I have 4,000 words done of the new Work-in-Progress (tentatively entitled, 'A Void' - until I can think of something better and spookier) and I am still having fun.
Normally, when I hit upon snags in the story I get frustrated and it slows me down, but today, I managed to think things through and keep at it without wasting a minute. This book is more me than anything else I've ever done. I'm playing with tone and it's a blast in a bag. I'm also playing with multiple first version narrators. My protagonists of the past were either, a) too noble and self-sacrificing, or b) too emotionally handicapped to serve as a part of myself...They were not a part of me, but a part of some other character I had created. Whereas, in this book, it's all me, (a snarky young reporter, full of an obsessive need to prove every fact is a lie, and a spooky old woman who trusts no one and has something to hide), and it is flowing naturally. With the others, there was a lot of inventing involved, which slows down the writing process.
There is still inventing in this new WIP, but it has mostly to do with structure, and very little to do with voice. Voice in this book is a breeze (so far).
I'm playing with it, like a cat with a pincher bug. I'm swapping narrators, and time periods, and both voices are so clearly a part of myself and their very own distictive selves, I feel as if this book will get finished without too much emotional turmoil. I love flow!! And since plot is part of what I do best - building, teasing, hinting...With a hint of spooky and creepy...coupled with two narrators I adore and hear in my head as if they were right beside me...
Loving it!
Now, mind you, this is only the first draft. So I reserve the right to re-write the whole thing from page 1 when I'm finished with it and decide it's crap. But, as always, whenever I start a new book, I am in the honeymoon phase. It usually takes until page fifty to knock me off my party-mobile and remind me how much I hate middles. I really do.
I think that's why I enjoy writing novellas so much, (ala. THE BEAST CALL, and the soon-to-be-I-hope-released-novella SHUT UP) - in a novella, the middle is a blip. A quick trip to the pinnacle of the mountain before hastily starting the concluding descent.
Not so much here. This one will be a full length. But I'll worry about page fifty in thirty more pages.
For now, I'll just enjoy the honeymoon.
Heaven knows, there is plenty of fun to be had on a honeymoon, and if done right, that same fun can be carried well over into years of the marriage.
Trust me on this.
Normally, when I hit upon snags in the story I get frustrated and it slows me down, but today, I managed to think things through and keep at it without wasting a minute. This book is more me than anything else I've ever done. I'm playing with tone and it's a blast in a bag. I'm also playing with multiple first version narrators. My protagonists of the past were either, a) too noble and self-sacrificing, or b) too emotionally handicapped to serve as a part of myself...They were not a part of me, but a part of some other character I had created. Whereas, in this book, it's all me, (a snarky young reporter, full of an obsessive need to prove every fact is a lie, and a spooky old woman who trusts no one and has something to hide), and it is flowing naturally. With the others, there was a lot of inventing involved, which slows down the writing process.
There is still inventing in this new WIP, but it has mostly to do with structure, and very little to do with voice. Voice in this book is a breeze (so far).
I'm playing with it, like a cat with a pincher bug. I'm swapping narrators, and time periods, and both voices are so clearly a part of myself and their very own distictive selves, I feel as if this book will get finished without too much emotional turmoil. I love flow!! And since plot is part of what I do best - building, teasing, hinting...With a hint of spooky and creepy...coupled with two narrators I adore and hear in my head as if they were right beside me...
Loving it!
Now, mind you, this is only the first draft. So I reserve the right to re-write the whole thing from page 1 when I'm finished with it and decide it's crap. But, as always, whenever I start a new book, I am in the honeymoon phase. It usually takes until page fifty to knock me off my party-mobile and remind me how much I hate middles. I really do.
I think that's why I enjoy writing novellas so much, (ala. THE BEAST CALL, and the soon-to-be-I-hope-released-novella SHUT UP) - in a novella, the middle is a blip. A quick trip to the pinnacle of the mountain before hastily starting the concluding descent.
Not so much here. This one will be a full length. But I'll worry about page fifty in thirty more pages.
For now, I'll just enjoy the honeymoon.
Heaven knows, there is plenty of fun to be had on a honeymoon, and if done right, that same fun can be carried well over into years of the marriage.
Trust me on this.
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