Daily Word Count: 3,752
Cumulative Words Written: 33,350
Total Words Discarded: 5,100
Total Chapters Drafted: 14
Time Spent Writing Today: 5 hours
Novel craft isn’t linear. I always know how a book ends, but I don’t outline. Plot shifts and morphs, almost like the book breathes life into itself, into me.
I hit walls during the creation phase of novel craft.
At almost 30,000 words, I was overdue for a snag. Monday and Tuesday, while I practiced buinho weaving and hung with the other residents, my mind was a smelly soup of ideas, characters, twists. I couldn’t convince myself anything had a point, and I almost scrapped my entire 30,000 words.
As a novelist, it’s important to know when to step back. Ponder. Switch up.
Numerous voices compete for precedence. My head is so loud, I don’t always know how to listen. Although I felt guilty for going to the beach yesterday, I spent time alone. I wandered abandoned stretches of copper sand, and I thought hard about what I’m trying to say.
Last night, I finally slept through a night, more sleep than I’ve gotten in over a week. I woke up convinced a specific voice led me to the right solution, a little-used storytelling device deployed in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Part of the novel will introduce characters, the other part will weave their stories together into one tumultuous thread.
I may switch-up again. And again.
Sheer creation is a messy orgy of trial-and-error. It’s okay to have NO IDEA what’s happening. Let the characters come and go, take over the story and recede. Be daring. Do something nonsensical, edgy, wrong. Throw away every non-essential word, even if it’s most of them.
Disorder, even confusion, is essential to create.
To follow my residency at Buinho Creative Hub from the beginning, CLICK HERE and read forward.
7 Comments
Got mussels yesterday morning, then clams on the way home. More clams this morning. Writing has taken a back seat this week. Tides are good.
You have your priorities in order. 🙂
I still feel twingey when I don’t write. Scribbling in the journal only counts a very little bit.
I don’t count these posts or journaling in my daily word count.
Oh. And I’ll have an essay for you to read when you get back.
Send it now. I’m reading every day.
It’s not done yet. Editor has it. She’s doing family stuff in the midwest; not sure when I’ll be finished with it. But I will send it for sure. It’s kind of a departure for me.
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