August12th
A week away from work into order to prepare for school, an entire truck load of coats, sweaters, and kid clothes to Goodwill–still not ready. It takes so much to prepare, that I don’t really feel there is much hope to keep up with it all, once it gets started in earnest.
Even so, a change of weather would be nice. It’s very very hot. I have some new projects on the horizon….if I can get a hold of a table saw.
August2nd
Sometimes the soul takes pictures of things it has wished for but never seen…
This is a little quote from a book on description. Description is really more difficult a skill than you might think on first blush. After all, we learn about it so early on in grammar school with the use of adjectives and modifiers. The quote really speaks to the heart of the issue though , read it carefully.
Pictures of things wished for but never seen. I suppose then truly, they have to be felt first. A good way to approach description, for if we want it to work effectively, it has to have purpose in the story.
What is description anyway? Have you ever thought about it? Description isn’t defined to a simple physical list of attributes, but even the verbs you choose can be active, expressive, suggestive, ultimately—descriptive. It really is sort of painting with words. I would definitely say so of poetry, but it is true when it comes to longer fiction as well.
It’s a skill to begin to see the difference in words that simply label and words that evoke. Words that define or categorize, but really add very little to the mental picture–and words that paint the fictional dream in vibrant color. Words that go right to the senses and then a step further. It’s intriguing really, when you have the moment to look at it in depth. I like to think about things like these on occasion. I like to read just for the verbs and marvel at how many different ones there are.
July27th
Taken that quiz have you? I’ve put in my manuscript several times, in several pieces…but now that I have 4000 words of my new draft available it’s coming up L. Frank Baum–the writer of The Wizard of Oz.
Content I wonder? Word choice? They say they’ve improved the algorithm to better discern the truth. I don’t feel like I read like him–but content-wise–we aren’t far from the truth. Darker. Far darker…but we aren’t quite to that part in my new draft.
I’ve been really worried about how I can put some of these elements together, afraid they might unbalance each other–and it still might be true. But in each, I find such worth. If I had to tell them separately, I would do it. I would suffer another book. That’s saying a lot. Maybe everything.
July21st
Well, following my train of thought, you had to know that this one is coming.
I’m rewriting of course and thinking about setting as personal symbols for my POV character. In my original draft, the opening scene focuses on an event, one whose significance doesn’t show up until later. But, with my rethinking–I’ve rethought this too. It’s strange in its own way. I hadn’t planned it out when I wrote it–but it fits and fits solidly into a greater context. Maybe my subconscious knew when I first wrote it–now I’m using it to what I hope will be powerful effect to those who read deeply.
My character wants something in this scene and she’s willing to risk for it. In my original draft, it’s vanity that motivates. She just wants this thing and getting it leads her into trouble.
In this draft, I’ve changed why she wants it. It’s no longer vanity–and more importantly, what she thinks it will do once she gets it comes into play…because now this item is a symbol–and she doesn’t understand what it represents when she gets it. She doesn’t understand that the nature of the item, it grants her desire, yes–but unexpectedly.
Setting as personal symbolism for the POV character. And now a step even farther–Symbol that has meaning as a symbol, beyond the comprehension of the character.
July20th
I’ve changed my working schedule a little. I’m writing in the morning, and late at night. In the morning I’m editing what I wrote the night before and adding a little if I can. I’m not pushing forward as hard as I did in the draft. I’m trying to get things close on target before I leave it for a new chapter. I’m planning on printing it out, a hard copy to live with for a while, to compare to my earlier version and my notes. Sometime changing format changes what you notice. The word count is going up though. Progress is being made. No longer dreading the minimum word count, its coming easier as the vision grows stronger.
I feel like painting though. I don’t know why, but I just do. There was a tutorial some months back that I really wanted to do, it’s very light, a watercolor like style. Pastel, pretty. If I can find the the source files I’m going to do it–once things get straightened out at my house. It won’t be long before the push for school will be here. A big job. Exciting in its own way though. All those new things. New classes, new clothes, new folders and backpacks. The smell of slick vinyl raincoats in the cubbies.
July14th
I took a silly little on-line writing analysis test..the same scene, both my POV rewrites for hero #1 and hero #2 submitted together mishmashed.
Apparently, my project sounds like a combination of L. Frank Baum, Chuck Palahniuk and Vladimir Nabokov. Not by content per se, but by word choice, sentence structure, description—and yet, crazy as it is–it actually does touch on content as well. There are elements of each one in the story as a whole. I am dubious that 1,000 words could show that. Computers can’t read and understand mood or tone! And yet surprising accurate.
With that summary of style and intriguing set of comparisons, one could write a knock-out sexy back of the book cover copy. I shall squirrel it away for a future moment.
July12th
Not fair, not fair, I say. Very soon we’ll be back to the bustle and rush of school. I for one, have not had nearly enough vacation. At least one more camping trip–can’t we squeeze one in? A weekend to visit my parents–I know it’s asking a lot…
It’s time like these when I am tempted to think the answer to all my wishes is money. If I had more money, doesn’t it seem that I should able to buy more time? The plane ticket wouldn’t be an issue. I could simply go. A camping trip would be set in a flash–what’s an extra day off from work and a campground reservation, when you’re loaded with extra to spend?
Is it just a dream? Just an excuse to cover the fact that it’s hard to sacrifice for those things I think I want? Didn’t I already make my choice when I chose to go to Spokane this summer for five days–again this year? One trip a year is barely manageable, impossibly costly and not just in money. That’s why I just wish it were just numbers–and that I had more of them to spread around.
