I just realized that I have not blogged about my new typewriter yet. Well, new to me, anyway. My lovely husband bought me an old Royal Quiet Deluxe for Christmas and I have been having fun with it ever since. I looked up the serial number on The Typewriter Database and, from what I can tell, it looks like it was made sometime in 1946 or 1947. It’s in beautiful condition and types very well.
I have had a short story idea floating around in my head lately, so I decided to try and write it entirely on the typewriter, just for fun, and I’m finding that I really enjoy it. The keys are certainly harder to work, I have to really press them down and I have to use a completely different hand position than I’m used to, which is actually probably very good for my wrists. There’s nothing to rest them on, so I have to hold them up like I’m playing the piano, unlike when I type on a computer and I let them fall down and rest on the flat area of my laptop in front of the keyboard (I have no idea what that area is called, but it seems like it ought to have a name).
The only problem is, now that I’m going strong on this story, the ribbon has dried up on me! I have ordered a new one, so hopefully it comes soon. For now, though, I may have to give up writing the entire story on the typewriter and switch to the fountain pen. I’m not completely ready to give up on the idea of writing a story completely sans computer…not yet.
So, after I wrote my post yesterday, I sat down and wrote a bit about my problem. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it here yet or not, but the fact that the best way for me to work through a problem is writing about it is what brought me to writing in the first place. I’m very glad for it and it has helped me quite a bit in the last few years. Anyway, I wrote about the problem for a while and came to the following realizations: One, that one of the reasons I was having trouble writing was because I was writing scenes I wasn’t excited about (even if the idea of the entire book excited me, these particular scenes were tedious); and two, that if these scenes are tedious for me, then they’ll probably be tedious for readers as well. So, I stopped writing them.
I am lucky, I have the entire novel plotted out scene by scene, so what I decided to do was, each time I sit down to write, look through my list of scenes and try to find one that excites me, and then write it. It doesn’t matter at what point in the novel it occurs or if the writing is uneven or anything. Editing and rewriting can iron out any inconsistencies and unevenness. I felt much better about the whole thing once I had figured this out, but I ran out of writing time (time to get back to the day job), so I wasn’t able to try it out yesterday.
Today, however, I opened my computer, took a look at my scene list, picked one, and started writing. And it just flowed right out. The whole scene. I ended up writing almost 1,000 words in about 40 minutes. It was great. And I feel great now, and a heck of a lot better about the whole idea of writing this novel. So, from here on out, I am going to repeat this process everyday. And when I run out of scenes that I’m excited to write, I can either stop there and call the book done (well, the first draft, anyway), or decide that I need to fill it out more and add more scenes that I’m excited about. But I have learned a new rule of thumb for my writing and I am sure that it will serve me well.
I have been having trouble working on my novel lately. It’s not that I don’t want to or that I’ve lost interest. I very much want to and I’m still as fascinated as ever. In fact, every time I sit down to write, something new pops up, whether it’s a new story element or a new facet to one of my characters. I’m excited about it and I can’t wait to get the story down and begin the editing process (or, rather, the re-writing process, since that is what I am sure it will become). The problem is, once I sit down to write, it’s like pulling teeth to get anything down. I have tried changing environments, since I write during my lunch hour I thought moving to the local coffee shop instead of trying to stay at my desk (where I know I have trouble focusing anyway), but that doesn’t seem to be helping at all. I don’t have trouble writing other things, for example this blog post is coming along swimmingly, but the novel is just not flowing right now. Maybe I’m working on the wrong section, maybe I need to start writing somewhere in the middle and then work on the other scenes as they strike me. Maybe I need to try a different format, writing by hand or something. I don’t know. But something has to give, I really, really want to get this done.
I have completely neglected this blog. Completely. And I have no excuse. Well, unless you count a full-time job, two kids, and the holidays as excuses. Then, I guess I have plenty. Still, I ought to make this more of a priority. We’ll see.
I also haven’t had much time to work on my novel. I do have it completely plotted out, though, scene by scene. I had thought that I would resist something so structured, I usually do, but I’m actually finding that I like working like this. I know what I want to have happen in the scene, and I go from there. I don’t have to worry about having the scene make sense at the same time that I’m worried about writing well and getting across what needs to come across and where the whole novel is headed. I can just concentrate on the scene and not worry about the rest. I had some trouble with the second scene, it took about a week to figure out (I only have an hour at lunch to work on it, so a week isn’t really as long as it sounds), but I enjoyed being able to really work on it.
I had an idea the other day about using the internet to enhance the reading experience and I think I’d like to try and implement it with this book I’m working on. The idea came to me while reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, so I’ll use that book to explain. I think it would be interesting to provide things like background materials or content that expands on what you find in the book via a website, something for the reader to explore. So, for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, since it is a mystery and most of the evidence the characters are looking consists of pictures and documents, maybe provide some of those pictures and documents on a website, so that readers can get online and look at what the characters are looking at. For my novel, some of the things available might be, since I’m writing historical fiction, some old pictures meant to represent the characters, maybe “copies” of old letters written by the characters, things like that. Just another way of engaging readers with the material. Anyway, just a thought. I’m sure I’m not the first person to think of it, and maybe someone’s already done it. If so, I’d love to see it and hear how it worked.
So, for every issue of Flash Me Magazine, the editors set up a poll so that readers can vote on their favorite story. I just checked their website, and apparently my story received enough votes to garner the second place spot!! That’s pretty awesome! Completely made my morning. Now I just need to get writing so that I can get some more stories out there!
So I’ve been working on my novel for a while now, I’ve had two versions that got above 10,000 words each, and I keep ending up going in directions that I’m not sure I want to be going in. I had initially plotted out my novel a while ago, but all of the versions I’ve written have taken me farther and farther from that vision that I don’t think it is possible for me to go back at this point, nor do I want to. But I am in need of a new vision, as I keep getting into the trap of describing every little detail, rather than telling a story.
