The number of words in my CUT file.
Some of them, of course, are duplicates of words that did, eventually make it into the book. The same scene, written slightly differently. The same scene, but from a different character's perspective, and thus with a totally different purpose.
But there there are the never-weres, the scenes that I aborted a few paragraphs in, that I decided better of, whose info I felt would work well someplace, somehow else.
I had no idea it had gotten so long. If all of those words were in my book, my proposal would be done already.
Right now, the source of my confusion is trying to remember how the real, actual, made-it-through-the-cuts version of the story goes. What information have I yet to share with the reader? What information would I be repeating? I know that this version of hte story has managed to get the most possible worldbuilding in the tightest amount of space, and has added four times as many fight scenes as the first version.
But is enough?
Showing posts with label setbacks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label setbacks. Show all posts
11.19.2006
11.17.2006
The Real World
Don't laugh: For the longest time, when I'd read writers who were blogging about "the real world" getting in their way, I thought that there was some aspect of their plot that didn't conform to the laws of physics or the nation. Like those love scenes that require a three-armed contortionist.
Hey, I said don't laugh.
For me, writing is the real world, or at least, every bit as real as grocery shopping or laundry. I'm not here to be a hobbyist. I can say that the real world gets in the way of my knitting or my ability to go out with friends on Saturday night, or the number of Netflix movies I get through in a month. I'm busy with classes or my job or my health or personal pitfalls. But I can't take off from writing any more than a person can take off from work. Okay, you've got "personal" days at work. I've taken those. I feel sick, I stay home from work. No problem. But that's not the real world getting in the way. It's something else getting in the way of the real world.
This is hard to convince others of. My partner seems to think that since I don't have actual office hours and a commute, that I am free to run all the errands in the house. Um, no. When I look at the people who have become truly successful in their careers, they are always hte ones who treat writing like a job. They set goals, sit down in front of their computers and say, "I'm writing this many pages/until this time and I'm not getting up. I don't care if I'm 'not in the mood.'"
And that's how it has to be. Writing is my real world.
Hey, I said don't laugh.
For me, writing is the real world, or at least, every bit as real as grocery shopping or laundry. I'm not here to be a hobbyist. I can say that the real world gets in the way of my knitting or my ability to go out with friends on Saturday night, or the number of Netflix movies I get through in a month. I'm busy with classes or my job or my health or personal pitfalls. But I can't take off from writing any more than a person can take off from work. Okay, you've got "personal" days at work. I've taken those. I feel sick, I stay home from work. No problem. But that's not the real world getting in the way. It's something else getting in the way of the real world.
This is hard to convince others of. My partner seems to think that since I don't have actual office hours and a commute, that I am free to run all the errands in the house. Um, no. When I look at the people who have become truly successful in their careers, they are always hte ones who treat writing like a job. They set goals, sit down in front of their computers and say, "I'm writing this many pages/until this time and I'm not getting up. I don't care if I'm 'not in the mood.'"
And that's how it has to be. Writing is my real world.
11.11.2006
Getting Off Track
Being the Flip Side of Yesterday's Post...
I love research. I love digging into a subject and finding that the more I deeply I delve, the most it seems to "fit" my project. There is a strange synergy to research. How often have you found, while reading up on a topic, that some aspect of it already fits the fiction you are making up?
Not to get all woo-woo and mystical about it, but it's as if this information is out in the ether, being soaked up by the muse. In actuality, it's probably more like the things we imagine just rationally (and imaginably!) follow from the same cause, so it's little wonder that the real life counterparts unfold the same way. That, and we just choose to ignore the parts that don't fit into the fiction.
But I'd intended to write about getting off track, before I, um, got off track. The flip side of this research is that occasionally I get so hung up on the research, sometimes I have so much great info that FITS, that I forget that the only purpose of research is to serve the purpose of the story. No matter how cool it is that I dug up little factoids, no matter how fascinating the factoids are, the story isn't ehre for factoids. The story is here for story.
It's a battle. I spent most of the morning trying to concoct a ritual scene and convincing myself that there had to be more information available to help me before I realized that I already had all the material I needed for the story.
The story, the story, the story. I should have it put in big, blinking neon lights above my computer.
I love research. I love digging into a subject and finding that the more I deeply I delve, the most it seems to "fit" my project. There is a strange synergy to research. How often have you found, while reading up on a topic, that some aspect of it already fits the fiction you are making up?
Not to get all woo-woo and mystical about it, but it's as if this information is out in the ether, being soaked up by the muse. In actuality, it's probably more like the things we imagine just rationally (and imaginably!) follow from the same cause, so it's little wonder that the real life counterparts unfold the same way. That, and we just choose to ignore the parts that don't fit into the fiction.
But I'd intended to write about getting off track, before I, um, got off track. The flip side of this research is that occasionally I get so hung up on the research, sometimes I have so much great info that FITS, that I forget that the only purpose of research is to serve the purpose of the story. No matter how cool it is that I dug up little factoids, no matter how fascinating the factoids are, the story isn't ehre for factoids. The story is here for story.
It's a battle. I spent most of the morning trying to concoct a ritual scene and convincing myself that there had to be more information available to help me before I realized that I already had all the material I needed for the story.
The story, the story, the story. I should have it put in big, blinking neon lights above my computer.
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