You know what just kills me? You can travel the world. You can see the great wonders and the must-sees if you are fantastically wealthy. But sometimes when you have a lot of money–money is all you have. Family all gone or estranged. Loved ones passed on, children who don’t care to see you.
I wonder what someone like that would tell me what the answer really is….
My mother always tells me, this is just life. You never have what it is when you need it. When you have small kids, half the time you don’t have the money for a chest of drawers to keep their second hand clothes in–let alone money to visit family far away. But when you are old, you might have a few nice things, some furniture, an nicer car, live in a better place—-wishing you could give it away if only it were possible to go back in time and have the things you needed then. It doesn’t matter so much now, when you’re old–she says. But it’s the way things are.
July1st
sometimes I think that’s all I ever really do. My personal journals are full of complaining, justifying…
Still working on my rewrite and will be for probably another year. I just know it. In the process of simply trying to figure out plot, character, symbol and theme I had to neglect someting–and that something was description. It’s lacking in my rough draft. What you really have is just the dry bones of a dead animal. You can tell what it is and that makes you curious as to how it got there and what killed it. I think of my second draft as trying to magically bring it to back to life and ask it all those questions, tricking it into telling me it’s secrets.
But, it’s going to take work. In just a few short paragraphs I’m going to introduce my second lead. Problem: I really haven’t thought much about these people in terms of concrete detail–because the best descriptions don’t rely on things like eye color or hair length. So in my draft I’ve never elaborated. Not important–until now. Because now you are in my lead’s POV and he sees this character in his own way–it’s a colored perception, tinted with his assessment. No longer objective. Perhaps more insightful. Certainly the reader will feel his bias. Maybe even share his empathy for her. And it all comes from the words he uses when he describes what he sees.
So that’s where we are today. I’ve got my notebook handy with a pen tucked inside. And a new book comes today even–one especialy about POV. I think I understand it well enough–certainly well enough not to slip in and out. But with two different POV and only two–it will take careful crafting of other elements to be sure they are tied together and relevant at all times, moving as one, not two episodes across a wide sea having nothing to do with one another outside eventuality.
June30th
I wonder why it is that changing POV characters has caused changes in the very essence of my prose. Is that a logical thing?
I distinctly recall after having written a good bit of my draft and reading it back to myself that I felt terribly hemmed in–that my author’s voice, my prose, was chopped off at the feet because I was using a third person limited POV. I didn’t think that I could really say things in a way that stepped out side of that character’s inner voice. I decided that it would probably only show itself true in dialog.
And yet now it just pours out in every sentence with the most expressive words I can find. Why? What has changed in a week? What has accepting the fact that I have to go another direction with this story done to open the floodgates?
An argument for the power of feedback? The next logical step in drafting–beyond plot now, finally into prose? Understanding that I have no problems telling a story, but that truly I long to show one?
I’m not sure. Very very not sure. I’ve sent out my new rewrite–very small 800 words out to a few people to demonstrate just how different things have turned from where I thought I was going. But not to my latest critique partner, who explained it the best to me–I hate to bother busy people with my struggles and insecurities. Plus–as freeing as it is to let loose my gifts on this work, I really don’t know if I can write the whole thing to this level. I still have many things to learn about showing, description, active actions….God knows I might be making a whole bigger mess out of it. And by starting the way I have, with this character—-
I need someone to tell me–is it too much? Did I give something away I shouldn’t have? I can tell you this, by paragraph three, the reader should have a very good idea what the story is about. By paragraph five, you know disaster is sure to strike. In 800 words you know more about the protagonist than you probably knew about him in the whole of the synopsis. Did I grab you with it? Are you so deep into the ficitional dream that you want to come along for the rest of the ride? I can only guess.
May28th
Cleaning up today. Trying to get the house in order for my short absence, just an overnight thing. Apparently, Memorial Day Weekend is a popular time for conventions. Lots of people I know are traveling. Next year the kids will be old enough that they can come along too. Then it will be much more fun. For this year though, it’s just me and a couple of friends. We’ll have some laughs, take some pictures, do a little shopping. Hard to believe it was a whole year ago since I’ve seen some of these people. I think Spokane, my next trip after this one, is just going to be fantastic.
Got a package today. EL wire. Wow. You have to see it to believe it. I’ve had a hard time recovering myself after holding it’s awesomeness in the palm of my hand. I’m really not sure what I ought to do with it though. It’s really bright. I think I need to see it with the LEDs going to know for certain. Right now, I’m thinking boots. Definitely boots for the sake of persistent vision. Too soon to know.
Well, the next time I come back here I will have changed, having taken another step in the development of becoming a writer. I will have had professionals tell me all about my manuscript. Its many good things and its many flaws. I hope that it helps me find a little more focus…recharge my creative batteries. I think after a year’s work, I need a push. Something to inspire me. It’s not really fair to look to other people for motivation like that, but that is one of the great things about being a student that you don’t realize at the time—constant feedback. You’ll miss it when you go off on your own. Especially if you end up like me, working out of the home. Can’t even chat about it around the coffee pot.
Went to a Chamber of conference dinner last night. Told some people at my table what I’ve been working on. Not much to say in reply to that. Not that I can blame them. What do pirate coats with embedded electronics and a year’s worth of work on a fictional story by an untested author have to do with real life concerns? It was a group of business people after all. A bank president and his wife. A representative from our congresswoman’s office. They had to think I was out of my mind. Too much wine.
Ah, well. They place I am going tomorrow will be full of people who will think all that it is the greatest. The bomb. Ha!
Kim has an MFA in Illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design and BA in Humanities from Florida Southern College. She writes everyday and paints as time allows. Working every day is the best way to improve. It will make the biggest difference in the quality of your work and the amount of things you can accomplish
