Trying it on for Size

Okay, what I talked about doing I have done:

I have combined the 80,000 words of "Considering How to Run" with the 34,000 words of "Their Hearts Run Cold" into one book and will now let it sit for a little while, fermenting, until I decide if that is the route I'm going to go.

I feel good about it, having done it now, at least in one little separate file I can cordon off from everything else while I percolate on it. I know it's going to take some editing to get it into shape, but as I've already edited the first 190 pages of this 270-page work, I'm feeling pretty good about my prospects.

Then I send it off to my ace in the hole. I've got a guy in publishing -- not necessarily a publisher -- who said he'd look it over and give me a bit of advice on where to take it and whether it's good enough to take there.

That's exciting.

What's more exciting is that as I sit and look at this entire file, sitting there like an atom bomb on my computer desktop, I see I've accomplished something.

So, the goals: Have it edited and at least the second draft done by July 1, 2011. From there, I send it to my publishing contact. Then we see what happens.

Then I start researching agents in earnest.

And I start again, from page one, on the next installment of the story. That's probably the scariest part. But then when I consider that this first part, these 114,000 words, took me just over a year to write. I can do that again. It was fun. And in some ways, easy.

A Question

Used through the fair used doctrine for commentary purposes.

Many years ago, I read Robert Asprin’s MYTH series of books, but gave up after the one in which he shifted the narrative perspective through a series of characters in the same book.

I didn’t like the change. At all. Hearing those different voices, after books and books and books of the story from Skeeve’s perspective, just stopped the story cold for me.

Now the question:

When is it good to shift from one character’s perspective to another, when the story thusfar has been written not from an omnipresent narrator’s perspective, but from one character’s perspective?

I ask because I’m contemplating doing something radical with “Considering How to Run”/”Their Hearts Run Cold.” Here’s the rub: Up to this point, the story has been from Seth’s point of view. I’m now at a unique crossroads where the story could easily shift to Altus’ point of view and easily segue the story into another book entirely. That would mean combining the two proto-novels I’ve got now into one, and then doing a major refocus in the second installment, all from Altus’ point of view.

Truth be told I’ve contemplated simply combining the two novels for now, so that part of the shift isn’t all that scary. The shift in narrative perspective, however, is daunting.

I’m about to take that proverbial leap through the Guardian’s portal and into that other world. Thoughts?

What Did He Say?

NOTE: Once again, this is the kind of high-quality blather you're missing not being a member of the Targhee Writers Blog. Send me an e-mail at misterfweem(at)yahoo.com to sign up.

The next bit of “Their Hearts Run Cold” is going to be either slow in coming or discombobulated with the rest of the novel and the one that preceded it. I’m going to try for the former, because the latter just begs to be fixed later, and why write something to be fixed later if I can write it correct right now?

It all comes down to the author needing to know his or her characters, their behavior, how they have responded in the past, while preparing the reader for how they might respond in the future.

It’s Seth and Altus. I’m trying to make them more in-depth. And to do that, well, Altus isn’t necessarily going to do something bad because he’s a bad guy, but rather something bad is going to happen despite him being a good guy after all. I just have to remember how much of a bad guy I’ve made him previously so his sudden flip-flopping can be explained. And do it without the customary twelve boxes of introductory material.

Used under the fair use doctrine for educational and commentary purposes.

This is important because if my characters act in contradictory ways, I want it to be purposeful, not because I’m a moron and forgot what one character did when I put them in a different situation. This is probably rudimentary to the best novel writers, but since I’m not a member of their august panel, I have to learn things the hard way.

Percolation

Used under the fair use doctrine for commentary purposes, because I certainly don’t like coffee.

I know I’m no genius, but I know what works for me.

One of the best writing tips out there is percolation: Leaving your writing aside for a day or two and trying to either come to grips with the big picture or simply figuring out where to go next – all of this happening on a subconscious level, leaving the rest of the brain free to think of something else – anything else, in fact – in order to remove what obstacles or obfuscations might be in the way.

It works.

And you know what else works? Writing through obstacles and obfuscation without pausing at all because that’s what a plugger writer does.

I use both methods with good success. Most recently I’ve been on the percolating phase, letting work on “Their Hearts Run Cold” cease for a few days when I realized I was at a difficult spot in the story. This morning, while I was half asleep on the bus, the way to proceed came clear. I promptly forgot it, then remembered it again when I was more fully awake at work. I took a few notes and now have put together nearly a thousand words that are helping me continue the story, hopefully, in a better direction.

