Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Day 5 & 6: I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing

With the word count proceeding smoothly on schedule, the different story lines established in the first scene continue to expand and work with the main story's goals. For this I am very grateful. Today, instead of proceeding with the established order of things, I wrote a scene from the middle and one from the end of the novel. Reason for this madness?

First, I have to have faith that I will finish the novel. When I write these out-of-order scenes, I inevitably want to fill in the gaps between what I have "now" to get to "there." While I am no Indiana Jones to take a leap of faith, I like to see at least a hint of a path before I hop off into nothing, dragging the story with me. Second, I like to know where my characters are going. By writing that middle and end scene early in the draft, I hope to sort of give myself a north star - a point of reference so I can be sure to guide not only the plot, but also my characters' development in the right direction.

Not involving the writing life, but still of (slight) importance is the following:

Comicbook Day: Alas, comics you have failed me. Three of the four were slow and tedious, dealing with horrid continuity problems or pointless dialog. I decided to shorten my reading list. These I will include for your enjoyment: Ex Machina, Y: The Last Man, and Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil, along with a few monthlies like Batman and The Spirit.

Mr. George R.R. Martin: You write entirely too well, ser, and your series The Song of Ice and Fire, being entirely too wonderful, is the sole object of my adoration.

So say we all.
Bri

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Very good way of keeping yourself on track. Just beware those tricksy little characters don't go astray...

I don't believe I have ever read Mr Martin's work. I shall keep an eye out for him.