Hey Folks,
Wow. That has to have been the best super bowl ever. And I saw only two blatant penalties that could have been called on NE and weren’t (and one on Atlanta), so no asterisks by this game.
Topic: Allowing Myself to Change My Mind
Slow start this morning, which means…
I was slow to decide which novel to open.
As I wrote here yesterday, in public, I planned to cycle through The Claim, beginning to end, and touch it here and there as my subconscious dictates. Then put it out there for readers and let the (remaining) chips fall where they may.
But I don’t really want to do that. As I told Kenneth when I sent it to him, something really bothers me about it. It still does.
Plus another part of my psyche wants to get back to Will Perkins, ride it to whatever, whenever, wherever the end is, and ship it off to my first reader, Kenneth. Then move on to something else.
And that’s what I did.
In the interim, I wrote Kenneth again and asked a few questions that hinted at one problem I thought The Claim had. (That, while trying not to lead him to a particular answer.)
He got back to me a few hours later, and wow did he help.
I won’t share everything here, but the upshot is this: While writing The Claim, I got in a hurry.
When I finished the first book written in that world (In the Siberian Fields), I made a note to myself (and maybe even in the Journal) that I might write several more books in that world, to wit
• the lunar colony and possibly beyond
• the Inter-Arab war
• the group that has established itself as the world government and all that derives from that,
• the attempted and mostly successful major purge of an entire race of people,
• the survivors of that purge and what they’re doing and why,
• the leavings of a semi-world war
and probably more.
When I wrote The Claim, I tried to put ALL of that in one book.
As a result, at various times I pushed my subconscious to move from one section to the next, and in doing so I skipped over a LOT of the sensory detail and psychologicl and physical descriptions that draw readers into my fictional worlds.
Uh, that isn’t how it works. Not when it’s fun.
As I told Kenneth in my response, this isn’t a quick fix, and it will take more than a read-through (as my fingers play) to accomplish it.
So I’m going to shelve The Claim for the foreseeable future and move on with my current project. More about the world of The Claim will become clearer to me later (or not) and I’ll return to write in that world again (or not).
Isn’t this fun? 🙂
Today, and Writing
Rolled out a little after 3. Coffee, email and Facebook to wake up. Then I just screwed around for awhile. Finally I started the topic above. That was around 7 a.m.
I wrote for awhile, helped my grandson for awhile, and wrote the rest of the topic above around 11:30 after I heard back from Kenneth. I’m telling you, a good first reader is invaluable.
Took Bryan to Benson to make the rounds, picking up job applications. I’ll do a little more writing while he’s filling them out. Then probably back to Benson to drop them off.
Not as good a day as I’d hoped, but I’ll take it.
Back tomorrow.
Of Interest
At Dean’s place, Logic: The Lost Art in Being a Fiction Writer (http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/logic-the-lost-art-in-being-a-fiction-writer/). He’s spot on the money, as usual.
From the Really Cool Stuff department, check out the artwork at https://www.facebook.com/Calvin-Nicholls-Paper-Sculpture-105056349661882/. Incredible.
Fiction Words: 2111
Nonfiction Words: 630 (Journal)
So total words for the day: 2741
Writing of Will Perkins (novel, working title)
Day 1…… 4219 words. Total words to date…… 4219
Day 2…… 4003 words. Total words to date…… 8222
Day 3…… 3383 words. Total words to date…… 11605
Day 4…… 3124 words. Total words to date…… 14729
Day 5…… 3373 words. Total words to date…… 18102
Day 6…… 2294 words. Total words to date…… 20396
Day 7…… 3102 words. Total words to date…… 23498
Day 8…… 2578 words. Total words to date…… 26076
Day 9…… 2111 words. Total words to date…… 28187
Total fiction words for the month……… 10085
Total fiction words for the year………… 12315
Total nonfiction words for the month… 2860
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 22550
Total words for the year (fiction and nonfiction)…… 125245