So Far This Morning...

[sartorias]

I trundled out to the patio at six, as usual, to water my plants. As I stood there with the hose running a hummingbird darted near, up, to the side. I stayed very still, only the water flowing from the hose, as the hummer jinked nearer and nearer, then suddenly zipped past my neck, its wings burring

Comments

[oracne]

Have you ever read this article by Carol Emshwiller?

Writing Rules I Like to Break..

[sartorias]

I had not read it--thank you! I love her work, and an essay about writing by her is a gift.

I agree with everything she says, though with the caveat that she can get away with more driving blindfolded than I, as she is an amazing stylist. Her style is so strong it is part of the story experience, whereas the very best I can do is labor to keep mine as invisible as possible--a lens into the story, not part of the story itself. That calls for a different approach to structure, I believe.

[oracne]

I agree about Emshwiller's skills as a stylist.

[matociquala]

Smart.

[mishaslair]

Being an intuitive, not logical, person who is wired for visuals, not text, I cannot approach anything with too much calcuation or it all dries up.

Hi. I came to your journal by way of matociquala and I just wanted to say that what I've quoted above is really striking a chord with me. I think I tend to be too left-brained at times when I need to let the right brain wander and the result is that "it all dries up." Thank you for putting it so succinctly.

[sartorias]

I think there are bunch of us left-brainers who tend to feel like we are trying to sculpt water when right-brainers speak so cogently and effortlessly about structural pyrotechniques, subtleties of voice, and thematic liminals.

I've finally discovered that I must read as much as I can, think hard, ponder others' words about their process, but finally dump it all into the subconscious and let it mix with the experience already accruing there. This is not the most efficient writing method, but it seems to be the only one that works for me!

[kristine_smith]

I think there are bunch of us left-brainers who tend to feel like we are trying to sculpt water when right-brainers speak so cogently and effortlessly about structural pyrotechniques, subtleties of voice, and thematic liminals.

I've finally discovered that I must read as much as I can, think hard, ponder others' words about their process, but finally dump it all into the subconscious and let it mix with the experience already accruing there. This is not the most efficient writing method, but it seems to be the only one that works for me!I let my subconscious do a lot of the work as well. If I had to consciously determine every point in one of my plots, I'd go crazy. They just seem to work themselves out

[sartorias]

I have a difficult time explaining the writing process as well. Beginners have asked me, "How do you do know when you've done such-and-such?", and all I can do is say, I know when I've done it, and I can sense when I haven't. Then I watch the frustration fill their eyes, at which point a right-brainer takes over the question and explains matters in about two sentences. Then I feel like some sort of imposter because I can't explain it. If I can't explain it, I must not know what I'm doing, right? Smoke and mirrors and a healthy dose of bs.

Oh boy and how. I do think I'm learning a little of the tech talk, but I'm still in grade school compared to some of my more right-brained friends when it comes both to perceiving the work as in integrated geometic construct and expressing it.

[lnhammer]

I am reasonably certain that this kind of beginning requires small scenes with tiny emotional arcs--anything neutral kills potential tension--before I can launch into the big stakes. Otherwise one either has datadump boredom (and the narrative voice is too far in the background to pull the equivalent of a Paarfi) or else big action too soon, which is like walking into a movie in medias res with the volume way too high.

I think I get it. I'm in the middle of writing a series of short stories (with an eye towards having a fix-up novel in the end), with ever more struggle with the setup of successive stories. The one in progress, I partially handle it by scattering backstory forward as small revelations as the tale progresses - which is kind of the same thing as the small emotional arcs. It helps that I do have an active omniscient narrator who, while not as mannered as Paarfi, is usefully entertaining. And

[sartorias]

Ahah! It will be interesting to watch your process on this project. I hope you discuss it.

[lnhammer]

It doesn't help that my narrative instinct is to start at the moment before the climax. That is, with the event that knocks a barely stable state (that may have been building for years) into a deathspiral that, eventually, resolves the situation one way or another. Um, concrete example. To pull one out of mid-air, I'd begin a tale not when Atalanta starts heroing as a way to get her father's attention and approval, nor when Atalanta's father first insists that she marry, nor even when she comes up with insists on the footrace as a way to put this off, but when the one(s) who beat her arrive in town. This is because, to my mind, that's the event that Changes Things and so starts the Story. But it does make for Backstory.

---L.

[sartorias]

Hoo yah!

[sartorias]

It isn't required, but I suspect it ought to stand alone. (I haven't had any editorial direction on this, or for that matter how the first one reads. It's been delivered, but as yet not read, so I am still very much groping my way.)

If I can keep it standing alone, it's probably best...I think I'm almost there, one more crucial support missing and then the bridge meets in the middle.

I think.