Chapter Zero
Over the past couple of weeks, and in no way unconnected to my impending thirtieth, I have been increasing my resolve to start writing fiction again. The Grand Scheme had been to complete a children's novel (yeah, I know) by the time I was thirty, and then after my thirtieth, having done the research, I would begin work on the BFO serious novel that I've had in mind since I was about 24. Needless to say the children's novel is unfinished, and I've not done the research...
Despite the fact that the BFO serious novel has an idea behind it that most people who hear it seem to get excited about, it has ceased to be all that interesting to me. I dare say it will be attempted at some point, I'd just feel incredibly precocious tackling the subject matter write now (which is precocious of me in itself). Luckily, in a fit of despondency, I happened upon a series of ideas that are all within my grasp and will hopefully weave into a complicated but quite artful whole. I happened to notice that some of the articles I'd written for GRW have common elements that point towards the development of a universal idea which will hopefully be enough to build a novel around.
I have gone through the familiar pattern of sketching out chapters, plotlines, characters etc. but whenever I have sat down to... you know... write anything, I have been utterly appalled, both at my immediate lack of skill (I have a hard to live with, and utterly self-defeatist "first draft" expectation of myself) and the fact that I have forgotten the level to which I must acquaint myself with the story I am trying to tell. I have had characters turning up at people's houses only to discover I've no idea what sort of place they have - and to that end, no idea of who my characters are. Happily I am starting to realise that writing about them is an ideal way of finding out. This also allows me to ease up on my need for instant perfection.
I've just completed a rough and ready 1500 words of chapter 1, and have already begun to make decent progress on a variety of elements that ought to help the juices continue to flow. So to speak. In search of a new year's resolution, I shall be attempting 1,000 words a day (or a stiff bit of related reading). I feel more prepared to write a sprawl of rubbish at the moment than I have ever been, and the absolute fear of writing a sprawl of rubbish has kept me from writing for too long.
Despite the fact that the BFO serious novel has an idea behind it that most people who hear it seem to get excited about, it has ceased to be all that interesting to me. I dare say it will be attempted at some point, I'd just feel incredibly precocious tackling the subject matter write now (which is precocious of me in itself). Luckily, in a fit of despondency, I happened upon a series of ideas that are all within my grasp and will hopefully weave into a complicated but quite artful whole. I happened to notice that some of the articles I'd written for GRW have common elements that point towards the development of a universal idea which will hopefully be enough to build a novel around.
I have gone through the familiar pattern of sketching out chapters, plotlines, characters etc. but whenever I have sat down to... you know... write anything, I have been utterly appalled, both at my immediate lack of skill (I have a hard to live with, and utterly self-defeatist "first draft" expectation of myself) and the fact that I have forgotten the level to which I must acquaint myself with the story I am trying to tell. I have had characters turning up at people's houses only to discover I've no idea what sort of place they have - and to that end, no idea of who my characters are. Happily I am starting to realise that writing about them is an ideal way of finding out. This also allows me to ease up on my need for instant perfection.
I've just completed a rough and ready 1500 words of chapter 1, and have already begun to make decent progress on a variety of elements that ought to help the juices continue to flow. So to speak. In search of a new year's resolution, I shall be attempting 1,000 words a day (or a stiff bit of related reading). I feel more prepared to write a sprawl of rubbish at the moment than I have ever been, and the absolute fear of writing a sprawl of rubbish has kept me from writing for too long.
posted by Hamilton's Brain | 4:44 pm
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