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A small post concerning writing
Jan. 4th, 2006 09:23 pmThis is not a matter of grand theory. I have a cold, which makes me stupid. These are just some notes I wanted to make to myself at this point in the novel under construction.
The voices of the characters from The Dubious Hills are very easy to recapture. The narrative voice would not be, even were I writing about events that occurred before the ending of that book; the addition of the ramifications of that ending makes that narrative voice very tricky and elusive. On the other hand, the narrative voice of The Whim of the Dragon -- or, at least, that part of it told from Ruth's viewpoint -- is very easy to recapture, and a great delight to write. The dialogue, however, is giving me fits: that weird marriage of faux Elizabethan and modern 20th-century English -- yes, 20th-century, since the characters disappear under the hill, as it were, sometime in the late 1980's -- with its shifting qualities depending on who is speaking, whom they are facing, and who they are, internally and externally, at any given moment. I can't actually recall precisely how I did it, but I think there was a fair amount of immersion involved.
It's satisfying at least to have figured out why Chapter 5, which is one of those huge scenes of discussion over dinner, keeps grinding to a halt and stalling out its little engine.
Sitting there pressing the starter (no, I don't drive; why do you ask?) I began to think about larger issues, and most treacherously, the fact that a number of ardent fans of the original books, particularly the trilogy, are probably not going to like some of the things that happen. There's nothing to be done about this, really, so I'd like to stop worrying about it.
I've been reading LJ quite faithfully, but commenting with a wild lack of consistency, lavishing paragraphs on small matters and remaining dumb on large ones.
I don't suppose that's much of a change, really.
But I'm glad you all are out there.
P.
The voices of the characters from The Dubious Hills are very easy to recapture. The narrative voice would not be, even were I writing about events that occurred before the ending of that book; the addition of the ramifications of that ending makes that narrative voice very tricky and elusive. On the other hand, the narrative voice of The Whim of the Dragon -- or, at least, that part of it told from Ruth's viewpoint -- is very easy to recapture, and a great delight to write. The dialogue, however, is giving me fits: that weird marriage of faux Elizabethan and modern 20th-century English -- yes, 20th-century, since the characters disappear under the hill, as it were, sometime in the late 1980's -- with its shifting qualities depending on who is speaking, whom they are facing, and who they are, internally and externally, at any given moment. I can't actually recall precisely how I did it, but I think there was a fair amount of immersion involved.
It's satisfying at least to have figured out why Chapter 5, which is one of those huge scenes of discussion over dinner, keeps grinding to a halt and stalling out its little engine.
Sitting there pressing the starter (no, I don't drive; why do you ask?) I began to think about larger issues, and most treacherously, the fact that a number of ardent fans of the original books, particularly the trilogy, are probably not going to like some of the things that happen. There's nothing to be done about this, really, so I'd like to stop worrying about it.
I've been reading LJ quite faithfully, but commenting with a wild lack of consistency, lavishing paragraphs on small matters and remaining dumb on large ones.
I don't suppose that's much of a change, really.
But I'm glad you all are out there.
P.
