The Novel Is Going So Well, But...
It seems worth getting a bit more explicit about some of my thinking in terms of Gus And Bow at the moment. The writing is going quite well, at this point, and I am quite happy, but I also recognize that it is still, in some ways, not necessarily going to work without a lot of other changes. I'm also quite doubtful of my ability to assess that, so I don't even really know if I am correct. It may be working in ways I can't see or understand.
To explain, one element of this is that I have moments in the story that occur when I will sort of throw out something and it will become a detail that I recognize will need to have some meaning and explanation within the story. That is not always overt, but I need an understanding of why this is true, and it needs to inform the story. At the same time, I don't always understand the reasoning when I put a detail into the book.
For example, one character had an experience that, even as I wrote it, I knew was not particularly real. It seemed in some way to be important to explain it this way, but I had difficulty understanding why. Still, I went with it, and as the story developed, that moment's unreality became a thorn in my side. As a result, a character became obsessed with the event, and now, I have actually come to understand why things were so strange in that scene, as the events described were not what they seem to be.
I feel that this is important and believe that it will work in the novel as a whole, yet I also recognize that it may be difficult for a reader to get past such a moment, and trust it is not just a sloppy writer who isn't thinking. What makes me feel it may not be as ham-fisted as I might imagine, is the recognition that the way that this is working out, in the story, actual draws on numerous threads from the book, pulling them together cohesively. Writing these things, I feel a sense that I am not creating those connections but actually am recognizing or discovering what had already been prepared.
In this case, the character that recounts the strange and hollow experience, and then becomes obsessed with the others involved, also revealed, briefly, that they had seen a professional for help with a personal problem. It had been a short statement, that was off hand and not important, but now, it has become clear that this professional was a part of what has been going on, and that this was preparing for a big reveal about and for that character, which will also reveal the larger scope of the entire narrative to this point.
The question is what is needed for it to work. On one level, I believe that a book which is written well on a sentence level, has an interesting and entertaining story, and is constructed in a way that wraps up the loose ends satisfactorily, is really enough. All of the rules around writing are just attempts at finding a way to hit that target. As such, they do not represent what is needed or required, but a set of options that appear to work. That isn't to say you can ignore them, but that if a book works in a different way, or has a different set of intents, well, readers might still love it.
It is also that I know this book is strangely both in a sort of commercial and genre vein, but is also a bit strange in ways that are not all that mainstream. That is not so much about the content, really, but about form in the story. As mentioned, the narration is from two characters speaking together, with no differentiation. It is first person plural most of the time, but also uses third person to identify each of the speakers in the story. That is a fairly simple example, and one that is explained by understanding that they do not wish to say"I" for either of them.
As well, I also recognize that the story is structured oddly, and the villains are shadowy for a majority of the book. They appear at times, but are mostly vague, and questions of whether they are truly villains emerge. This issue arises from the recognition that they are sort of refugees fleeing something worse, an evil of a different sort that is not directly addressed, thus far, and which I am not certain is going to emerge directly. I suspect it must, but I am not sure yet.
In addition to this, I know that their is actually another, larger, evil, that will become central, and which has been controlling and manipulating things towards ends that have not been explored yet. This has been working in from the edges, but I can see how many of the elements that I have described, albeit vaguely, are working towards the revelation of that threat. As well, it is putting the character that I have been discussing into the center of things, which feels right, considering all that has been done to her so far, and the fact that she really needs to be the hero of the story at the end for many aspects to resonate. Again, that was not entirely clear at the start. Indeed, this is a woman that basically hitched a ride in the novel, both in terms of her appearance in the plot, and in how she seemed to have shown up in my mind at all.
Anyhow, the question that is at the heart of all of this, for me, is whether a reader will find the book entertaining and enjoyable enough to get to the point where things start to pull together and make more sense. Will those weird bits stick out as things that are strange but seem to have significance that will be explored, or just turned off, not trusting that things do have a real reason for working the way they do. I believe that it is a satisfying work, and have had the experience of discovering that all these strange and seemingly random bits are all connected into the book as a whole.
Of course, this is me projecting to the finished work, but I think that is needed and positive. I am aware that it is a bit ahead of myself, as I have yet to finish writing, and my original goal here had been more to think about how it is that the various threads that get woven into the novel as a response to what feels random later seem to have been ordered and organized. (The best book to explain this phenomenon, is, I think Truth In Comedy, which is actually a text on improvised sketch comedy, but the exploration of how a long form sketch can develop into something coherent is worth reading for any writer, I believe. Also, Del Close really helped create much of modern comedy, as well as discovering and training many legendary performers)
At this moment, in the writing, I have so much that is shaping together, and I can feel how it is all connecting. Their is a magic that comes, somehow, where it all feels like it is fitting together. It can take time to get to that place, and it may require a lot of frustration, but it happens, and the entire work seems to be utterly different. That is where I am now, even if I am still aware of the rest of it. Perhaps, that is just my rational mind attempting to keep me from getting too excited, but in any case, I believe that I am creating a book that has value and merit, and may have a bit more depth and resonance to it than I had expected. Of course, I still just need to finish it...
