Writing
January 26, 2008
Dear Reader,
I've had one of those unfortunate weeks where I stared at walls, went to the gym, tried not to drown my sorrow in cookies, and did my best to re-read some classic novels in order to be reminded of what it takes to write fiction at all. I'm laughing as I type this. What am I worried about: this is a normal week!
The novel is proceeding well, but I'm at the part where resistance is both futile and necessary.
I've rewritten, for the umpteenth time (it feels like the umpteenth time, although it just might be the teenth time), the scene dealing with the boys in the punishment box known as the Furnace, where they first meet Derek Winter, and where they bond over the pages of Poe, Hawthorne, Shelley, and H.P. Lovecraft.
This is a crucial scene in the novel, and what I've had to do is write most of the novel to get back to this scene -- I have to know the future of these young men to get the sense of them in this extreme moment when they're sure that one of them is going to die. The characters -- Sketch, Sully, Bish, and Derek -- I see more of them as I write their scenes and revise, revise, revise. They come alive for me in the fourth revision or thereabouts. Before that, I'm trying to get to know them, but it's like seeing someone in half-light and not fully.
Today, Saturday, I will finish up this section, I'm determined. Sometime today, I'll grab a sandwich, and then after lunch get on the stationary bike and try to cycle my writerly frustrations away while watching a movie.
We watched Sunshine, last night. I had heard bad things about it, but I thought it was genius -- suspenseful, moving, thoughtful, beautifully designed, well-acted, smart script.
Sometimes when I hear bad things about a movie this good, I can only think that the viewers who blogged the negative about it wanted an action thriller rather than a smart, suspenseful and carefully constructed science fiction tale.
Danny Boyle, Alex Garland, cast and crew, you done good.
Best,
Douglas Clegg
Dear Reader,
I've had one of those unfortunate weeks where I stared at walls, went to the gym, tried not to drown my sorrow in cookies, and did my best to re-read some classic novels in order to be reminded of what it takes to write fiction at all. I'm laughing as I type this. What am I worried about: this is a normal week!
The novel is proceeding well, but I'm at the part where resistance is both futile and necessary.
I've rewritten, for the umpteenth time (it feels like the umpteenth time, although it just might be the teenth time), the scene dealing with the boys in the punishment box known as the Furnace, where they first meet Derek Winter, and where they bond over the pages of Poe, Hawthorne, Shelley, and H.P. Lovecraft.
This is a crucial scene in the novel, and what I've had to do is write most of the novel to get back to this scene -- I have to know the future of these young men to get the sense of them in this extreme moment when they're sure that one of them is going to die. The characters -- Sketch, Sully, Bish, and Derek -- I see more of them as I write their scenes and revise, revise, revise. They come alive for me in the fourth revision or thereabouts. Before that, I'm trying to get to know them, but it's like seeing someone in half-light and not fully.
Today, Saturday, I will finish up this section, I'm determined. Sometime today, I'll grab a sandwich, and then after lunch get on the stationary bike and try to cycle my writerly frustrations away while watching a movie.
We watched Sunshine, last night. I had heard bad things about it, but I thought it was genius -- suspenseful, moving, thoughtful, beautifully designed, well-acted, smart script.
Sometimes when I hear bad things about a movie this good, I can only think that the viewers who blogged the negative about it wanted an action thriller rather than a smart, suspenseful and carefully constructed science fiction tale.
Danny Boyle, Alex Garland, cast and crew, you done good.
Best,
Douglas Clegg