Walking the Tightrope
My latest book (which, yes, I do appear to be working on beyond "conjecturally") is different; or at least I'm trying to write it with a different feel, by going at it differently as an author.
One of the main themes I want to establish early on is the nonstop, unrelenting way that the institution went at their task of reprogramming us.
In books one and two (GenderQueer and Guy in Women's Studies), my writing style was to pick up at an event or occurrence that would be typical of things that might happen in a given day and which would be an example of an interaction with these characters in this setting, thus providing for character development (both of Derek the MC and the folks he's interacting with) and propelling the storyline forward. "This kind of thing tended to happen" gets written as "and then, shortly after that, this happened"; the reader intuitively realizes that between scenes is probably a lot of downtime when nothing in particular is taking place.
But in book three (working title: In the Box -- may become Within the Box or Inside the Box or some other variant), I am trying to give it a different feel, a sense that as author I am not dipping in for a scoop of sample event but rather going nonstop from my arrival at the place onward.
One simple tool I'm using is inserting the date for each consecutive day; I'm going to use those instead of named chapters, and except for the Prologue section the dates will be uninterrupted and consecutive, several pages' writing for each day in the bin.
But I'm also trying to shift from the conventional format of "writing the next scene", and instead trying to connect each scenario to how Derek gets into the next one, even if it means describing the squeak of the linoleum as I walk the corridor from where I was to where I'm going next.
It's definitely not a typical modality for me. I'll generally write a conversation and have a character make an important point and stop the scene right there as if nothing more happened or was said at that time, which is perhaps a rhythm I absorbed from television and movie drama.
I think I've been reluctant to actually begin work on this project for fear of discovering that I don't write this way effectively. That I'll end up with something that's boring or articificial-feeling. But so far (a mere 5600 words in) it's not so bad, I think I'm making it work.
I've gotten feedback on two of the segments from my author's workshop peeps. Without me having to prompt them, they said I was conveying a certain feeling which was exactly the hoped-for experience in that section, and in the other one elicited reactions to Derek's character and the situation he's in and his interactions with his parents and his nursing supervisor.
I'm walking a different kind of tightrope when it comes to character and sympathy. In many cases I want the other characters to seem believable and not like comic book villains, and to make them accessible and their behaviors relatable, while at the same time showing the main character's frustration and cut-off untenable situation with regards to those same behaviors.
Reciprocally, a big part of the rationality and courage of main character Derek is that he is in fact willing to consider the possibilities being pushed at him, that he is possibly in denial in some fashion, or that his behaviors are genuinely maladaptive or destructive, even though none of this seems true to him at the time. But ideally I want the reader to join Derek in concluding that "no, they're wrong about that, and Derek is right".
There's an unavoidable risk that some readers will get through the book experiencing it as the story of a messed-up mentally disturbed main character and the trajectory of his failure to accept the help he needed.
I have to make the case for Derek as hero with appropriate subtlety and nuance.
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My first book, GenderQueer: A Story From a Different Closet, is published by Sunstone Press. It is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble in paperback, hardback, and ebook, and as ebook only from Apple, Kobo, and directly from Sunstone Press themselves.
My second book, That Guy in Our Women's Studies Class, has also now been published by Sunstone Press. It's a sequel to GenderQueer. It is available on Amazon and on Barnes & Noble in paperback and ebook, and as ebook only from Apple, Kobo, and directly from Sunstone Press themselves. Hardback versions to follow, stay tuned for details.
Links to published reviews and comments are listed on my Home Page, for both books.
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This DreamWidth blog is echoed on LiveJournal and WordPress. Please friend/link me from any of those environments on which you have an account.
--------
Index of all Blog Posts
One of the main themes I want to establish early on is the nonstop, unrelenting way that the institution went at their task of reprogramming us.
In books one and two (GenderQueer and Guy in Women's Studies), my writing style was to pick up at an event or occurrence that would be typical of things that might happen in a given day and which would be an example of an interaction with these characters in this setting, thus providing for character development (both of Derek the MC and the folks he's interacting with) and propelling the storyline forward. "This kind of thing tended to happen" gets written as "and then, shortly after that, this happened"; the reader intuitively realizes that between scenes is probably a lot of downtime when nothing in particular is taking place.
But in book three (working title: In the Box -- may become Within the Box or Inside the Box or some other variant), I am trying to give it a different feel, a sense that as author I am not dipping in for a scoop of sample event but rather going nonstop from my arrival at the place onward.
One simple tool I'm using is inserting the date for each consecutive day; I'm going to use those instead of named chapters, and except for the Prologue section the dates will be uninterrupted and consecutive, several pages' writing for each day in the bin.
But I'm also trying to shift from the conventional format of "writing the next scene", and instead trying to connect each scenario to how Derek gets into the next one, even if it means describing the squeak of the linoleum as I walk the corridor from where I was to where I'm going next.
It's definitely not a typical modality for me. I'll generally write a conversation and have a character make an important point and stop the scene right there as if nothing more happened or was said at that time, which is perhaps a rhythm I absorbed from television and movie drama.
I think I've been reluctant to actually begin work on this project for fear of discovering that I don't write this way effectively. That I'll end up with something that's boring or articificial-feeling. But so far (a mere 5600 words in) it's not so bad, I think I'm making it work.
I've gotten feedback on two of the segments from my author's workshop peeps. Without me having to prompt them, they said I was conveying a certain feeling which was exactly the hoped-for experience in that section, and in the other one elicited reactions to Derek's character and the situation he's in and his interactions with his parents and his nursing supervisor.
I'm walking a different kind of tightrope when it comes to character and sympathy. In many cases I want the other characters to seem believable and not like comic book villains, and to make them accessible and their behaviors relatable, while at the same time showing the main character's frustration and cut-off untenable situation with regards to those same behaviors.
Reciprocally, a big part of the rationality and courage of main character Derek is that he is in fact willing to consider the possibilities being pushed at him, that he is possibly in denial in some fashion, or that his behaviors are genuinely maladaptive or destructive, even though none of this seems true to him at the time. But ideally I want the reader to join Derek in concluding that "no, they're wrong about that, and Derek is right".
There's an unavoidable risk that some readers will get through the book experiencing it as the story of a messed-up mentally disturbed main character and the trajectory of his failure to accept the help he needed.
I have to make the case for Derek as hero with appropriate subtlety and nuance.
-----
My first book, GenderQueer: A Story From a Different Closet, is published by Sunstone Press. It is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble in paperback, hardback, and ebook, and as ebook only from Apple, Kobo, and directly from Sunstone Press themselves.
My second book, That Guy in Our Women's Studies Class, has also now been published by Sunstone Press. It's a sequel to GenderQueer. It is available on Amazon and on Barnes & Noble in paperback and ebook, and as ebook only from Apple, Kobo, and directly from Sunstone Press themselves. Hardback versions to follow, stay tuned for details.
Links to published reviews and comments are listed on my Home Page, for both books.
-------
This DreamWidth blog is echoed on LiveJournal and WordPress. Please friend/link me from any of those environments on which you have an account.
--------
Index of all Blog Posts