Tag Archives: narrative

Fighting the Fear – Day 160

Just a quick post here. Got some writing in today, which was a good thing because I’ll be swamped for the next week (or more). On the one hand, things are really coming together story-wise, though I do see some … Continue reading

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Drafting Success – Day 148

Found myself lost in a double-entrendre this weekend. As I was rewriting, I literally got the feeling of “drafting”, i.e. being pulled along by the vehicle in front. So instead of banging out, say 1,500 words in an hour, I … Continue reading

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Refilling the Well…

Hey all,

Still here — just refilling the well a little bit. Although I intentionally stopped writing for a few days, I’ve had a number of questions running through my head as of late about the book. I’ve mentioned before I’m not sure the tension is where it should be, so I’m trying to work out how to fix that. Continue reading

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Day 34 – Strange Days

Strange day today — actually broke up my hour into three parts. I don’t recommend it. I was lucky today that I had a fairly clear bead on what I wanted to write, but if I was confused at all, it would have been a very slow, inefficient day getting back into the groove each time. But starting and stopping was beyond my control, and it all worked out, so I’m not complaining… Continue reading

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Day 13 – Cannonball

I got my hour in early today – well, relatively early. Before evening. I’m feeling great — I actually want to keep writing, even after the buzzer has gone. I take that to be a good sign.

I’m still trying to play with the style a bit — I’m leaning towards a bit of a more journalistic style, kind of like The New Journalism style in Tom Wolfe’s book that Duncan Weller was telling me about. I haven’t actually read the book yet, but I feel that I have a sense of that style already, having read some of Wolfe’s stuff as well as Hunter S. Thompson. The Great Gatsby, I think, could be put into that genre as well, at least as a forerunner. After all, who is Nick Carraway but a narrator reporting on someone else’s story? I’m certain it wasn’t Fitzgerald’s intention to invent The New Journalism, but echoes are there nonetheless. Continue reading

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Day 12 – You’ve Got Mail

Another long narrative passage, though I did get a nice bit of dialogue in that I’m pretty sure will be in the final version pretty much intact. That’s saying something — a lot of this is really just laying down a foundation to build up the story afterwards. I’m developing characters, plot, and themes as I go, so I’m expecting that 99% of what I write right now will be extensively reworked. Continue reading

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Day 8 – A Room with a View

I’ve switched gears nicely I think, combining a nice bit of narrative with a good amount of dialogue. I managed to keep the same voice going, and I’m still liking the style, so that’s a good thing. It is a more natural way for me to write, I think, except that I’m not entirely convinced that it conveys the meaning that I want it too. I still have to work on beefing up some of the details — the style needs a bit more refining, I guess is what I’m saying. But that will come as I keep banging away.

Bit of a long scene again today — I’m actually not even finished with it yet. The plot still hasn’t moved a whole lot, though tomorrow it will certainly pick up when the protaganist realizes a very major error that he’s made… Continue reading

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Day 4 – The Apartment Song

Tom Petty - The Apartment SongAnother bit of a struggle today, though again not affecting my output. Developed a bit more of the main character while the “second” main character spent most of the time sitting on a couch in an apartment, where today’s scene took place.

I’ve been concentrating on ensuring there is plenty of dialogue — that’s one of the main points that Miriam Toews mentioned in her workshop. Too much narrative, not enough dialogue kills a story. However I’m suspecting that I am leaving out too much information by not narrating enough… Continue reading

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