A Writer's Notebook, Day Sixty-Six
To begin, my meeting this morning went well and I actually got a request for the full manuscript, which is rather exciting, even if it is not necessarily going to lead anywhere. More importantly, I felt that I was able to make a positive connection with someone in the industry who seemed to recognize that I had a place there as well. As I said yesterday, I recognize that this is about making those connections and building those relationships.
I also feel quite good about the writing that I did today. I did cut down to focus the bit of time I had and only did the work on Gus And Bow, but I feel very happy with the scene that I worked on. It involved the return of a character from the start of the novel, as mentioned yesterday, in a role that I had not expected, and also brought an item into the book that I don't yet know anything about. Right now, it is a small but heavy unopened box, and I am not really certain what is in it.
I think that tomorrow is going to be a busy day for writing. I don't believe I have much else on my schedule at the moment, and am hoping to get a few hours in on the novel. I think it is close to the climax, and I can feel things coming towards it, but I am watching as it happens, and I know that I want to get there. I am really quite excited to see how things shake out.
I've had more and more little glimpses about things that will happen at the end, but they are not entirely certain or clear, and the order hasn't yet emerged at all. I get fragmentary images, at times, for example a glimpse that depicts how the ultimate threat of the book sees some of the other characters, and a need to make certain that becomes expressed in some way.
One issue is that I don't want this to all end easily and happily, but in a way that is resonant and makes sense of what has been occurring. The story has a lot of moral complication, in terms of the nature of the villains, and even the nature of the villain behind them that is that ultimate threat I mentioned. In some sense, it is easy to relate with them all, though that does not mean that what they do is always easy to forgive.
The thing that I recognize about this book, at this point, is that it has more going on beneath the surface than I had expected. The reader's understanding of a certain character has been reinvented several times, and is going to change yet again as the story comes to it's conclusion. The two narrators are revealed more subtly, but I think a great deal comes across about them. The nature of the narration has provided a lot of limitations for me, and I think that has forced me to consider how to accomplish a lot of the characterization in other ways than I am used to.
What is most exciting about the ending, for me, is that I don't know what it is yet, and that I am so much wanting to find out makes me thing that I do know, actually, on some level, but the part of me that knows is just going to let it unfold slowly, and onto the page. There are a lot of things that might otherwise be wasted in the story, or might even be interpreted as plot holes or general mistakes, but which are being woven back in order to create the ending.
As a writer, it can feel like magic, as those things come together. It feels a bit like juggling, throwing the balls high up and it somehow just seems to land right in the palm of the hand almost without a thought, as if the ball had appeared there on it's won. The hand catches it, of course, but the movement becomes a part of the whole, and there is no need to remain aware of it.
Similarly, in writing a book there are always going to be details that pop up while working. Even if you have a huge outline, that can't include all of the book, or it would have to he the book. As the book gets written, it is always going to occur that something will pop in here, unexpectedly, but later it can come back in another scene and have a different meaning in that context. For me, these little details often combine together, in ways that propel the story. For example, the character who came back in at this point is presented as a completely different person than he was assumed to be earlier. It can seem like it would be impossible for the pieces to fit together so smoothly without any planning, and it may well be that their is an idea of how things will work together, it just isn't something conscious for me. And that is a big part of what makes it so exciting.
I also feel quite good about the writing that I did today. I did cut down to focus the bit of time I had and only did the work on Gus And Bow, but I feel very happy with the scene that I worked on. It involved the return of a character from the start of the novel, as mentioned yesterday, in a role that I had not expected, and also brought an item into the book that I don't yet know anything about. Right now, it is a small but heavy unopened box, and I am not really certain what is in it.
I think that tomorrow is going to be a busy day for writing. I don't believe I have much else on my schedule at the moment, and am hoping to get a few hours in on the novel. I think it is close to the climax, and I can feel things coming towards it, but I am watching as it happens, and I know that I want to get there. I am really quite excited to see how things shake out.
I've had more and more little glimpses about things that will happen at the end, but they are not entirely certain or clear, and the order hasn't yet emerged at all. I get fragmentary images, at times, for example a glimpse that depicts how the ultimate threat of the book sees some of the other characters, and a need to make certain that becomes expressed in some way.
One issue is that I don't want this to all end easily and happily, but in a way that is resonant and makes sense of what has been occurring. The story has a lot of moral complication, in terms of the nature of the villains, and even the nature of the villain behind them that is that ultimate threat I mentioned. In some sense, it is easy to relate with them all, though that does not mean that what they do is always easy to forgive.
The thing that I recognize about this book, at this point, is that it has more going on beneath the surface than I had expected. The reader's understanding of a certain character has been reinvented several times, and is going to change yet again as the story comes to it's conclusion. The two narrators are revealed more subtly, but I think a great deal comes across about them. The nature of the narration has provided a lot of limitations for me, and I think that has forced me to consider how to accomplish a lot of the characterization in other ways than I am used to.
What is most exciting about the ending, for me, is that I don't know what it is yet, and that I am so much wanting to find out makes me thing that I do know, actually, on some level, but the part of me that knows is just going to let it unfold slowly, and onto the page. There are a lot of things that might otherwise be wasted in the story, or might even be interpreted as plot holes or general mistakes, but which are being woven back in order to create the ending.
As a writer, it can feel like magic, as those things come together. It feels a bit like juggling, throwing the balls high up and it somehow just seems to land right in the palm of the hand almost without a thought, as if the ball had appeared there on it's won. The hand catches it, of course, but the movement becomes a part of the whole, and there is no need to remain aware of it.
Similarly, in writing a book there are always going to be details that pop up while working. Even if you have a huge outline, that can't include all of the book, or it would have to he the book. As the book gets written, it is always going to occur that something will pop in here, unexpectedly, but later it can come back in another scene and have a different meaning in that context. For me, these little details often combine together, in ways that propel the story. For example, the character who came back in at this point is presented as a completely different person than he was assumed to be earlier. It can seem like it would be impossible for the pieces to fit together so smoothly without any planning, and it may well be that their is an idea of how things will work together, it just isn't something conscious for me. And that is a big part of what makes it so exciting.
Comments
Post a Comment