I spent all day working on the first 20 pages of OT. Rewriting and revising and rearranging and combining and adding and shifting and adjusting and on and on and on. They need to be better than the best I've got, since they establish the tone of the book and what it's about, and I've almost got it. Almost.
There's a funny story about a writer who spent half the day deciding whether or not to remove a comma from one sentence, then once he'd removed it, spent the rest of the day deciding whether or not to add it back in. I wound up doing something like that, but trying to figure out if but is better to use than except. It's maddening, but it's necessary.
I'm not like Earl Stanley Gardner, who could spit out Perry Mason mysteries to his secretary off the top of his head. To begin with, I don't have a secretary or assistant; can't afford one. Second, when I do stream of consciousness, I wind up with chaos and scattershot ideas in the story...tho' that is sort of how LD comes across...I guess. I'm more of a deliberative writer than a quick-word artist.
So now I have it down, I think. Jake's tense because he's gotten odd messages from his uncle, and his stepmother is adding to it with her cryptic comments and observations, and the seed of distrust has been planted in his mind concerning Tone as well as his folks being up to something. It's been a fight...but I do think it's set well enough for me to advance to chapter 2. I'll reread it in the morning and decide then.
And then do another rewrite, I'm sure.
There's a funny story about a writer who spent half the day deciding whether or not to remove a comma from one sentence, then once he'd removed it, spent the rest of the day deciding whether or not to add it back in. I wound up doing something like that, but trying to figure out if but is better to use than except. It's maddening, but it's necessary.
I'm not like Earl Stanley Gardner, who could spit out Perry Mason mysteries to his secretary off the top of his head. To begin with, I don't have a secretary or assistant; can't afford one. Second, when I do stream of consciousness, I wind up with chaos and scattershot ideas in the story...tho' that is sort of how LD comes across...I guess. I'm more of a deliberative writer than a quick-word artist.
So now I have it down, I think. Jake's tense because he's gotten odd messages from his uncle, and his stepmother is adding to it with her cryptic comments and observations, and the seed of distrust has been planted in his mind concerning Tone as well as his folks being up to something. It's been a fight...but I do think it's set well enough for me to advance to chapter 2. I'll reread it in the morning and decide then.
And then do another rewrite, I'm sure.
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