Crawling through a story

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I'm still struggling with the first section of The Next Novel. Putting scenes under a microscope, I realize how much I've left unsaid — unimagined.

How exactly do they get into the city? By what route?
Do they need papers?
What are they wearing?
What are they seeing, experiencing, feeling?
Where will they stay the night?
How will they lock up their things?
What about the donkey! Doesn't she need food and water?

On one level the revision process has to do with the big picture: the movement of energy from one scene to another. On another level it has to do with the little picture, the microscopic view, with bringing scenes to life through detail. Both are the work of the 3rd draft.

I often think of Ariel Gore's summation of the writing process: lather and rinse, lather and rinse. I'm at a lather stage, but I wish it were that easy. It feels, instead, like crawling through a story, groping in the dark. It can be painstaking, and often, for me, requires quite a bit of research. It's slow going — but then, as I've said many times before, beginnings are the hardest.

Talking to Book Clubs: Skype challenges

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I love talking to book clubs, and the internet has made virtual meets possible, through Skype. However, I find that there are often problems with Skype: the screen goes black, or freezes. Sometimes I can hear, but not see. At other times I can see, but not hear, and often there is a lag in the communication, or annoying warbling gaps. It reminds me of talking on the old one-way radios we used in the artic thirty years ago.

I presume that these problems have to do with the quality of the Net connection—its speed and width—and possibly with the computers themselves.

I'm pleased that talking with the wonderful Mont-Tremblant Bookmarks Book Club last night, we came up with a solution. Here's what I suggest:

1) Plan on Skype but have on hand, as well, a telephone with a speaker-phone feature.

2) Connect with Skype. If (when) it proves frustrating, turn off the sound on the computer and telephone, instead. That way, you are talking over speaker-phone, but you can also see each other, which is nice. 

In short: it works.

The Club asked how to structure the hour that we had scheduled. I suggested that they each come up with a question (or two), and come to the screen one by one. This was wonderful--I got to meet each member one-on-one (with the others watching), and their questions were excellent. The hour flew by!

The next time I do this, I will see if I can move the little Skype image of myself to the upper corner of the screen so that I'm not always looking down to check if I'm in view. (Better to be looking up.) I will also use my hands-free telephone mike so that I have more freedom of movement.

Digging deep: the 3rd draft

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I imagined that I could write the 3rd draft of The Next Novel this summer, but I forgot how difficult the 3rd draft can be: it digs deep. I imagine that the 4th and 5th drafts will be on the down-hill slope, but for now, just starting on the 3rd, it's all up-hill.

It's a little confusing knowing how to proceed. Dan wants me to take my time on the first section. It's only 40 pages, but it's the most important part of the novel. Everything that happens comes out of these pages.

I need a plan. Because so much has to be re-visioned (re-imagined), I decided to retype it, rewriting as I go. I'm aiming to double the length, and then edit, cutting it back. Could I finish this section this month?

I began this morning setting out 10 pages. I had no way of knowing how many pages I might get through in a day. I hoped it would be more, but I thought 10 pages a fair estimate.

I got through 3 and 1/2: at this pace, the 479-page MS will take almost 7 months.

Beginnings are always the hardest.

"Right Place, Right Time" — my father's book

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I'm terribly pleased with the book I put together (through lulu.com) of my father's wonderful stories and essays.

It's a 60-page trade paperback, and even with taxes and handling the 20 books I ordered came in at around $6 U.S. a copy. I didn't choose to make my father's book public, or to offer it for sale on-line and give it an ISBN number, etc., but all these would have been possible.

It took some fiddling to get it right (especially the cover images), but now that I have the hang of it, I'm dying to do more.

I could get addicted to self-publishing!

Post-conference highs (and lows)

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I've been negligent, not reporting in. Usually that means that there's too much to say. I'll begin in brief:

Editor Dan read my manuscript. He did not say "It's perfect." He raises the bar high (and that's what I want from him), but all the while I'm inwardly groaning, wanting to play. I feel that way now — but once I'm in the thick of it, that will be where I want to be.

In preparation for rewriting The Next Novel, began rereading Mistress of the Sun: I could so easily take a pencil to it!

I went to The Writers' Union of Canada AGM in Ottawa: it was fantastic. If you are a published Canadian writer, and not a member, I urge you to join. TWUC does important work, and it also offers benefits.

Some time ago I posted advice to a newly-published author (here). I advised him to join PLR (Public Lending Right), but at the time I didn't even know about Access Copyright. I was late signing up with PLR: this oversight cost me over a thousand dollars, but failing to join Access Copyright at least doubles that. I'm chagrined. Don't make my mistake!

I'm putting together a Lulu.com book of my father's writing, hoping to get it "published" before Dan's edit arrives. It's frustrating living with slow and often faulty internet, but the book is almost there.

Of course, with all this, I'm frittering time looking into new and different ways to create yet another blog (for family travel) and anxiously awaiting my iPad, which I just learned will not arrive until mid-month. (Just as well.) 

More anon ... .