Tag Archives: The Writing Process

Indirect Exercise

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And now we’re a quarter of a way to the next 10,000 and about halfway through the third chapter. You can see a rough order here: around 5,000 words per chapter. It’s an inexact science, and each chapter will take exactly as long as it needs to. Still, twenty pages seems like the basic length they demand.

Writing fiction takes far more time and energy than even the densest non-fiction. However much information I pack in and however complex my thesis, for me an article is little more than a brain dump. I have this thing that I want to explain, and here I am explaining it in whatever words occur to me at that moment. Maybe if I’m feeling precious I’ll go back and redraft, to try to focus the discussion.

Here I feel a responsibility to the characters, the world, and the reader. It’s not as solipsistic as I am accustomed. Maybe that’s why it’s revitalizing me, instead of just depressing me the way that my articles do. There I always feel like I’m scraping away at my mind to extract an overgrown splinter. After a decade, the process has really worn at me. With this story I’m exploring and observing. I feel like a catalyst, permitting something to take form.

It’s an indirect thing and it’s exhausting in a different way. This is more like exercise, as opposed to self flagellation.

I like writing this thing. I look forward to completing it, so that I can go back and read it as a whole.

Introspect in Retrospect

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Today I rewrote a paragraph from two days ago. I do not plan on doing this again. The paragraph deals with a character’s thoughts on an issue. Two days ago, it sounded fine; maybe a little awkward; another draft would sort that out. Today I saw that the thoughts didn’t suit the character; further, they burnt a thread that I wanted to explore. So although I set rules for myself about editing, today I had to make an exception.

The start of a chapter is always slow going. There’s a period of reorientation, even if one knows the characters and the general direction that the story is headed. As the chapter goes on, the flow widens and widens until pages start to appear fully formed. Right now I’m still building momentum. The pieces are there; it just takes some scrutiny to find their trajectories and a gentle nudge to set them in motion. In a few pages I will reach a checkpoint where several elements cross. From there the chemistry should propel them through to the next juncture.

Since my last update the contributions have piled up! I have three more people to thank: a fairly new associate yet long recipient of my respect, Orb designer and With Earth In Mind author Mr. Joshua Turcotte; a long associate of my wife who shall be known as The Turtle; and — well, my own mother. Thanks to you all for your support. I hope you continue to follow the project to its completion.

And again, thanks to all other readers for your time and interest in this project. I am amazed at the positive response we have received already.

Dancing Landmarks

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The second chapter continues to yank me in unexpected directions, all for the best. Nearly done now, and on the cusp of 10,000 words. In page terms this is an arbitrary number; at an average of 250 words per printed page, that comes to 40 pages. Still a good chunk of pulp, but it’s not even a round figure. Ten thousand, now that sounds like a nice milestone. And I’m nearly there.

I might have written even more tonight, except that research ate up way more time than I intended. Any time you write about New York, you really need to know your background — and sometimes the details can get kind of crazy.

Both my wife and I are touched by your continued support. The most recent donation comes from my very old friend Lan, which makes two contributors in a row in need of special cookie recipes. Dietary minefields are all part of the challenge.

If anyone has been putting off a sizable donation out of concern for gluten or sugar content, don’t you worry about it; whatever your needs, my wife can work around them. She’s clever that way.

Structure by Faith

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This chapter started in a weird place, and now has wrapped its way back to reality. There is something to be said for keeping one’s eyes on the horizon and having faith in the tendency for a story to end up where it needs to be. I am now feeling more confident than ever that this project is going to work out the way I want it to.

Although from here I will offer only slim hints at the book’s content, I can’t help but share a particular sentence:

Colin viewed his neighbor’s feet with detachment.

That’s it, then. Goodnight folks.

Except that’s not it. I need to send out a huge thank-you to my friend Brady Hartel for his support of this project. He is due a fun bundle o’ junk when the process reaches that stage.

On a related note, you will see a few new details to your left: progress meters both for the novel (based on a rough guess of 300 pages) and for funding (based on rough estimates of expenses), and a tidy space to memorialize all contributors to this project.

Thank you all for your continued interest, and again for whatever help you can provide.

Auto Focus

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Despite my early hang-ups with chapter two, I am now only one page behind in my daily schedule. The words have been flowing, and I have decided to ignore any imperfections until the next go around. That’s a piece of advice I wish had been drilled into me from an early age: writing is writing, and editing is editing. When writing, remember that there will always be another draft. All you’re doing now is laying down the raw material for later. Without that material, you’ll have nothing to edit.

For the fun of it, let me introduce you to some of the key characters. The first few pages introduce more names than the first episode of The Wire, and the story takes a while to clarify them all. Here, then, is some of the core cast.

  • The central, or most featured, character is a mechanic named Bill. He has only lived in the area for a few years. Before then he worked in Oakland. Between the two car cultures, Bill feels a bit more useful in Brooklyn. Bill is a quiet, practical man. He has his principles, and will stand up for people where he can. Otherwise he minds his business, keeps his head down, and loses himself in his work.
  • Colin Drumlin works alongside Bill. At night he chases a futile music career, and he usually feels it in the morning. He also feels it in his stomach. Colin tends to cocoon his insecurity in a warm blanket of irony, that helps him to fit in with the Bushwick crowd.
  • Gary is the absentee owner of Gary’s Auto, employer to Bill and Colin. When the shop’s manager checks out unannounced, Gary is forced to take over day-to-day operations. He’s drowning, and he has no one to blame. For now Bill’s mission is to avoid becoming that target, and maybe to deflect Gary from the lower-hanging fruit.
  • The lowest at the moment may be the manager’s younger brother, Omar. He’s green, and he makes Bill seem like a chatterbox. Though he may have no defense against Gary, Omar sees everything and remembers most of it. In his own time and his own way, he will always find a creative way to respond.

Mind you, everything I say here is provisional. The first two chapters introduce at least another four or five characters, any of whom may grow or diminish in value. For now, though, this should give you something to gnaw over.

Rocket Pops

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Thanks to the enthusiasm of several parties, including my dear wife and a fey little man named Brandon Sheffield, the writing is underway.

I have had three false starts over the last year or so; this one is for real. As of this post I have completed one chapter, begun a second, and roughly mapped out the book’s structure. It gets hazier the further back it goes, but that just leaves room for improvisation. Proximity brings clarity, and as long as you know where you’re going you know what signs to watch for.

The big question at present, now that I have begun this support project, is what to call the darned thing. My wife and I, she in the role of editor, have been rolling around several big, tawdry B-movie titles. Brain Freeze! Jumped! Cooler!

Right now I’m working with The Under-Kings. I think this may be the one. We’ll see if the writing presents me anything better. It’s usually a mistake to pretend that one is in control of a creative project. Anything of value is in total control of you.

As for you, dear reader: if I am to complete this book in any reasonable time, I will need your help. I work freelance; I get paid when I get published — or more probably, several months later. If I’m going to support my family, I need to keep working. If I’m going to write this book, I need to focus on it to the exclusion of all other work. So I prevail upon you, the enthusiastic.

I am going to set up various donation schemes, associated with some wild thank-you gifts. I want you all to feel a part of the process. This novel is going to be funny, scary, confusing, and quite probably good. I can say this because I have read it — both on paper and in my own head.

For now, there’s a PayPal button over to the left. Have at it, if you are inclined! With our next update, we will outline a greater scheme for you all.

You can read more about this project on the about page.