Well, my life is a bit chaotic right now, with the boy off to have his wisdom teeth out under GA this afternoon, and us being homeless with a fair amount unsorted and unsettled now, with farewells and looming Christmas and all its and celebrations and parahenalia, added the city noise reducing my average hours sleep to about 3 a night. So... I am still writing. When this is your day job holdays become things other people have. It's been an uphill struggle... but one I have to do or get too far behind. besides we need the money... so it is really nice when suddenly - in all the chaos - threads of a story start to weave themselves. It's a complex story with 8 distinct threads, multiple POVs and huge amounts of mythology and history. It's my job to make it look light ;-). I've been really struggling -- but yesterday the muse which is not something I know how works -- that mysterious bit of writrium somewhere in the nether took hold of the threads, shook them and tugged and twisted them, added a few lost hows and whys, and I outlined chapter-by-chapter, balancing POVs another 100 000 words into what feels like a great story. Like a jigsaw puzzle it went really easily once the key items were in place. Now if I was Sarah, I could have it all written by Wednesday, but it'll take me another 20-30 days typing as fast as I can (which isn't fast). Still it feels wonderful to have pieced it together. It always does.
Does this happen to other people? And how do you make it happen?
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Dave, I certainly wish I knew how to make it happen. Figure that out, and you'll be the richest writer ever to have lived!
Since I'm starting out in the world of writing, I tend to find some stuff quite a struggle. In fact, I can even remember the first time on this book that the muse struck, and suddenly words poured from my fingers like molten gold.
Sad to say, the feeling lasted for about twenty minutes. Now I yearn for it again, and do all manner of finger exercises in the hope that they will become possessed once more.
Good luck with writing in such a hectic situation!
I feel for you, Dave.
My son had his Wisdom teeth out a couple of weeks ago under a GA. Then ten days ago my daughter had her tonsils and adenoids out. I go in next week to have a tooth out under a GA. Another son and his girlfriend as moving out over Christmas, the daughter who had her tonsils out is moving out over Christmas. And Daryl and I have decided to sell our house and move across suburbs.
So I really feel for you. Good to hear that the writing is going well!
Dave, first off, congrats on having your muse cooperating and pulling those threads together. Now, will you tell her to have a talk with mine and help me out of the current plot problems I'm having? Seriously, I wish I knew how it happens with me when something finally clicks and things fall into place. Sometimes, it's one of those days when I wake up and realize that during the night my subconscious managed to put it all together. Other times it happens when I'm doing manual labor, building things and that sort of thing. Sometimes, it just happens and as I sit down to stare at the blank computer screen the words just seem to flow. And, yes, when it does happen, it feels WONDERFUL.
Jonathan, the secret is to keep banging the rocks together :-) (with apologies to Douglas Adams) Seriously I believe it is a product of constantly thinking and replaying scenarios, and letting it ferment. I have reached it - at various points of various books about 20 odd times now. Sometimes it literally is like a dam burst.
Rowena - isn't one of us being completely barking insane enough without you joining me ;-)? Seriously despite moving continents it sounds like you are worse off than me. Good luck!
Amanda, it does feel wonderful. I think it is a lot of sub-concious fermentation.
Dave, I think you're absolutely right. And, like fine wine or even better single malt, you have to let those ideas age some. If you don't, they aren't as full-bodied and well-developed as they should be. If you let them age too long, they turn to vinegar. Hmm, maybe I need a good glass of wine to help my current plot ferment a bit more. What do you think?
Mmm. Fermentation...
Oh crud. I'm not allowed to partake of fermented plot ;-)
Beat head on wall?
Umm, rearrange scenes, change POV's. Print out the whole thing, split it up and reshuffle scenes. I did it in different colored ink for each POV, once, but that was because I'd run out of black ink and didn't want to drive ten miles and over-pay at a store. Honest.
Even when you don't beat your head, it feels like you have.
Dave, you are a mighty man! If you pull that off you would have achieved something remarkable I reckon.
I'm definately in 'blood out of stone' territory at the moment. I blame a very crappy year that has had every upheaval on the list except divorce (and that's a miracle), which has left me physically and emotionally exhausted.
I'm hoping for better luck next year.
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