A Novel Idea
Jun. 29th, 2004 08:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mmerriamOn Sunday I froze up while working on "Move Along Home." I just stopped in the middle of the scene I was writing. I've never done anything like that before.
I had just spent the last several hours hunting the wily be verb in my stories "Rainfall" and "The Foundling". I successfully gunned down a passel of the mangy critters, and managed to force several passive sentences into activity.
Satisfied with the Great Be Verb Hunt, I settled in with "Move Along Home" and a stack of Old 97's CD's. The story has been cruising along, almost up to 12,000 words at this point. Life should be good. Yeah.
So I'm typing along. Jack and Emma are trying to figure out why the Loring Park Squirrels came to Jack's rescue in the previous scene. They're talking about it, and I'm about to have Emma set forth a theory, which will later prove correct.
And I stopped writing.
I've been unhappy with certain things I've done during the writing of this tale. I've been the most unhappy about my tendency to engage in tiny informative pieces of exposition instead of writing the entire scene out. A part of my brain (hereafter called Cautious Brain) has been justifying this by telling me we are doing this to keep the story short and move the plot along. But the longer the story goes on, and the more I use this unsatisfactory device, the more unhappy I grow with Cautious Brain.
The other part of my brain (hereafter called Exuberant Brain) says to throw caution to the wind and go for it. You know you want let the beast lose and see how far it will run. Exuberant Brain then presents me with scenes explaining why Old Man Lobo decided to re-awaken Jack to the Spirit World, the real reasons mind you, not what he's telling Jack. Exuberant Brain says, "Come on Michael, write those scenes, you know you want to."
But Exuberant Brain is the one who gets me in trouble, and makes me write myself into corners. So Cautious Brain says we can't do all that extra stuff, we need to keep the story under control. Cautious Brain says we're not ready to write a novel yet. No matter that Exuberant Brain has some nice ideas.
Then something strange happened. Cautious Brain and Exuberant Brain suddenly went silent, and another voice said, "You know, if you do this one little thing, the whole story works. You would have a full novel with two separate stories that come together. You've done all the back-story in the short pieces you've written. Sure there's a few things to work out, but it is almost all there waiting for you to write it."
I froze. This new voice spoke the truth. But it spoke a truth I am not sure I am ready to hear. I sat staring at the first outline I wrote for a possible novel using the themes from "Move Along Home." And I thought about the other things I would need to pull in. I realized that yes, it was all there. Even a motivation for the two sides to be at odds. And I even had a vague idea about how the two separate protagonists could and would reach the end game, and do what they need to do when they get there.
I sat staring at the laptop like it might grow teeth and rip out my throat. I was scared. I am scared. I have no idea HOW to write a novel. I've never written anything bigger than 15,000 words.
I could just keep writing "Move Along Home" the way it is. I'm good at ignoring the voices in my head (well, sort of). But (you had to know there was a but coming), if I don't do this, then I feel I'm not being true to the story.
Now what do I do?
I had just spent the last several hours hunting the wily be verb in my stories "Rainfall" and "The Foundling". I successfully gunned down a passel of the mangy critters, and managed to force several passive sentences into activity.
Satisfied with the Great Be Verb Hunt, I settled in with "Move Along Home" and a stack of Old 97's CD's. The story has been cruising along, almost up to 12,000 words at this point. Life should be good. Yeah.
So I'm typing along. Jack and Emma are trying to figure out why the Loring Park Squirrels came to Jack's rescue in the previous scene. They're talking about it, and I'm about to have Emma set forth a theory, which will later prove correct.
And I stopped writing.
I've been unhappy with certain things I've done during the writing of this tale. I've been the most unhappy about my tendency to engage in tiny informative pieces of exposition instead of writing the entire scene out. A part of my brain (hereafter called Cautious Brain) has been justifying this by telling me we are doing this to keep the story short and move the plot along. But the longer the story goes on, and the more I use this unsatisfactory device, the more unhappy I grow with Cautious Brain.
The other part of my brain (hereafter called Exuberant Brain) says to throw caution to the wind and go for it. You know you want let the beast lose and see how far it will run. Exuberant Brain then presents me with scenes explaining why Old Man Lobo decided to re-awaken Jack to the Spirit World, the real reasons mind you, not what he's telling Jack. Exuberant Brain says, "Come on Michael, write those scenes, you know you want to."
But Exuberant Brain is the one who gets me in trouble, and makes me write myself into corners. So Cautious Brain says we can't do all that extra stuff, we need to keep the story under control. Cautious Brain says we're not ready to write a novel yet. No matter that Exuberant Brain has some nice ideas.
Then something strange happened. Cautious Brain and Exuberant Brain suddenly went silent, and another voice said, "You know, if you do this one little thing, the whole story works. You would have a full novel with two separate stories that come together. You've done all the back-story in the short pieces you've written. Sure there's a few things to work out, but it is almost all there waiting for you to write it."
I froze. This new voice spoke the truth. But it spoke a truth I am not sure I am ready to hear. I sat staring at the first outline I wrote for a possible novel using the themes from "Move Along Home." And I thought about the other things I would need to pull in. I realized that yes, it was all there. Even a motivation for the two sides to be at odds. And I even had a vague idea about how the two separate protagonists could and would reach the end game, and do what they need to do when they get there.
I sat staring at the laptop like it might grow teeth and rip out my throat. I was scared. I am scared. I have no idea HOW to write a novel. I've never written anything bigger than 15,000 words.
I could just keep writing "Move Along Home" the way it is. I'm good at ignoring the voices in my head (well, sort of). But (you had to know there was a but coming), if I don't do this, then I feel I'm not being true to the story.
Now what do I do?
