Still not quite done but a milestone none the less...
So, I'm plugging away at my Back Story project and just passed the 100,000 word mark. I think I still have about 5000 words to go but it is tough to judge really. I'm real close, but a character that dies is still alive, so...
In writing this story I've come to realize that this character who is about to die, who the whole novel sort of centers around, represents an idea that I've always been fascinated with. Perhaps its a genetic thing being Irish on my mother's side and Scottish on my father's side, but the concept of freedom and how much the desire to keep it can trump everything, even life, has become a central theme for this character.
One of my favorite war movies is Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. There are so many great lines in the movie but perhaps my favorite is spoken by the character Eightball. They're being interviewed by the press and he's talking about the South Vietnamese and how they don't seem to appreciate the help. He says: "They'd rather be alive than free, the poor dumb bastards."
This moment has been floating around in my head as I've been writing this back story, especially when it comes to this one character.
And now I'm fast approaching that moment in the story where this becomes reality.
I'm looking forward to finally finishing this book so I can return to my WIP, very much enlightened about how to approach it. This back story is a wreck and would need a monstrous amount of rewriting to turn it into a publishable manuscript, but that's okay for now. I will do that eventually but for now it provides what I needed it to when I started this back in November as my first NaNo project.
For now, I'll enjoy breaking the 100,000 word mark and tomorrow get back to work on continuing my way towards finishing this book.
In writing this story I've come to realize that this character who is about to die, who the whole novel sort of centers around, represents an idea that I've always been fascinated with. Perhaps its a genetic thing being Irish on my mother's side and Scottish on my father's side, but the concept of freedom and how much the desire to keep it can trump everything, even life, has become a central theme for this character.
One of my favorite war movies is Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. There are so many great lines in the movie but perhaps my favorite is spoken by the character Eightball. They're being interviewed by the press and he's talking about the South Vietnamese and how they don't seem to appreciate the help. He says: "They'd rather be alive than free, the poor dumb bastards."
This moment has been floating around in my head as I've been writing this back story, especially when it comes to this one character.
And now I'm fast approaching that moment in the story where this becomes reality.
I'm looking forward to finally finishing this book so I can return to my WIP, very much enlightened about how to approach it. This back story is a wreck and would need a monstrous amount of rewriting to turn it into a publishable manuscript, but that's okay for now. I will do that eventually but for now it provides what I needed it to when I started this back in November as my first NaNo project.
For now, I'll enjoy breaking the 100,000 word mark and tomorrow get back to work on continuing my way towards finishing this book.