A.M. Jenkins's Blog, page 26

Finished another round of work on the second section, and...

Finished another round of work on the second section, and have moved into the third. At this rate I should be done sometime in 2020, 2030--somewhere in there. They probably won't even have books by then. Everybody will be frantically shoving their opinions at each other via technological devices and nobody will remember what it's like to have a coherent thought that lasts more than a couple of seconds--much less be able to follow someone else's coherent thoughts.

Slowly working my way along, getting the early portion of...

Slowly working my way along, getting the early portion of the ms into first draft shape. I think I'm getting a workable spin on this section (or maybe not, but we'll hope). It seems to be in a good order, and now I'm trying to shape it so it says something and isn't just a buncha pretty words. Now I'm on the last page of it (the section) and am struggling to tie it up with strength and with an idea that can move forward. What do I want the reader to "get" from this part and take with them to ...

I thought I was going to work through an entire section a...

I thought I was going to work through an entire section and get it figured out over the weekend, but life had other plans. I got some of the section done, but right now I can't remember anything I did, so must look it over and try to see where I was and whether it's stupid or not before I can try to proceed.

I didn't get my forced writing time in this morning due to family stuff, but I got some really good advice from the guy running the exit booth at a parking garage. I pulled up and handed h...

Today I took a printout of a section and tried to look at...

Today I took a printout of a section and tried to look at it separately, in order to recognize its main idea. After seeing the way the first section came around nicely and made sense and ended strongly enough to move the story forward, I naturally now feel that this is what I should shoot for with the entire ms. However, today's section would not cooperate. I had it all laid out before me, but couldn't quite see what it wants to be. I think it's important at this point to figure out what the ...

Okay, I think something that would be extremely helpful i...

Okay, I think something that would be extremely helpful is if, while I'm digging into the nitty-gritty details of a page or scene, and while I'm trying to smooth out the series of scenes in a particular section--if while I'm doing all that, I can keep a finger on the pulse of the entire thematic arc, the big main idea of the whole book, then I'll have some direction and focus and not get lost and confused so often.

I read over the first section, and there it was clearly before me--the main ide...

Today I operated under the principle that it's better to ...

Today I operated under the principle that it's better to muck about and get something down on the paper than to do nothing and leave a big hole, when it's the same big hole that's been there since day one and, in all that time, has shown zero initiative in filling itself in.

Am reading Lone Wolf and Cub. Brutal, misogynistic, and yet strangely compelling in its refusal to compromise character.

This is one of those days where I get other stuff done, b...

This is one of those days where I get other stuff done, but not writing. However, I now have 45 minutes or so to squeeze in some work--only I don't know what to do. I'm looking at the ms and can't get my brain to zero in on anything.

Well, I must come up with something. I refuse to let myself get up until I have accomplished at least one small thing. I am chained to this chair until something has been produced, whether it's new, or old stuff moved around, or organizational outlining/notes.

Am inching my way into the tricky part. I have a vague id...

Am inching my way into the tricky part. I have a vague idea for a way to proceed. I don't know if it will work, but since this is the first time I've been able to formulate any kind of approach to this particular spot, it feels like progress.

The main thing I'm trying to do is use the momentum from having a workable draft of the first 50 or so pages. I'm trying to keep a grip on the basic storyline in my head* so I can see how the next few parts of the ms might unfold. Like I said, I don't kno...

Worked on a series of scenes in the former GN, trying to ...

Worked on a series of scenes in the former GN, trying to distill them and get them to flow into each other. It felt like it was going okay, but of course towards the end I started getting confused and losing track of where I was heading and what the point was. I expect this to sort itself out as I keep plugging away at it.

The whole ms is just kinda weird because of the way it's set up. Usually I try to focus a scene on one particular idea, but in this ms scenes are split over pages, with each...

Worked on former GN today. Am formulating and collecting...

Worked on former GN today. Am formulating and collecting ideas about what to do with the swordfighting ms by discussing approaches to plot problems with various writer friends. I was thinking about changing the ms structure re. timelines, but after discussion it hit me that maybe looking at pov changes would be better (alternating pov's?), and then I thought perhaps I'd better back off and think through character again, to get a grip on what everybody wants and whether anybody's story arc we...