Okay.
I'm way out here in the Ocean. That's my starting point.
I want to get to shore.
How do I do that?
So I'm writing this novel see.
And I've got this beginning see.
And I've got this end see?
But er uh it's this pesky middle part gets me mired down. There are so many POSSIBILITIES. I get so distracted. Maybe this is what attracts me to writing. I create these characters and this situation and then I make things happen. It's kind of like being God. Oh. Gee. Don't get all offended. (But it IS you know).
So my next novel has a boy with a dream.
A mechanic with a secret.
An aunt with regrets.
A ghost.
And a horse.
That's as much as I will tell you. I don't like talking about my projects in any great detail unless I'm pondering over a plot point or brainstorming. There was an interesting article in Writers and Poets some time back that described the phenomenon of talking "out" a project until all creativity was lost. I can really understand how this can happen. Very often authors will only drop a premise of a line or 2 to whet the interest of readers and then stay mum...
So now I'm taking a break.
Blogging.
Taking a breather.
There's a point to all this. My blog is a way of thinking out loud. A sort of writers' conversation with myself so to speak...and then? There's all these commenters!! How cool is that? It's like talking to yourself and then you get a bunch of answers back. Readers say "Oh that sounds cool I want to read that book - hurry and write it."
Other writers say "gee that's what I do- I'm NOT weird after all!"
And my husband says "I thought today was the day you were going to clean the boat and NOT write or blog."
oops.
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19 comments:
To glean ideas from the commentor's to get you unstuck.
To have an excuse not to clean the boat because your too busy with the blog.
It is a wonderful world.
I see it's getting warmer there and colder here.
Happy writing!
And now I have a muse on my lap preventing me from getting more coffee. Alas.
oh that sounds like a great book...keep it going!
And here I thought living on a boat sounded damn close to perfection. Now I learn you still have to clean?! Poof. There goes that fantasy. ;)
Ahhh...intriguing tidbits!
I'm dying to know more....
:-)
Happy writing, Pat.
Hope your trip to shore
is shark-free and full of
enthusiastic writing bursts :)
The middle is always the hard part.
All those words, just to get from the intriguing opening to the nifty ending!
Sometimes you just need a day for doing nothing or anything you want. No harm in taking them. It recharges you to dive back into the water and tame those sharks.
Happy Writing! :)
I left you something on my blog to add to your collection.
Not write, or blog. Notify the ACLU, that seems like cruel and unusual punishment.
I didn't make it to the AWP this year, but keep hearing about John Irving's talk. How he always defines his endings first--endings of books as well as endings of chapters within--and then works his way towards these. The middles are exciting as you say because they're wide open territory, and sometimes damn frustrating for the same reason :(
I too have my ending solidly in place before going forward with my premise. It helps me be contained.
My HERO John Irving.
Really and truly!
I don't think blogging about it would help me because it would all come out babbling and my Buddies would think I was stoked on Nyquill or something.
That water is beautiful! :*) Get back to writing, so I can read that too! ;*)
All the mechanics at Robison Service have secrets too, but I don't know that they'll turn theirs into novels.
Woof!
"Oh that sounds cool I want to read that book - hurry and write it." Seriously, though. :D
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