The new work is moving along at a nice pace, seeing as I am only working on it during the odd morning when I am not working. But then, that is alright as well-gives me time to think about things a bit.
The story is now at that stage where I read over what I have written and come to the realization that it is exactly like something else. This happens with all stories, as there really is nothing new under the sun. So I have to resist the temptation to say well, I am not as good as so-and-so who wrote such-and-such so there is no point in carrying on. The story has a kind of cool feel to it already. It is paced a bit slow here at the start, but I am having a hard time seeing it as much of an action adventure anyway. More of a thought exercise kind of story. I mean, I watched Children of Man not too long ago and while there were a lot of people being killed and things blowing up, it didn’t feel much like a Rambo movie. Or maybe I am just not impressed with things blowing up like I was twenty years ago.
Anyway, the thousand words a day, more or less, are coming along. The people in the story are winding up being peopleish and it is kind of fun. Well, it is totally fun. The first draft is why anyone writes. This is where you can paint the sky purple or kill everyone that every lived or re-wrote all of history. Then in the rewrite you might go back and say, well, maybe I need one or two people left alive, and maybe the sky only looks purple, and hmm, maybe I need like, oh, I don’t know-a plot, maybe?
My last novel, poor thing, is still resting comfortably on the hard drive, I never even had the heart to print it out and get down to some serious revisions. But it is still not that bad, I still think, well, I can get back to it. Of course, Tolkien always wanted to get back to The Silmarillions. . .
I have never used an outline before, and I am working through an outlining process at the moment. I am a bit concerned about getting the bones of the story set into place first, I have always been a seat of the pants kind of writer. Still, it is nice to have a general idea of what is going on for a change.
I used to ride a bicycle a lot, travel a couple of hundred miles now and again. A funny thing happens though when you travel and write a bike. If you ride, say, three hundred miles, people will be impressed when you tell them that-unless you also tell them you slept in motels on the way. Then they just kind of dismiss the whole effort: well, hell, anyone can ride three hundred miles if they are moteling it! That’s kind of how I feel about the outlining bit, can’t anyone write a book if they have a great outline? Hmm, I’ll let you know if I ever get that great book out of it.
There is still that feeling of life affirming wonder that you can write something and when you go back and read it, it looks like a writer wrote it. Yes, I have been writing for most of my life, but at some point I stopped trying to make a living out of it. That, I am planning on changing. I am a great reader of books on how to write, much less great on the actual writing and submitting.
So here I am, pounding out little bits of thought when I get a chance.
My old blog had all kinds of really neat examples of what a swell writer I am, but that is gone.
Other bloggers have noted that it a shame to have a system where you can kill your blog with a single mouse click. But still, I have few regrets on that front. Words are easy enough to come up and I can have a few pages build up here in just a matter of months. . .