To explain, one element of this is that I have moments in the story that occur when I will sort of throw out something and it will become a detail that I recognize will need to have some meaning and explanation within the story. That is not always overt, but I need an understanding of why this is true, and it needs to inform the story. At the same time, I don't always understand the reasoning when I put a detail into the book.
For example, one character had an experience that, even as I wrote it, I knew was not particularly real. It seemed in some way to be important to explain it this way, but I had difficulty understanding why. Still, I went with it, and as the story developed, that moment's unreality became a thorn in my side. As a result, a character became obsessed with the event, and now, I have actually come to understand why things were so strange in that scene, as the events described were not what they seem to be.
I feel that this is important and believe that it will work in the novel as a whole, yet I also recognize that it may be difficult for a reader to get past such a moment, and trust it is not just a sloppy writer who isn't thinking. What makes me feel it may not be as ham-fisted as I might imagine, is the recognition that the way that this is working out, in the story, actual draws on numerous threads from the book, pulling them together cohesively. Writing these things, I feel a sense that I am not creating those connections but actually am recognizing or discovering what had already been prepared.
In this case, the character that recounts the strange and hollow experience, and then becomes obsessed with the others involved, also revealed, briefly, that they had seen a professional for help with a personal problem. It had been a short statement, that was off hand and not important, but now, it has become clear that this professional was a part of what has been going on, and that this was preparing for a big reveal about and for that character, which will also reveal the larger scope of the entire narrative to this point.
The question is what is needed for it to work. On one level, I believe that a book which is written well on a sentence level, has an interesting and entertaining story, and is constructed in a way that wraps up the loose ends satisfactorily, is really enough. All of the rules around writing are just attempts at finding a way to hit that target. As such, they do not represent what is needed or required, but a set of options that appear to work. That isn't to say you can ignore them, but that if a book works in a different way, or has a different set of intents, well, readers might still love it.
It is also that I know this book is strangely both in a sort of commercial and genre vein, but is also a bit strange in ways that are not all that mainstream. That is not so much about the content, really, but about form in the story. As mentioned, the narration is from two characters speaking together, with no differentiation. It is first person plural most of the time, but also uses third person to identify each of the speakers in the story. That is a fairly simple example, and one that is explained by understanding that they do not wish to say"I" for either of them.
As well, I also recognize that the story is structured oddly, and the villains are shadowy for a majority of the book. They appear at times, but are mostly vague, and questions of whether they are truly villains emerge. This issue arises from the recognition that they are sort of refugees fleeing something worse, an evil of a different sort that is not directly addressed, thus far, and which I am not certain is going to emerge directly. I suspect it must, but I am not sure yet.
In addition to this, I know that their is actually another, larger, evil, that will become central, and which has been controlling and manipulating things towards ends that have not been explored yet. This has been working in from the edges, but I can see how many of the elements that I have described, albeit vaguely, are working towards the revelation of that threat. As well, it is putting the character that I have been discussing into the center of things, which feels right, considering all that has been done to her so far, and the fact that she really needs to be the hero of the story at the end for many aspects to resonate. Again, that was not entirely clear at the start. Indeed, this is a woman that basically hitched a ride in the novel, both in terms of her appearance in the plot, and in how she seemed to have shown up in my mind at all.
Anyhow, the question that is at the heart of all of this, for me, is whether a reader will find the book entertaining and enjoyable enough to get to the point where things start to pull together and make more sense. Will those weird bits stick out as things that are strange but seem to have significance that will be explored, or just turned off, not trusting that things do have a real reason for working the way they do. I believe that it is a satisfying work, and have had the experience of discovering that all these strange and seemingly random bits are all connected into the book as a whole.
Of course, this is me projecting to the finished work, but I think that is needed and positive. I am aware that it is a bit ahead of myself, as I have yet to finish writing, and my original goal here had been more to think about how it is that the various threads that get woven into the novel as a response to what feels random later seem to have been ordered and organized. (The best book to explain this phenomenon, is, I think Truth In Comedy, which is actually a text on improvised sketch comedy, but the exploration of how a long form sketch can develop into something coherent is worth reading for any writer, I believe. Also, Del Close really helped create much of modern comedy, as well as discovering and training many legendary performers)
At this moment, in the writing, I have so much that is shaping together, and I can feel how it is all connecting. Their is a magic that comes, somehow, where it all feels like it is fitting together. It can take time to get to that place, and it may require a lot of frustration, but it happens, and the entire work seems to be utterly different. That is where I am now, even if I am still aware of the rest of it. Perhaps, that is just my rational mind attempting to keep me from getting too excited, but in any case, I believe that I am creating a book that has value and merit, and may have a bit more depth and resonance to it than I had expected. Of course, I still just need to finish it...
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