Closing In On The Climax
Things are really picking up with Gus And Bow. I've cleared through a lot of material and am now at the point where the action is really taking off. The scene that is unfolding feels immense, and it is the beginning of that final phase of the climax. Word count is at around 66,400 and I am still working tonight.
There are still many things that I need to figure out, but they are things that I realize need to be understood in the writing. One reason that I feel I'm not inclined to a traditional outlining process is that I think, very much, that a book is made up of the language, and not of the concepts behind that language. The ideas being communicated come out of the words, not the other way around, or at least not entirely, and the meaning of the language is a result of the way it is used in the work. In essence, I can't know what is going to occur unless I am aware of the details of the language that it is constructed from.
That is to say, I am aware that the things I do not know about, yet, are things which will become apparent in writing. Some of the time, this is immediate, but at other times, it takes a bit of work. Often, especially lately, I will write a bit and then realize, during a break, that it needs a certain change, or think up a better alternative that draws on the original scene, or even just find some embellishments that are needed.
Today, for example, I had written a bit that I felt was almost right, but still didn't have a certain quality that would allow me to move into the actual climax in the way I wanted. I came to see a solution to it, one that was right there in the scene already, and which has already been setup, allowing a certain thread of the novel to be woven in more tightly and explicitly.
I had begun this blog, actually, because I needed to consider how that scene is to unfold, and as I stated yesterday, these reflections allow me to get a great deal of that thinking done. In large part, for me, the process of writing is peripatetic: I bounce between the fever of writing a great deal and the lulls of sitting and contemplating the scene to come. At times, it is actually useful, I find, to postpone writing a bit, just enough to build a tension and a deeper sense of what will happen, as the scene that emerges is often easier to write and will launch more quickly into the continuing narrative. I do not think this is so much the thinking that occurs, as composition always requires contemplation to conjure up what is needed.
Rather, I believe it is about the release of that built up tension and the energy that brings me. I am waiting to do the work, and that is often excruciating, if I am sure of what is to come. Even now, as I have clarified some of the next scene, I feel a yearn to stop this and get to it, but I also know that it is not quite ready. For one thing, I have had enough ideas pop up about it that are important and which still leave certain gaps. that I know it is not yet ready. For another, I am going to allow the energy to build a bit. As well, I am expecting to be interrupted soon, and would rather not be in the middle of that work at the time.
In all, I am on target. I am not certain that I will finish tonight, though if I catch fire, I might stay up to see it through. I do think that it will be in the next day, but that may be optimistic. In any case, I am feeling very good about the work, and am extremely close to the point when I can call this a completed draft.
There are still many things that I need to figure out, but they are things that I realize need to be understood in the writing. One reason that I feel I'm not inclined to a traditional outlining process is that I think, very much, that a book is made up of the language, and not of the concepts behind that language. The ideas being communicated come out of the words, not the other way around, or at least not entirely, and the meaning of the language is a result of the way it is used in the work. In essence, I can't know what is going to occur unless I am aware of the details of the language that it is constructed from.
That is to say, I am aware that the things I do not know about, yet, are things which will become apparent in writing. Some of the time, this is immediate, but at other times, it takes a bit of work. Often, especially lately, I will write a bit and then realize, during a break, that it needs a certain change, or think up a better alternative that draws on the original scene, or even just find some embellishments that are needed.
Today, for example, I had written a bit that I felt was almost right, but still didn't have a certain quality that would allow me to move into the actual climax in the way I wanted. I came to see a solution to it, one that was right there in the scene already, and which has already been setup, allowing a certain thread of the novel to be woven in more tightly and explicitly.
I had begun this blog, actually, because I needed to consider how that scene is to unfold, and as I stated yesterday, these reflections allow me to get a great deal of that thinking done. In large part, for me, the process of writing is peripatetic: I bounce between the fever of writing a great deal and the lulls of sitting and contemplating the scene to come. At times, it is actually useful, I find, to postpone writing a bit, just enough to build a tension and a deeper sense of what will happen, as the scene that emerges is often easier to write and will launch more quickly into the continuing narrative. I do not think this is so much the thinking that occurs, as composition always requires contemplation to conjure up what is needed.
Rather, I believe it is about the release of that built up tension and the energy that brings me. I am waiting to do the work, and that is often excruciating, if I am sure of what is to come. Even now, as I have clarified some of the next scene, I feel a yearn to stop this and get to it, but I also know that it is not quite ready. For one thing, I have had enough ideas pop up about it that are important and which still leave certain gaps. that I know it is not yet ready. For another, I am going to allow the energy to build a bit. As well, I am expecting to be interrupted soon, and would rather not be in the middle of that work at the time.
In all, I am on target. I am not certain that I will finish tonight, though if I catch fire, I might stay up to see it through. I do think that it will be in the next day, but that may be optimistic. In any case, I am feeling very good about the work, and am extremely close to the point when I can call this a completed draft.
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