pace it is currently at? None of my readers have commented to that end thus far, but still, it is worth searching out. I hate that proofing is so time-consuming, because I wish I could be fixing these small errors as I go. Oh well, I suppose sometimes there are no shortcuts.
Just writing and reading and more writing and more reading. Right now that's all there is.
I feel like Sammy has to reply somehow...but I'm not sure how to do that. Basically my story has been vacillating between Sammy/Lydia conversations, and one other day of the week when Sammy interacts with others. Perhaps just to fit in another day--just a day at the alley. Maybe league night, on the weekends. Sammy could run into an old teammate. That still bugs me--if this is a sweet bowling alley and supported by the surrounding community, then I'm sure there would still be people who tried to seek out Sammy.
His high school coach, for one. Old teammates. Ex-girlfriends? Regardless, he's close enough to home that people would definitely have dropped by the alley by now, and yet there's no mention of it.
I've kicked around the idea of a high school coach coming out and really helping Sammy, although Mr. Vonachen's kind of taken that role. Would they be rough? Crude? Sympathetic? Farther advanced in life (married, kids even?) or stuck in high school still?
Retreating to an earlier note, I'm wondering if my chronology (two days per week, essentially, and implied minutiae in-between) needs work. Do I need more days, more interactions, more happenings throughout the week, or is it okay to climb ahead at the pace it is currently at? None of my readers have commented to that end thus far, but still, it is worth searching out. I hate that proofing is so time-consuming, because I wish I could be fixing these small errors as I go. Oh well, I suppose sometimes there are no shortcuts.
Just writing and reading and more writing and more reading. Right now that's all there is.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
On Writing a Novel, Entry #9
Back in action, baby.
"Spring Break" hasn't exactly been the wave of productivity I hoped for. Oh well, it was a long weekend and there is still time.
I worked over page one again today. I've put probably 4 hours into page one alone. Well, only 199-299 to go, right? Still, I think it reads the smoothest of any of the pages by far, and it is actually at this point approaching good writing. It is discouraging to look at how much I have ahead of me, but it is encouraging to see something start to form. This must be how a sculptor feels when he starts to see an arm emerge from a chunk of marble.
Actually, I have no idea how a sculptor sculpts, so maybe they wouldn't get that particular moment. But the sentiment is the same.
Mr. Vonachen's character is changing. He'll change a lot this chapter, and then I will have to go back and change him. Which is okay--this new development speaks to the respect Sammy feels for him, and his "goodness." He will be an imparter of wisdom, and as such we will delve into his backstory a bit. I think the reader (or at least the writer) will be intrigued by him, and will want to know more about him. Since I am holding off on Sammy's story (or at least teasing it out slowly) hopefully Mr. Vonachen's story can be enough of a stopgap before moving on to the much slower "real" plot.
Brit pointed out that I have some character issues thus far. Sammy is at once withdrawn/depressed and yet gregarious and likeable. She said she can't get a finger on if he's shy or withdrawn or not. I guess she's right and I need to clarify that. Originally I wanted to write this as an exploration, to an extent, of depression. Sammy's depression comes from fleeing life instead of confronting it and living it. But at the same time he does still have some confidence, some expectations of himself...plus he has to be likeable. It's an quandary that I need to solve so my reader doesn't have to without any help. Withdrawn (to an extreme) seems more difficult, in that is will be an impediment to any conversation and that sort of opening to character revelation. It will also slow down an already slow story even more, because he will necessarily take longer to get out of his shell. I suppose it would make the narration more introspective and could even necessitate a first-person POV fiven that I'd need ro replace external dialogue with internal. I do not think I can do that.
Still...maybe we need to see Sammy spend some time on his own. So far he is always working or talking with Lydia. What does he do when alone in his room? How does that loneliness affect him? Who is he when he is only with himself?
For now, Mr. Vonachen. Perhaps I need to take the block of marble, take off all its corners, and start to create a rough shape before I can bring out anything too specific elsewhere.
"Spring Break" hasn't exactly been the wave of productivity I hoped for. Oh well, it was a long weekend and there is still time.
I worked over page one again today. I've put probably 4 hours into page one alone. Well, only 199-299 to go, right? Still, I think it reads the smoothest of any of the pages by far, and it is actually at this point approaching good writing. It is discouraging to look at how much I have ahead of me, but it is encouraging to see something start to form. This must be how a sculptor feels when he starts to see an arm emerge from a chunk of marble.
Actually, I have no idea how a sculptor sculpts, so maybe they wouldn't get that particular moment. But the sentiment is the same.
Mr. Vonachen's character is changing. He'll change a lot this chapter, and then I will have to go back and change him. Which is okay--this new development speaks to the respect Sammy feels for him, and his "goodness." He will be an imparter of wisdom, and as such we will delve into his backstory a bit. I think the reader (or at least the writer) will be intrigued by him, and will want to know more about him. Since I am holding off on Sammy's story (or at least teasing it out slowly) hopefully Mr. Vonachen's story can be enough of a stopgap before moving on to the much slower "real" plot.
Brit pointed out that I have some character issues thus far. Sammy is at once withdrawn/depressed and yet gregarious and likeable. She said she can't get a finger on if he's shy or withdrawn or not. I guess she's right and I need to clarify that. Originally I wanted to write this as an exploration, to an extent, of depression. Sammy's depression comes from fleeing life instead of confronting it and living it. But at the same time he does still have some confidence, some expectations of himself...plus he has to be likeable. It's an quandary that I need to solve so my reader doesn't have to without any help. Withdrawn (to an extreme) seems more difficult, in that is will be an impediment to any conversation and that sort of opening to character revelation. It will also slow down an already slow story even more, because he will necessarily take longer to get out of his shell. I suppose it would make the narration more introspective and could even necessitate a first-person POV fiven that I'd need ro replace external dialogue with internal. I do not think I can do that.
Still...maybe we need to see Sammy spend some time on his own. So far he is always working or talking with Lydia. What does he do when alone in his room? How does that loneliness affect him? Who is he when he is only with himself?
For now, Mr. Vonachen. Perhaps I need to take the block of marble, take off all its corners, and start to create a rough shape before I can bring out anything too specific elsewhere.
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