Day 8....cut to the chase
I'm up to almost 8,000 words so far. Still behind, but I have lots of thinking to do while I'm writing. Since I did not plot out my story (on purpose) before starting, I have lots of far-reaching decisions to make as I write out the beginning. If I set this in mid-October and the story takes place over the course of let's say 3 months, then I have to remember to work the holidays into the story. And to remember that the weather is different in October vs. January, etc. I'm also making up names on the fly. Okay, so I want to name everyone with an M. So I have to sit there and think: Melanie. No. Marvin. No. Kelly. Maybe. Andoria. Maybe. etc.
All this thinking is pretty tedious, but necessary. Working out the details is what makes a story work. What I would love to do is just plunge in and write all the exciting bits. Like cutting to the chase. But even an action movie has to have a story inbetween the action scenes. And that's what I must work through. Without solid bridges stringing the islands of intense action and moments of great wit and excitement together, all that remains are unconnected blobs of plot points. The connection part is the important part. I've got some more bridge-building to do. (more construction work. only this time the drilling of the concrete is going on in my head)
This is an educational experience for me. I tend to be someone who likes and needs to plan things out, and chew on the details before I start a story. But I always wondered if this was necessary and if I didn't have some easy-spirit living inside of me that could just pick up a pen and write at will. As part of my experiment, I am not allowing myself to do any planning on this story. No plotting sessions. No flow charts. And I'm not allowing myself to even think about the ending. It is freeing on one hand, but on the other quite scarey and sort of weird. I feel like a long-time parachutist who has decided to make a jump....without checking her own parachute. Gulp!
I'll reserve judgement on what I think about all of this until the experiment plays itself out.
All this thinking is pretty tedious, but necessary. Working out the details is what makes a story work. What I would love to do is just plunge in and write all the exciting bits. Like cutting to the chase. But even an action movie has to have a story inbetween the action scenes. And that's what I must work through. Without solid bridges stringing the islands of intense action and moments of great wit and excitement together, all that remains are unconnected blobs of plot points. The connection part is the important part. I've got some more bridge-building to do. (more construction work. only this time the drilling of the concrete is going on in my head)
This is an educational experience for me. I tend to be someone who likes and needs to plan things out, and chew on the details before I start a story. But I always wondered if this was necessary and if I didn't have some easy-spirit living inside of me that could just pick up a pen and write at will. As part of my experiment, I am not allowing myself to do any planning on this story. No plotting sessions. No flow charts. And I'm not allowing myself to even think about the ending. It is freeing on one hand, but on the other quite scarey and sort of weird. I feel like a long-time parachutist who has decided to make a jump....without checking her own parachute. Gulp!
I'll reserve judgement on what I think about all of this until the experiment plays itself out.
posted by Gabriella Papic at
11:41 AM
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