from learning a lot about myself and my own writing process, I didn't
produce a lot of useable prose.
2006 was just loopy. I'd never even written a full short story before.
The 50K novel that resulted was a swiss-cheese pastiche of literary
styles badly cribbed from several of my favorite authors, not a single
one of whom would have been pleased with the unwitting homage. I was
horrifically pleased with it, though, because I didn't know any
better.
2009 was different. I'd written enough to know how to produce decent
writing, and how to recogize it when I read it in other people's work.
I took it seriously in 2009, and ended up disliking the experience.
The first few days were little more than authorial throat-clearing,
the middle part was good running, the last part was lots of desperate
lunging.
Not good.
2006 was fun, because I was writing what I wanted. 2009 was a slog
because I was writing what needed to be written to fill out my plot
outline. As I recall, the one day I had the most fun writing in 2009
was doing a parenthetical aside of a sex scene that didn't advance the
plot at all.
This year, I'm going to do things differently. I'm going to use
Novemeber to work on "Just Enough Power", my on-again, off-again
serial. I have a general plot arc for it, but it's not enough for
another 50K. Where will the rest come from?
I don't know.
For a Type A guy like me to strike out into the woods without a map,
GPS, cell phone and snakebite kit is astonishing, a RADICAL departure.
But I think I need to challenge myself by letting the plot go where it
wants to.
It's possible I've been doing this wrong, so I'm going to find out.
I'll let the words come, and see what happens.
One thing's for sure: since I have so much fun writing fights and sex
scenes, Patricia Lonnigan is going to get her ass kicked, get her
revenge, and get laid. A lot.
--
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___________________________________
http://www.TonyNoland.com/
Follow me on Twitter: @TonyNoland
Good luck, but mostly, have fun!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to it!
ReplyDeleteIf you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong. Good luck this year! :-)
ReplyDeleteGood luck with it Tony... I'm leaving it to the pros this year, I think. Best wishes with it!
ReplyDeleteI love the way you are challenging yourself, and I am really looking forward to reading the results.
ReplyDeleteI bet Lonnigan is more than feisty in each of those situations!