Psycho-Drama?
Okay, a couple of things here if you do not mind!!
I have two major issues at this particular point in time. I need to get them out of my head. They are offending my Muse, and it's not nice to offend your Muse.
The first issue is school. My current session ends tomorrow night at midnight, and the assignments due for the fifth and final week are roughly equal (in terms of work assignments required for this unit) to the previous four weeks, combined. Because of the flood, I am way behind, and am still trying to get caught up on the basics for this course. The School, and my Instructor are doing more than all they should to help me out with this, but it is jammin' my brain--and my schedule.
My next session of school opens--TODAY! How's that for overlap! Two tough courses to begin, and one that has all but kicked my butt to finish with (HOPEFULLY A "C") a passing grade! Yeah, I'm feeling stressed about school.
I'm outa money at the moment, and the gravytrain is in sight, but has not come into the station yet. Things are crazy tight, and its a matter of survival. That's causing a little stress.
The other, and main griping point right now is the novel for NaNoPubYe 2006, "The Radical". I am going to fish for some insight from a few of my writing sights, but I have a problem with this book that I have never run into before, and it's driving me nuts!!
I HATE THIS BOOK!
There, I said it. I hate the plot, I hate the MC (Main Character), and I hate the story! Really, I just plain hate it all. That's the most important reason I'm writing it, but it is really, REALLY freakin' me out. The MC is developing into more of a total asshole than even I envisioned, and he is taking me places I just really do not like!
One of the purposes of this Journal is to document the writing life. What I just wrote may well make little or no sense to you if you are not a writer, so let me explain something to you. The dictates of "good" writing tell you that you should create your story in "Scenes". You should know, before you begin, who is going to do what, where, and when. You MUST create conflict in each scene, or the scene shouldn't exist. Yeah, well...
I don't write like that usually. Yes, it is imperative to have "sound" writing. But formulaic writing is not for me. (At least, not currently, and not yet.) To me, it is true that accurate formulaic writing can produce "sale-able" product, but it is not any more guaranteed than any other. To abandon the rules may seem as folly. So be it. So far, the conflict has been merely writing the truth about this character and this plot. There is not going to be any moment in this work when there is not conflict--simply put.
The second item involves the control of the direction of the story. The requirement is that the writing moves the story forward. That's why readers turn the page! Most writers have an "arc" that they follow. It is a plot diagram that takes you through major and minor points, until you reach the end. The writer forces his/her characters to stay on the trail. It's a tenet of "good writing". Yeah, well...
In my writing ("Freeform"?), I do not compel my characters. They compel me. If my MC wants to go to Bakersfield, and I want him/her to go to Fresno, Fresno usually just will not show up in the writing. Even when it makes perfect plot "sense" to go to Fresno, my character is going to force their way to Bakersfield! Why?
The characters in my novels are "real" in the "words on a page" sense. I do not, most times, fully understand them. They become known to me as the words are written. For me, this is legitimate writing because that is precisely how the readers learn of them, too. Am I making even a little bit of sense here?
I do truly hate these characters. Furthermore, they know it. It is a contention that I feel must be won. They could care less. They are who they are, and seem to believe that they are not dependent upon me liking them one whit! They are not necessarily discordant with me. They are ambivilant!! They are what they are, and they are going to do what they are going to do. My job, according to them, is not to like them, but to precisely record them! They are the deliverers of the story, and they are convinced that the story, in all its brutal truth, is going to be
told, like it or don't.
I don't like the story. I don't like the plot. I don't like the warning that I feel that is compelled to lie within it. But, I am writing it. I have never had such an experience as this before in all my life. I'm just really uncomfortable IN it. I know it will pass. How do you deal with things like this. If you are a writer, tell me what you think about this reality in my life today?
I have two major issues at this particular point in time. I need to get them out of my head. They are offending my Muse, and it's not nice to offend your Muse.
The first issue is school. My current session ends tomorrow night at midnight, and the assignments due for the fifth and final week are roughly equal (in terms of work assignments required for this unit) to the previous four weeks, combined. Because of the flood, I am way behind, and am still trying to get caught up on the basics for this course. The School, and my Instructor are doing more than all they should to help me out with this, but it is jammin' my brain--and my schedule.
My next session of school opens--TODAY! How's that for overlap! Two tough courses to begin, and one that has all but kicked my butt to finish with (HOPEFULLY A "C") a passing grade! Yeah, I'm feeling stressed about school.
I'm outa money at the moment, and the gravytrain is in sight, but has not come into the station yet. Things are crazy tight, and its a matter of survival. That's causing a little stress.
The other, and main griping point right now is the novel for NaNoPubYe 2006, "The Radical". I am going to fish for some insight from a few of my writing sights, but I have a problem with this book that I have never run into before, and it's driving me nuts!!
I HATE THIS BOOK!
There, I said it. I hate the plot, I hate the MC (Main Character), and I hate the story! Really, I just plain hate it all. That's the most important reason I'm writing it, but it is really, REALLY freakin' me out. The MC is developing into more of a total asshole than even I envisioned, and he is taking me places I just really do not like!
One of the purposes of this Journal is to document the writing life. What I just wrote may well make little or no sense to you if you are not a writer, so let me explain something to you. The dictates of "good" writing tell you that you should create your story in "Scenes". You should know, before you begin, who is going to do what, where, and when. You MUST create conflict in each scene, or the scene shouldn't exist. Yeah, well...
I don't write like that usually. Yes, it is imperative to have "sound" writing. But formulaic writing is not for me. (At least, not currently, and not yet.) To me, it is true that accurate formulaic writing can produce "sale-able" product, but it is not any more guaranteed than any other. To abandon the rules may seem as folly. So be it. So far, the conflict has been merely writing the truth about this character and this plot. There is not going to be any moment in this work when there is not conflict--simply put.
The second item involves the control of the direction of the story. The requirement is that the writing moves the story forward. That's why readers turn the page! Most writers have an "arc" that they follow. It is a plot diagram that takes you through major and minor points, until you reach the end. The writer forces his/her characters to stay on the trail. It's a tenet of "good writing". Yeah, well...
In my writing ("Freeform"?), I do not compel my characters. They compel me. If my MC wants to go to Bakersfield, and I want him/her to go to Fresno, Fresno usually just will not show up in the writing. Even when it makes perfect plot "sense" to go to Fresno, my character is going to force their way to Bakersfield! Why?
The characters in my novels are "real" in the "words on a page" sense. I do not, most times, fully understand them. They become known to me as the words are written. For me, this is legitimate writing because that is precisely how the readers learn of them, too. Am I making even a little bit of sense here?
I do truly hate these characters. Furthermore, they know it. It is a contention that I feel must be won. They could care less. They are who they are, and seem to believe that they are not dependent upon me liking them one whit! They are not necessarily discordant with me. They are ambivilant!! They are what they are, and they are going to do what they are going to do. My job, according to them, is not to like them, but to precisely record them! They are the deliverers of the story, and they are convinced that the story, in all its brutal truth, is going to be
told, like it or don't.
I don't like the story. I don't like the plot. I don't like the warning that I feel that is compelled to lie within it. But, I am writing it. I have never had such an experience as this before in all my life. I'm just really uncomfortable IN it. I know it will pass. How do you deal with things like this. If you are a writer, tell me what you think about this reality in my life today?
posted by Budroe at 12:47 PM
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