The Novel Diary: Week 4
Word count: 7,348 (Chapter 1); 11,310 (total).
Here is my goal for this week: finish Chapter 1.
Goddamn! Can a chapter get any longer? Yes, but I do not want it to. An original, and now forgotten, emphasis in writing my novel was short and compact chapters; I wanted each chapter to be its own short story, though loosely connected to the others to form a cohesive narrative. (Whether or not that is possible remains to be seen.) I have stuck to the compact part in terms of scene and focus, but not in terms of length. I have to say, though, Chapter 1 is jam packed with pertinent information, so we shall see how it needs to be wrought and reworked as the rest of the book takes form.
I have been sailing along smoothly for the last couple weeks. My mind has been churning out relevant and compelling (I hope) material. But I hit a wall last week. I do not think I even wrote on Thursday. I did not write last night; I used the Super Bowl as an excuse to be lazy. (The NFL for an excuse? Blasphemous professional football demons be gone!) Though my current lack of creative genius may be the result of laziness and lack of discipline, it represents a somewhat agreeable middle ground between wild inspiration and complete writer’s block. I am writing, but just for the sake of production. That’s one reason why I need to end Chapter 1 as soon as possible: I am no longer feeling the spirit and need to cut my loses and move on. The word counts are there, and the stuff I have written the last couple nights may turn out to be useful, but it feels so wrong.
Here is my goal for this week: finish Chapter 1.
Goddamn! Can a chapter get any longer? Yes, but I do not want it to. An original, and now forgotten, emphasis in writing my novel was short and compact chapters; I wanted each chapter to be its own short story, though loosely connected to the others to form a cohesive narrative. (Whether or not that is possible remains to be seen.) I have stuck to the compact part in terms of scene and focus, but not in terms of length. I have to say, though, Chapter 1 is jam packed with pertinent information, so we shall see how it needs to be wrought and reworked as the rest of the book takes form.
I have been sailing along smoothly for the last couple weeks. My mind has been churning out relevant and compelling (I hope) material. But I hit a wall last week. I do not think I even wrote on Thursday. I did not write last night; I used the Super Bowl as an excuse to be lazy. (The NFL for an excuse? Blasphemous professional football demons be gone!) Though my current lack of creative genius may be the result of laziness and lack of discipline, it represents a somewhat agreeable middle ground between wild inspiration and complete writer’s block. I am writing, but just for the sake of production. That’s one reason why I need to end Chapter 1 as soon as possible: I am no longer feeling the spirit and need to cut my loses and move on. The word counts are there, and the stuff I have written the last couple nights may turn out to be useful, but it feels so wrong.
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