So in the race of novel vs. baby, I’d say baby has a slight lead at present. I’m 30,000 words in but have had to slow down and go carefully so I don’t miss a corner and run completely off the road. Upside is, I know where I’m going (as much as I’ve ever known where I’m going in this writing thing) and the situation keeps giving me more to write about.
There are speed bumps too – where I start thinking too much about what’s going on subtextually or philosophically. I have a bad habit of just dragging that stuff up into text. (I don’t know that it really is a bad habit, exactly; it feels like a reaction against bad/overinflated “literary” style. But it isn’t always an appropriate for what I’m trying to do, this being a case in point.)
Ultimately I’m just trying to write some characters I care about facing difficult situations. If I get that right, then i have to trust that everything else will fall into place around it.
It’s good stuff, this writing thing.
Go Baby Go!
It’s good stuff, this writing thing.
QFT 🙂
so how many words has the babe written then?
The worst part, for me, is when the characters start talking about the subtext. I’m all like, “What the hell dude, nobody talks like that!” and they’re all “Shut up, we talk like that,” and I’m like “Okay fine I’m not writing any more dialogue for you now,” and then they keep talking anyway.
It’s so weird. I don’t understand how it works at all!
samm 🙂
Pearce: I know man! It’s like the characters are seizing the reality of being characters and expressing it! They’re smart little buggers, characters, you have to be tricksy so they don’t realize the subtext you’re giving them. If they figure it out, they’ll delight in tearing it to pieces.
You know… splurge, then trust someone to edit. Huge trust there, but maybe that could work if you’re going from such a strong goal?
Mind you, I’m writing this from the prespective of someone who sees everything he creates for work go through a dozen other hands, including mine at least three times, before the public ever sees it.