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a writer's journal
Saturday, March 8, 2003
The hardest part of getting started with the writing
again is just getting that first sentence down. With Dexter Chalk, I find
that I'm having to simply write my way into him. I have some ideas about
who he is, what his circumstances are. But he hasn't felt like a breathing
being for all my thinking, contemplating, and note-taking. So I've started
writing what may be text in his story (as always, editable first draft
crap with revise-or-discard options kept wide open), and in doing so, Dex
is becoming more palpable.
His story will interlace with LeAnn's story, "Things
Kept." That part should be fun, seeing the same or closely related events
from two points-of-view. If I control my 'urge to cuteness,' it could
actually work out quite well.
Sunday, March 16, 2003
Arrived at Green River Writers annual
Novels-in-Progress Workshop in Louisville this evening, ready for a week
of classes, breakout sessions, guided writing exercises, and the
companionship of others working on novels. Most participants have sent
ahead excerpts from their novels for peer critiques and instructor
reviews. With my two recent novels out in the world with agents and
editors and my current project not far enough along for outside eyes, I
won't participate in those sessions.
Monday, March 17, 2003
Morning session was Plotting Essentials led by Elaine Palencia. Memorable quote: "Be cruel to your characters. Don't let them
have what they want. This forces change, forces growth." Imbalance and
character desire should exist from page one. Don't do 'intro scenes' for
author's sake. Introspective protagonists can very quickly become passive,
and that kills conflict, drains off story tension. Create a crucible--put
characters in conflict in a situation where they cannot get away from each
other, physically constrained or compelled otherwise to confront each
other.
In the afternoon session, I learned that one of the
participants is "Ashling", an online acquaintance from Inkies. Small
world!
In the evening 'hanging out' session, Liz Bevarly told
war stories, experiences with agents, different imprints, etc. while
building a paying career writing Romance novels.
Tuesdays, March 18, 2003
Making Your Writing More Intimate - morning session
with Elaine Palencia. The exercise involved listing a character's greatest
fears, secrets, wants, etc. Who or what would he/she kill for? Die for?
How does he/she manage his interior? Learned some things about Dexter
Chalk in the exercise.
Afternoon session with Sara Frommer - Research and the
Novelist. Much focused on period research, WPA guides, oral histories,
etc. On interesting idea in the non-history area - children's books on a
subject to get a working overview. With Internet research, consider the
source! Stick to reliable ones.
This evening, Elaine Palencia read poems from his new
chapbook, The Dayliness of It, poetry inspired by her profoundly afflicted
25-year-old son.
Wednesday, March 19, 2003
Gary Devon talked about Structuring Your Novel. His
advice--avoid flashbacks of more than five or six lines. No prologues.
Give characters physical 'markers' so the reader remembers them when they
reappear after being absent for dozens of pages. Resolve all subplots--the
reader wants resolution.
Michael Siedman read the first ten pages of "Things
Kept" and had few suggestions. One sentence was a bit convoluted. There
were two typos. He thought it could use a bit more description. Otherwise,
he read straight through. It held his interest.
In the afternoon session, Julianne Lee invited
participants to talk about how they avoid writers block. Writers do like
to talk about themselves. Lee has a verbal gimmick I may steal for a
character--'for a reason.' As in--"They're editors, not writers for a
reason," and "Milk, they pasteurize it for a reason." The trick is, it
doesn't say what is meant. Instead it invites the other to deduce the
reason, to fill in the blank. It throws an arguer off balance.
All week long, NCAA basketball and Iraq War battle for
TV attention. Very few want to know about the war. Another few, JimT
included, care about basketball.
Thursday, March 20, 2003
The morning session was Gary Devon talking about
Channeling Personnel Experience into Fiction. In a beginners' class, 14 of
14 participants wanted to write about their lives. After several from this
class talked about their family stories, Devon advised that writers expand
their sights and write about things they don't know so well.
Keith Snyder conducted a guided writing exercise on
dialogue. Part one: Write about an incident that happened to you at least
ten years ago. Part two: What was important to the younger you before the
event. Part three: Write a paragraph of today's you talking to that
younger you about what is to come. What is learned? You will write sharp,
intimate dialogue when you know both characters, what they want and
need. Try to think of your characters as people, not characters who
move through the plot.
Had supper this evening with Bob Hill, then watched
basketball with Palencia, Cobb, and Frommer. When I dropped in on the
evening 'hanging out' session, Keith Snyder (and Michael Siedman) were
saying his spending time on promotion to increase sales was a waste of
time. "Pocket the advance check and write the next book."
Friday, March 21, 2003
The faculty panel talked about The Business of
Publishing - agents, editors, genres, etc, how their careers got started
and progressed. Then I drove back to Berea to get some pages and synopses
for the agents and editors tomorrow. Also picked up my old computer for a
woman who needed one. Also kissed Gin.
Saturday, March 22, 2003
After the agents and editors panel in the morning, went
to lunch with Paul Bresnick of the Carlisle Group. Then I pitched
Tucson Winter to him. He left with eleven pages, synopsis, and
author comments. Not sure if the interest was real or not. Afterwards, I
pitched BJM to Linn Prentis of Victoria Kidd Agency. She
wanted to see it. I told her that Jackson had recommended it to Lamb, who
had it for about four weeks. She'd like to see it, if it comes back. Two
concerns: they do YA, and this may be too young for them. Also, agency
owner died in January, so ownership may soon change. Prentis is managing
the business, may become owner when things get worked out.
