megwrites

As expected, the going is still slow on the novel and progress has slowed to a crawl, because I'm just not concentrating that much on it. But it's my vacation and it's nearly Thanksgiving, and I don't feel guilty.

But I did do some thinking about my project and about writing in general on the way back from Massachusetts today. And one of the things I thought about was how writers are so constantly hammered with the old adage, "Show, don't tell". It's practically hammered into our heads by advice givers and fellow workshoppers from the moment we decide we have the temerity to both write and share that writing with others.

And a lot of things have bothered me about that little piece of wisdom, especially since writers are, ideally, storytellers.

Then it hit me that it's not so much that you should always show and never tell, but that there's a ratio of showing to telling in every story that either does or doesn't make the story work.

I think if you show and never tell, you end up with a really tedious story that describes in nauseating detail every little thing a character does. It's like trying to view a picture on a computer going pixel by pixel It doesn't work. You end up with what the people over at Flogging the Quill like to call "overwriting".

However, if you do nothing but tell, and never show, you end up with an overglorified outline.

So you need a balance. Some things merit showing, just as somethings in a movie warrant the camera zooming in. Some things, however, barely deserve mentioning. Opening doors, crossing the street, brushing teeth, getting dressed - you're better off just telling me that they happened and moving along to the interesting things like dragons and aliens and the plot.

The ratio, however, and what kind of telling and showing are sort of what learning to write is about. I don't know what they should be, but I know that different stories need different ratios. Some stories are all in the details, even the minor ones. Some stories are about broad strokes.

I hope I'm getting the right mix of showing and telling in what I'm doing now, and I definitely hope that readers (if any ever see this particular project) agree. But I suppose that's the point. To learn to get an intuitive sense of the balance of show and tell and make it work together, like rhythm and melody in a song.

Okay, enough of the metaphors. I got tacos waiting on me and a chapter to finish up. Library books have to be stolen and people have to be beat up and marriages have to be imperiled!

I had a moment today when I was writing where I felt slightly frightened of what I was typing, not because it was a scary scene, but because I realized I was hashing out a fundamental life issue that's been a problem for me for a while and is a problem still.

I try not to work my issues out on paper, because I'm not sure anyone else would find them interesting. But just this once, I think it helped me to understand the story better and give the readers something I think they might feel a lot of sympathy for.

I also wanted to ask a question of my fellow writers, and that is this: Do you ever get so deeply tuned into a character when you're writing that when you step away from writing, you feel like you still have that character, the setting, the situations sort of overlaying all your thoughts.

For instance, when I went to bed last night after writing, I was getting into bed and for some reason I was imagining one of my characters and what they'd be like when they went to bed, and what they would do, and imagining for a few seconds that I was in their place.

It was a bit of an unsettling moment, because I'm quite cautious about my mental health and always a little afraid that I might one day come completely unhinged, so I try to check myself if I feel I'm going to a Crazy Place.

But I also told myself that maybe other writers do this, that perhaps it's not a sign that I'm beginning to break with reality or dissociate from my own identity (I shudder at the thought) - but that maybe it's just part of really getting down and dirty with your work, maybe some of the dirt stays under your nails and between your toes.

So, tell me, oh f-list that knows all, am I crazy or just a writer? And no, in this once instance, they are not interchangeable, though one can be forgiven for thinking so because creativity and madness are like identical twins that you have to get to know before you can tell them apart.




The Devil's Workshop

43,402 / 50,000 (86.8%)

Woot! I'm past the 30k mark, which means I'm past the halfway part. I still have a way to go before I'm where I want to do.

But I have learned an important lesson. When in need of words to fill a big hole between plot points, gay sex is always a viable option. In my defense, my characters are married, so it's totally cool. And yes, as far as I'm concerned, same-sex marriage is already a reality. It just doesn't come with tax breaks and property rights yet.

And for the record? Saying that tax breaks and insurance sharing is what validates a marriage and "sanctifies" it is like saying that you can't have a cheeseburger without ketchup and pickles. It's nice to have them, but as long you've got meat, cheese, and buns (don't forget the buns!), it's a goddamn burger and any snotty burger purists can just get a side order of STFU & GTFO with that.

But enough of my political views.


The Devil's Workshop

34,010 / 50,000 (68.0%)

Oh, I'm exhausted. I'd like to get to sleep at a reasonable time sometime this week!

I had yet another doctor's appointment today that took a chunk out of my day. Getting a bit tired of doctors and medical things in general.

I did some writing while I was in the waiting room, and a bit of plotting in my head on the subway when it was too crowded to break out my Moleskine and write (yes, I gave in to the Snotty College Trend and got a Moleskine, and yes I like it).

I also woke up this morning slightly out of sorts because I had two hard ciders and a shot of rum in celebration of last night's victory.

Thing about great national victories and historical moments? They're just moments. You still have to get up the next morning and handle your business and go on. Even if your mouth tastes like regurgitated slime and your eyes are pasted together with cement.

I'm not where I want to be, but I'm within sight of it. I think with some hopping around and mad crazy writing tomorrow, I should be okay.

I also realize that one of the things that's going to need to be edited when/if this story gets done is the pacing, speed, and scene starting. For the purposes of wordcount, I'm sometimes starting scenes long before they need to be started, and I'm belaboring some things that don't bear belaboring under normal circumstances. Or at least not in one big two-thousand word clump.

This is why I'm making editing notes as I go along. It's easier to see these things now, before the dust gets kicked up and things get messy. It's weird how it's sometimes easier to see flaws in something just as I've written it rather than with the distance of time.

I could probably start the novel where I'm writing at this moment and with a few clever explanations start from there. But on the good side, it means that I can automatically deduct about 10,000 words from the total should it be too bloated.

But that's what all the months that aren't November are for.



The Devil's Workshop

13,144 / 50,000 (26.3%)

I made today's wordcount mostly by the skin of my teeth, and in case you hadn't noticed - teeth skin? Not much to do anything by.

In my defense, there was a time change (although I actually gained writing time) and it was Sunday. Still, at least I did it.

Of course, I have to keep reminding myself that it's okay for the first draft to suck on charcoal briquettes and that I just can make notes to myself to rework certain parts when I'm not under time pressure.

Besides, great novels are not written, they're edited. All the best books you've ever read you can thank some editor with a red pen and a hardy constitution for.

With any luck, I'll break 10,000 by tomorrow.

Anyone got any interesting playlists for their novels yet, I'd love to see them. Maybe tomorrow if I make my wordcount like a good little writer, I'll make one up and post it.



The Devil's Workshop

7,077 / 50,000 (14.2%)