...Wanted To Be Famous But Ended Up Nameless...
As I've documented here in LJ Land on Facebook, I am in the process of writing what I thought would be a novella but is turning into a novel. But I haven't said too much about what it's actually about.
Without going into details of plot or characters I feel like sharing some of it's broader themes. Two of them are Love and Friendship. The other is Time. And underlying theme of all of those comes via the recurring moments in our lives where we find ourselves saying or thinking, "This is not all what I expected."
See, the thing is... I love "plans". I like making plans and having ideas about what can happen, what I hope will happen, or what I think should happen, mostly because I've come to accept, even if I don't always embrace, the simple fact that Life and the Universe don't really give a damn about your plans. And it's that recurring rejection or on-the-fly adjustments of our plans that makes us interesting.
A beaver, for example, goes to make a dam and if the terrain doesn't work the beaver moves on down the creek or river or whatever and he or she picks a different spot. They don't go to therapy over it, get a prescription to address their disappointment in their dam plans not working out the way they hoped. They just carry on. We humans carry on too but we do it with a lot more kicking, screaming, drama, drinks, drugs, sex, pain, euphoria, and celebration then the rest of the living world. So while my work in progress of a story has no beavers in it (thank God) there are a lot humans finding that their dam(n) plans didn't work out and it's how they react to it that lies at the heart of the story.
I think most of us have hit certain ages -- 18, 25, 30, 35, 40 seem to be common -- where we look at the words on the script and say "I'm not right for this part I'm playing". From there we improvise or we look for someone next to us to feed us a line or guide the scene for us. My story is about this phenomenon, too.
Specifically, the story centers on two friends who, as teenagers and very young adults, had a shared, unique experience. So despite eventually growing up to become two very different people, that experience keeps them connected for the next two decades. One grows up, the other just gets older, and the dynamic of delayed maturity plays out.
Then there is love and the panic that comes with it when we haven't found love by some "date certain". Some hit that panic in their 20's, others their 30's, and then others find their certainty about someone didn't really turn out to be the permanent kind of certainty many of us long for. So there's that...
How well do I know these characters at the 175 page mark? I hear songs through their ears. Since part of the story is set in Portland I see the scenery through their eyes. I literally had a dream the other night through the filter of one of these characters. That's weird... in a good way.
Finally, I'm writing without too many thoughts of what happens when I'm done writing. I do know it'll need a strong 2nd draft but beyond that I haven't given much thought about my own "plans" for it. I'm writing it because it spent 6 months as a slow boil of an idea in my heart and my spirit and then about a month ago I sat down and it decided it had to come out.
I'm writing it because it has to be written.
J
Without going into details of plot or characters I feel like sharing some of it's broader themes. Two of them are Love and Friendship. The other is Time. And underlying theme of all of those comes via the recurring moments in our lives where we find ourselves saying or thinking, "This is not all what I expected."
See, the thing is... I love "plans". I like making plans and having ideas about what can happen, what I hope will happen, or what I think should happen, mostly because I've come to accept, even if I don't always embrace, the simple fact that Life and the Universe don't really give a damn about your plans. And it's that recurring rejection or on-the-fly adjustments of our plans that makes us interesting.
A beaver, for example, goes to make a dam and if the terrain doesn't work the beaver moves on down the creek or river or whatever and he or she picks a different spot. They don't go to therapy over it, get a prescription to address their disappointment in their dam plans not working out the way they hoped. They just carry on. We humans carry on too but we do it with a lot more kicking, screaming, drama, drinks, drugs, sex, pain, euphoria, and celebration then the rest of the living world. So while my work in progress of a story has no beavers in it (thank God) there are a lot humans finding that their dam(n) plans didn't work out and it's how they react to it that lies at the heart of the story.
I think most of us have hit certain ages -- 18, 25, 30, 35, 40 seem to be common -- where we look at the words on the script and say "I'm not right for this part I'm playing". From there we improvise or we look for someone next to us to feed us a line or guide the scene for us. My story is about this phenomenon, too.
Specifically, the story centers on two friends who, as teenagers and very young adults, had a shared, unique experience. So despite eventually growing up to become two very different people, that experience keeps them connected for the next two decades. One grows up, the other just gets older, and the dynamic of delayed maturity plays out.
Then there is love and the panic that comes with it when we haven't found love by some "date certain". Some hit that panic in their 20's, others their 30's, and then others find their certainty about someone didn't really turn out to be the permanent kind of certainty many of us long for. So there's that...
How well do I know these characters at the 175 page mark? I hear songs through their ears. Since part of the story is set in Portland I see the scenery through their eyes. I literally had a dream the other night through the filter of one of these characters. That's weird... in a good way.
Finally, I'm writing without too many thoughts of what happens when I'm done writing. I do know it'll need a strong 2nd draft but beyond that I haven't given much thought about my own "plans" for it. I'm writing it because it spent 6 months as a slow boil of an idea in my heart and my spirit and then about a month ago I sat down and it decided it had to come out.
I'm writing it because it has to be written.
J