Much good fellowship and laughs at this evening's
agents and editors cocktail party. Also a bit more schmoozing.
Sunday, March 23, 2003
Checked out of the dorm, picked up a weeping redbud
tree at Hidden Hill and headed home. All in all, the Green River
Novels-in-Progress Workshop is a very good one. And if the writing on
Dexter Chalk goes well in coming days, then we'll call it an excellent
one.
Friday, March 28, 2003
Today I received notice that the Kentucky Arts Council
approved a grant to cover half the cost for me to attend the Indiana
University Writers Conference and Workshop this June! Hence, the
logo above, and the one that will be carried forward on my journal page. The
Commonwealth of Kentucky is incredibly supportive of its artists,
craftsmen, performers, and writers!
Also finally managed to kick off the second storyline
of the new novel today. The inspiration came from a DVD, "The Road to
Perdition" - a small action in an unstable situation precipitates
everything. While the seven page chapter reads as a quiet character piece,
in fact it contains the small push that sets the plot ball to rolling.
Third person point-of-view shifts from LeAnn to Dex Chalk in this chapter
for the first time. House Writers critique it next Tuesday. I'll be
interested in how they take to the narrative voice in this, Dex's chapter.
Friday, April 4, 2003
Dex's first chapter is finished. Some interesting input
from House Writers, reading this excerpt at some distance from the prior
chapters. And now Mahala Shelby's first (and possibly only) chapter also
seems complete. Whether she gets p.o.v. in the next is still up for grabs.
I learned a lesson in the writers group this week:
readers usually judge characters based on the first glimpses. Dex was seen
in a positive light because the first view of him in this segment involved
his earnest attempts at sobriety. Readers seemed ready to excuse his later
bad behavior. LeAnn, on the other hand, annoyed them. Her first actions in
this segment were were seen as anti-social, uncaring. That perception
seemed to taint all that followed. In context with preceding chapters,
reactions may be different. But it does reinforce a lesson, one written of
in the May issue of "The Writer," which, coincidentally, arrived in the
mail today.
In Elfreida Abbe's interview article, Alan Furst talks
about the importance of making your main character likeable immediately.
And he told an anecdote about what happens if things begin otherwise. He
tells of a play directed by a man named Fred Little, who once directed a
play about a king, a good king. And in one scene, the king had to play
chess with his page. So the two of them were on stage with a chess board
and chess pieces. At some point, the page left and the king sat there
alone for a few minutes, perhaps he had a soliloquy. One night when the
page got up and left, the actor playing the king noticed that one of the
pieces was halfway on and halfway off one of the squares. So he reached
out his hand, moved the piece, and destroyed the play, because from that
moment the audience thought, "this king cheats." The whole character of
the king was changed for the rest of the play, no matter what he did.
Furst says, "That's the story I use to remind myself
that you can lose an audience immediately if you do the wrong thing with a
main character. You don't have a long time to have the main character be
liked by the reader; therefore it is best to show him in a situation when
he's at his best in a situation with some tension in it."
Dex and LeAnn are flawed. They're distinctly fallible
characters. Still, if the readers don't like them, doesn't pull for them
on a gut level, this novel isn't going to work. I need to balance their
traits more carefully, do a better job of controlling the light in which
they are viewed.
Thursday, April 17, 2003
I've been working on the novel segment that I'll
workshop at IU in June and at Hindman in late July-- same manuscript, two
readings, one by regional authors, one by readers and writers from outside
the region. Not that the novel--it's tentatively (very tentatively) titled
Private Collections-- is particularly regional. But it is set in the
region, and that will color perceptions, I'm sure. Anyway, it's in the
mail.
I finished off two chapters from the mother's
point-of-view. Those, plus the one from Dex Chalk's viewpoint, will be
pages 24 through 46 of the manuscript. They're in pretty good shape, I
think. Maybe a clunky transition or two. Maybe one mini-scene that doesn't
quite pay-off. But not too bad. My main worry is still whether readers
will want to be invested in LeAnn, or secondarily Dex. Tough balance, and
I'm not at all certain I've got it right yet.
I plan two or three days away from the manuscript. I'll
do some reading, catch up on emails, get outside. Then I'll go back to
adding pages again.
Sunday, April 20, 2003
After enjoying the days away from the novel, I'm ready
to get back at it. Reading The Last Girls by Lee Smith. I
really enjoy her characterizations, which are vivid and somewhat extreme,
but never to the point of being caricatures. And you can sense Smith's
respect and affection (or empathy, at least) for her characters. That
element seems to be missing from the novels of many others who write
'character fiction.'
So, here's the plan. Push forward with the novel,
average three pages a day for five days a week. That should get me past
page 100 by the KGAC Spring Fair in mid-May, and close to page 170 by the IU Workshop in June. What happens next will depend on how the writing is
going and what feedback I get.
That's the plan--
Sunday, April 27, 2003
And so far, the plan is working. Sixteen pages for the
week, three more or less per day, Monday through Friday. Saturday and
Sunday went for sprinkling in a few descriptions some internalization,
sharpening the images, making them more specific. The chapter brings LeAnn
into clearer focus, establishes the applecart which will soon be upset.
Interesting thoughts about 'story' in the
writer/director comments on the DVD for "Far From Heaven." The film is an
homage to (a pastiche of?) the 1950's and 1960's films of Douglas Sirk,
films that were social melodramas. He quoted Sirk extensively, quoted from
a 1970 interview on stories for film that I'd love to find and read.
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