So, I found this website the other day detailing the snowflake method for writing a novel. It seemed like it might be worth trying out, so I’ve been working with it to try and come up with a new plan. It’s been going well, but it wasn’t until yesterday that I had a real breakthrough. We’ve been using mind maps for a project at work and I finally decided to try it out on my characters, to see if I can flesh out the details of their histories, relationships, and personalities a little better, and lo and behold a new vision for the novel came out on the page, one that I had not thought of previously and one that I think is more powerful than the others I had had before. There are certainly some kinks to work out yet, and I have some more work to do on characters other than my main character, but I’m really liking what I’ve come up with so far, and I’m going to keep on with it. Hooray for progress!
Ok, so the blog kinda took a back seat while I adjusted to being back to work. It’s been a rough transition, much more so than it was after my son was born. Anyone who tells you that the second kid is easier than the first is lying through their teeth. And my little girl is an incredibly good baby. I couldn’t imagine doing this if she were colicky or didn’t sleep through most of the night. I would go insane. So, I’m back to work and I’m counting my lucky stars.
As for writing, there isn’t too much of that getting done these days. I basically have my lunch hour, and maybe a little bit of time during the evening if the little girl is sleeping. I have been getting work done, though, and it feels good. I have a short story that needs editing, another short story that I’m writing, and I’m still plugging away on the novel.
Speaking of the novel, I had to start it over again. I know, I know, this is, like the fifth time, but I think it will work this time (I know I’ve said that before, but I really, really mean it this time!). A couple of days before I went back to work, my night-owl of a muse brought me my main character’s voice. It sounds strange, but all of a sudden, her voice, her words, were filling my head and I had to get up and write a bit. Turns out it is going to be in first person (I’ve gone back and forth over whether to do it in first or third) and she has a really strong voice. It’s fun to write in her voice, and the writing is going a lot better this time around. Hopefully it lasts.
I mentioned in my last post that I’ve been having trouble working on the novel, and unfortunately that hasn’t let up. But I did something this morning that were a lot of fun, had nothing to do with the novel, and made me feel a hell of a lot better about my writing in general (and even more general than that, gave me a little more faith in my ability to be creative). A while ago I came across a post on a blog calling for submissions of “hint fiction” for an anthology. I had never heard of it, and so naturally I had to check it out. It’s basically a hint of a story in 25 words or less (explained in more detail here). I’ve had the post up in a tab in my web browser for a few weeks, thinking that I ought to give it a shot. So, this morning, needing to do some writing but not able to get started on the novel, I did. And it was fun! The first one I wrote just came to me. It was kind of nice, just letting something flow without attaching too much importance to it. The second one (you’re allowed to submit two, so I figured I ought to go for it) didn’t come as easily, but the process for coming up with that one was even more fun, I think. I basically just made a list of random words that occurred to me. Sometimes they were obviously related to the word that came before, sometimes they weren’t. I was allowing myself to play with words and meanings and sounds, I haven’t done that in a very, very long time. I just kept listing words until I came to one that gave me an idea. I worked with it for a while and then, voila, I had my second piece. What a great way to spend an hour!
I was reading the sories in The Guardian’s Summer Short Story Special and something struck me, something definitely worth noticing. The writing in all of these stories had one thing in common, and it’s something that I’m surprised I hadn’t noticed before. In all of the stories the tone was so relaxed and confident. There was no pushiness, no urgency, no stress. That’s not to say there was no suspense, there was, and plenty of it. It just wasn’t shoved down your throat. The stories were elegant. I found myself smiling as I read them and thinking, “now, that’s how I want to write.” I need to print them out and post them somewhere I can see them, to remind myself of this.
I’ve been working a lot on my novel lately and have been discouraged with the current state of the writing. It is right now the quintiessential shitty first draft. Thinking about it, though, I haven’t been very relaxed about the actual activity of writing. I’ve been pushing and pushing myself, trying to get as much work done as I can before I have to go back to work (less than three weeks!), when what I might need to do is sit back, take a deep breath, and relax. Of course it’s a shitty first draft, it’s supposed to be. And I’ve been so focused on quantity (as I’ve heard I should be at this point), it’s been a bit ridiculous. I know that the writing is going to be crappy right now, but isn’t this draft supposed to be about getting the story down and articulating the ideas that are going to be important in the final manuscript? So, instead of worrying about word counts, maybe I should instead be more focused on the quality of the plot and the ideas being expressed and making sure that the trajectory of the book goes in a direction that I want it to go.
Why is it that every night, as I’m trying to get my daughter to sleep and my husband is patiently waiting for me to come to bed, my muse decides it’s a good time to drown my brain in a virtual flash flood of ideas, first lines, quotes, you name it. All of them calling for me to write them down before they disappear into the abyss I like to call sleep. I can sit in front of a computer or with a pen in my hand in front of a notebook of fresh, clean paper all day and have absolutely no inspiration, and then, as if a switch gets flipped somewhere, at around 10 o’clock my muse finally decides to make an appearance and I can’t seem to get to a piece of paper fast enough.
What can I do? My muse seems to be a night owl. So I listen, hoping that I can remember her dictation long enough to write at least the germ of the idea down before going to bed. In another life, or another point in my life, I would have just stayed up all night, writing, allowing the words to flow through my brain, through my nervous system, through my fingers, through my pen, and onto the paper. But now that I have kids, a husband, daytime responsibilities, if I did that I would end up without sleep, which is not a good place to be. So, here I am at 6:30 in the morning, filtering through the little bit of writing I was able to get down before drifting off last night, trying to see if any of it still inspires, still contains any of the magic that it began with.