This is going much too slow. I'm getting bogged down in character research. My problem is that I want all my characters to be "stand alone" people. I want my readers, (please God, let there be readers), to have a vested interest in each one of them.
I have a character who is a reformed "Type A" guy. He has a heart attack and becomes aware of life in a way that he never noticed before He studies Eastern Religions and adopts a Taoist type philosophy of life. What do you know? More research. By the way, the Te of Piglet is very good and an excellent source of Tao. I'm becoming smarter by the day and my book is falling further and further behind. At this rate, my great grandchildren will have to finish it for me. I have no intention of writing the great American novel, far from it, I just want my characters to be interesting.
The answer may lie in me creating characters who have traits and idiosyncrasies that I know more about.
How about one who is a novelist that writes at glacial speeds?
Friday, February 26, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Distractions
I'm getting distracted by being in a new place. My characters are behaving differently because my brain is. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing. I wonder if I should wait more and let my consciousness relax in its new environ, or just continue to write and let my characters take on a different flavor?
I've decided on the latter. Since this is a first draft anyway, and rewrites are inevitable, I shall allow my imagination to color my characters with the new crayons in my box.
I noticed too,when I kept a blog of my Ireland travels, that I was feeling differently about ordinary things. When everything around me was new, even the simple process of making myself a cup of tea felt different . It would stand to reason then, that something as complex as creating fictional places, people and events out of nothing but the neurons and synapses of my brain would take on new and different dimensions.
Getting away from the daily routine was far more than an opportunity to relax and learn about new places, it is also a way for my mind to grow and expand in ways I was not even aware of. Now that I am in New Mexico and everything looks and feels vastly different than in Tennessee or Florida, my entire creative processes feel a bit different .
Of course there are thousands of examples of people who wrote wonderful, insightful, imaginative pieces without ever traveling more than a few miles from their home, but if I don't embrace the idea of moving about as way to juice up my creative process, then how in the world could I write it off on my taxes?
I've decided on the latter. Since this is a first draft anyway, and rewrites are inevitable, I shall allow my imagination to color my characters with the new crayons in my box.
I noticed too,when I kept a blog of my Ireland travels, that I was feeling differently about ordinary things. When everything around me was new, even the simple process of making myself a cup of tea felt different . It would stand to reason then, that something as complex as creating fictional places, people and events out of nothing but the neurons and synapses of my brain would take on new and different dimensions.
Getting away from the daily routine was far more than an opportunity to relax and learn about new places, it is also a way for my mind to grow and expand in ways I was not even aware of. Now that I am in New Mexico and everything looks and feels vastly different than in Tennessee or Florida, my entire creative processes feel a bit different .
Of course there are thousands of examples of people who wrote wonderful, insightful, imaginative pieces without ever traveling more than a few miles from their home, but if I don't embrace the idea of moving about as way to juice up my creative process, then how in the world could I write it off on my taxes?
Monday, February 1, 2010
perspective and characters
In writing the crime scene I realized something. The reason I don't like what I've written is because I don't like crime scenes. Every other mystery novel or television show spend an inordinate amount of time talking about the crime scene. Its all about the detectives and entourage attempting to look for clues and scrape DNA or fingerprints off of tree bark or a slice of bologna or what not. Its not my thing. I don't watch that on TV or read about it in books, so what in the world am I doing trying to write about it? I did. I wrote the crime scene but didn't like any part of it. The only part I liked in the chapter was the part about the spectators looking on. There is a murder though. I have to write about it or else my characters won't be able to do all things I have them doing.
I lamented all this to Charlie.
We discussed it all.Where I was going with my novel and what I was trying to say with it. Why I was writing this novel this way. Why I think it is important and relevant. I'm not writing just to be writing. Of course I want to entertain; but I have something to say and I want to say it in a unique way.
So Charlie says "write the scene from the perspective of the spectators you enjoyed writing."
Of course!!!!! Perfect solution. Exactly how I want to write it. Sometimes it really helps to talk over your novel with someone who encourages you to work upside down and backwards.
I lamented all this to Charlie.
We discussed it all.Where I was going with my novel and what I was trying to say with it. Why I was writing this novel this way. Why I think it is important and relevant. I'm not writing just to be writing. Of course I want to entertain; but I have something to say and I want to say it in a unique way.
So Charlie says "write the scene from the perspective of the spectators you enjoyed writing."
Of course!!!!! Perfect solution. Exactly how I want to write it. Sometimes it really helps to talk over your novel with someone who encourages you to work upside down and backwards.
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