Naps, Dreams, Structure
Monday February 11, 2008
2:37 p.m.
Dear Reader,
I couldn't sleep much last night, because an idea or three for the book wouldn't let me alone. I finally had to give in to it and get back out of bed around 4 and write until close to 6 this morning. Slept for about six hours, and got up again.
I'm sure I'll nap this afternoon. I find that most days, I take a nap. I like naps, and have taken them almost in an uninterrupted line of naps since I was a little kid. Sometimes I take them at mid-day, sometimes in the early evening -- around 5 or 6. I used to worry that the naps went on too long -- an hour and a half sometimes. But I've since read that you either want to nap for a half hour or an hour and a half -- something to do with sleep cycles and how they should and shouldn't be interrupted.
I have intense dreams during the naps, although I find that when I'm in the crunch point of writing I tend to have incredibly vivid and remembered dreams.
Sometimes, writing a novel is like figuring out the meaning of a dream: you imagine scenes that seem to be connected, but you're not sure why. You see people that you've created or that are familiar, yet you don't know the exact motivations for what they're doing. Then, as you write and discover more about them, you can step back and begin to see the pattern.
At that point, meaning gradually becomes clear, and then in revision, you take that meaning and order the events and shape the scenes toward the meaning. Well, that's one method anyway.
It seems to be happening with this book. I had to write 200 pages or so to find out what the premise of the novel might be. Now that I know the premise, I get to go back and revise and build further so that the novel has a strong structure and a richer meaning than it had when it was more like a dream.
If I were an experimental novelist, I'd probably leave it in the dream state -- but I like the structure of the traditional novel, and I think there's a way to experiment within the forms of plot and character and dramatic tension while still keeping the framework of "novel" alive.
Best,
Douglas Clegg
http://www.DouglasClegg.com
2:37 p.m.
Dear Reader,
I couldn't sleep much last night, because an idea or three for the book wouldn't let me alone. I finally had to give in to it and get back out of bed around 4 and write until close to 6 this morning. Slept for about six hours, and got up again.
I'm sure I'll nap this afternoon. I find that most days, I take a nap. I like naps, and have taken them almost in an uninterrupted line of naps since I was a little kid. Sometimes I take them at mid-day, sometimes in the early evening -- around 5 or 6. I used to worry that the naps went on too long -- an hour and a half sometimes. But I've since read that you either want to nap for a half hour or an hour and a half -- something to do with sleep cycles and how they should and shouldn't be interrupted.
I have intense dreams during the naps, although I find that when I'm in the crunch point of writing I tend to have incredibly vivid and remembered dreams.
Sometimes, writing a novel is like figuring out the meaning of a dream: you imagine scenes that seem to be connected, but you're not sure why. You see people that you've created or that are familiar, yet you don't know the exact motivations for what they're doing. Then, as you write and discover more about them, you can step back and begin to see the pattern.
At that point, meaning gradually becomes clear, and then in revision, you take that meaning and order the events and shape the scenes toward the meaning. Well, that's one method anyway.
It seems to be happening with this book. I had to write 200 pages or so to find out what the premise of the novel might be. Now that I know the premise, I get to go back and revise and build further so that the novel has a strong structure and a richer meaning than it had when it was more like a dream.
If I were an experimental novelist, I'd probably leave it in the dream state -- but I like the structure of the traditional novel, and I think there's a way to experiment within the forms of plot and character and dramatic tension while still keeping the framework of "novel" alive.
Best,
Douglas Clegg
http://www.DouglasClegg.com