And all along, of course, I’ve been working as a plugger. I’m not so much worried right now about quality, but quantity, on the Ray Bradbury Theorem that quantity produces quality, or at least gets the crap out of the system so the better stuff can come along.

NOTE: It's still not too late to become part of Little Orphan Annie's Secret Circle over at the Targhee Writers Blog. Read bits of my novel as they flow out of my brain. Like earwax. I've got to work on my salesmanship . . . 

Outlining: No or No?

Here in about a week and a half I’ll meet with another local writer to compare notes.

All I know about what he’s writing is that it’s a fantasy novel. That’s about all he knows about what I’m writing as well. I sense, however, we’re taking different approaches.

He’s bringing an outline of a story he’s had in concept for a few years at least. I’m not sure how detailed the outline will be, but from what I hear, it’s got a fair amount of detail in it.

This compares to my approach to writing: I don’t outline. I may start off with a few vague notions for the overall direction of the book, and from time to time I may plan, in a very sketchy way, what’s going to happen in the next section of the book or at least the next writing session, but I tend more often than not to follow Wally’s Work Method, which is simply to point the coffee cup in any random direction and follow it.

I sense he’s got a more cohesive story put together.

But I’ve got 110,000 words of my story down on paper. It’s in rough form, but it’s on paper, rather than stuffed invisibly in the cracks of an outline.

I don’t say this to denigrate his method. As I mentioned, he’s probably got a more cohesive story in mind. Mine kind of wanders and meanders, and it’s likely that some of the 110,000 words I’ve got on paper are going to have to be deleted once the editing begins.

So as we talk and read, I’m going to take notes on the pros and cons of our story-building approaches. I’m sure the best methods will be found on the middle ground between the two.

I also wonder how I’d perform in a creative writing MFA program. My sister has a CR MFA, and is now going for a doctorate. I suspect they teach and preach a lot more outlining than I do.

Outlining may work for some. It doesn’t work for me. I prefer the Ur-writer’s approach. But I’m open to learning lessons.

One of the lessons I may learn is that my 110,000 words are an outline, just with a lot more meat on the bones. I see parts of the story that are sketchy and are going to need to be fleshed out through revisions and editing. I’m darn tootin’ well-pleased, however, to have the skeleton in place. And maybe that’s the most important thing, no matter the method used in skeleton–building.

 This is pretty much the extent of my outlining on the novel I'm working on right now.

Their Hearts Run Cold: 30,000 Words

You know what?

Altus still hasn't done his bad thing yet.

And I think that's because I'm rethinking things. I've got a little nugget of thought that's going to help me add a twist to this book that maybe readers won't expect. Altus may still do something bad, but, well, you'll see what happens.

The story is still coming more slowly than the first installment. Maybe that's good, and maybe that's bad. But I'm finding solace in this quote from "Dune" author Frank Herbert:

A man is a fool not to put everything he has, at any given moment, into what he is creating. You're there now doing the thing on paper. You're not killing the goose, you're just producing an egg. So I don't worry about inspiration, or anything like that. It's a matter of just sitting down and working. I have never had the problem of a writing block. I've heard about it. I've felt reluctant to write on some days, for whole weeks, or sometimes even longer. I'd much rather go fishing, for example, or go sharpen pencils, or go swimming, or what not. But, later, coming back and reading what I have produced, I am unable to detect the difference between what came easily and when I had to sit down and say, "Well, now it's writing time and now I'll write." There's no difference on paper between the two.

I just need to know: Am I putting everything in to what I'm writing? And am I even cognizant enough of my own skills to answer that question honestly?

My answers: Most of the time, yes. That goes for both questions.

Want to read parts of my novel in progress? Send me an e-mail at misterfweem (at) yahoo.com, and I'll add you to my reading group at the Targhee Writers Blog.

Their Hearts Run Cold, 10,000 Words

These first ten thousand words have been slower in coming. I won’t say they’re better quality, because, as I wrote them and as I re-read my first 80,000 over the Christmas break, I noted among the good quite a bit that needs fixing.

No matter. What matters in this exercise is that I continue to get words on paper so that, eventually, I can filter out the crap and find the really good stuff.

And it’s fun.

I read an essay earlier this week in which the author said that he always questioned when someone told him that learning was fun whether they were learning or had ever had fun before. Well, I’m learning here and having fun at the same time. I’m not Shakespeare, by any stretch of the concept, but that I’ve put together 90,000 words in a story is pretty significant to me, the guy who has started many a novel but never gotten beyond the firat 10,000 words before. So I’m happy.