I'm making a big transition in the next few days -- moving overseas for an extended stay and starting a new book. In a sense, it's a restart of this blog. I'll be back to where I was in 2007 in terms of the writing process.
I'll be living in Vietnam for about 5 1/2 months, and most of my energy for weeks has been focused on preparing for that. And I expect a lot of energy focused on getting set up there for awhile. Plus, I have several once-in-a-lifetime distractions during the stay, including some extended side trips.
But once I am settled and to the extent that I'm not socializing or traveling, I won't have a lot of responsibilities. So I plan to make it a writer's retreat. I've been stewing on this idea for my second novel since last September, sneaking in what research that I can, doing a lot of note-taking and character sketching and so on. I'm not as ready as I wanted to be, but I'm going with the flow. Sometime as soon as possible after the morning of Monday, January 4, after I finish a breakfast of cafe sua da and banh mi op la, I'm going to sit down in a quiet corner of our apartment with my notebook and start drafting the book. One way or another, with the information and skills I have. We'll see what happens. I think I'll be lucky to have it 3/4 drafted before I have to come home.
Stay tuned to see how it goes.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Books read in 2009
As discussed at length at the end of 2008 and 2007, I have a peculiar and rationally inconsistent habit of keeping a list of all the books I read, but only counting them if I finish them. It is therefore a really misleading snapshot of how I spend my reading time -- no short stories unless it was part of a collection I finished, no anthologies I dip into, no literary journals and none of the dozens of books I start and don't complete. Some of those, it wouldn't be fair to count because I just read a few pages, and some of them it's really hard not to finish because I've already invested in 400 pages of time into it but there are another 400 to go.
For example, I foundered this year on Anna Kerenina about half way through, so it's not on my list. I read and loved War and Peace and was glad I did I finished it, but wished I counted for five books on my list. I forced myself to finish A Northern Clemency so I could add it to the list and regretted that much effort. For those reasons, I don't feel bad about counting much shorter books, such as all the S.E. Hinton books I revisited during a nostalgia phase last summer.
I don't have time this year to type out the whole list here -- more later on the reasons for my time crunch -- but I wanted to make a post here, partly to brag and partly to have a consistent record from year to year. My grand total this year is . . . 89.
That's probably the highest total ever, but my lifelong goal is to achieve 2 per week, 104 on the list for the year. I was always one step behind that for most of the year and sprinting not to lose any more ground. But about the middle of October I saw it wasn't going to happen --that I could maybe hit 95 if I kept sprinting -- and I started to coast. I don't anticipate doing any better in 2010 because of a new schedule coming up.
But how about the literary value of the list? There are fewer titles this year that were read to help me with my first novel, since it was really done. There are a few titles related to my second book (more on that later) which I plan to start soon. There is a Napoleonic Wars phase, really starting with The Charterhouse of Parma last year and continuing with War and Peace and a bio of Napoleon this year. There are several biographies, which my wife and read to each other at night. There are the textbooks for the classes I teach. I did count a couple audio books my wife and I listened to. I was reading more poetry at the start of the year and seemed to get focused on other things later in the year.
There a few graphic novels. I was partly inspired by the events in Iran to read Persepolis and partly inspired by The Amazing Adventures of Kavelier and Clay to learn more about comics. Kavelier and Clay was my great discovery this year. I read it twice and have it packed for another trip coming up, and I read a few other Chabon books. I especially loved Wonder Boys. Another new favorite is Middlesex, which I also read twice, and enjoyed The Virgin Suicides.
I read a bunch of dogs that I can't believe were so highly recommended. But I already complained about those enough. So I'll finish up with this short list of other fiction that I particularly enjoyed in the last year, in no particular order, some new books, some new to me.
-Oive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.
-Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Letham
-Miles From Nowhere by Nami Mun
-The Bird Artist by Howard Norman
-Lucky Girls by Nell Freudenberger
-Happy All the Time by Laurie Colwin
-American Woman by Susan Choi
-Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
-Paris Trout by Pete Dexter
-The Book Borrower by Alice Mattison
Well, one more word, for the sake of poetry this time. Blood, Tin, Straw by Sharon Olds. She kicks ass as always.
For example, I foundered this year on Anna Kerenina about half way through, so it's not on my list. I read and loved War and Peace and was glad I did I finished it, but wished I counted for five books on my list. I forced myself to finish A Northern Clemency so I could add it to the list and regretted that much effort. For those reasons, I don't feel bad about counting much shorter books, such as all the S.E. Hinton books I revisited during a nostalgia phase last summer.
I don't have time this year to type out the whole list here -- more later on the reasons for my time crunch -- but I wanted to make a post here, partly to brag and partly to have a consistent record from year to year. My grand total this year is . . . 89.
That's probably the highest total ever, but my lifelong goal is to achieve 2 per week, 104 on the list for the year. I was always one step behind that for most of the year and sprinting not to lose any more ground. But about the middle of October I saw it wasn't going to happen --that I could maybe hit 95 if I kept sprinting -- and I started to coast. I don't anticipate doing any better in 2010 because of a new schedule coming up.
But how about the literary value of the list? There are fewer titles this year that were read to help me with my first novel, since it was really done. There are a few titles related to my second book (more on that later) which I plan to start soon. There is a Napoleonic Wars phase, really starting with The Charterhouse of Parma last year and continuing with War and Peace and a bio of Napoleon this year. There are several biographies, which my wife and read to each other at night. There are the textbooks for the classes I teach. I did count a couple audio books my wife and I listened to. I was reading more poetry at the start of the year and seemed to get focused on other things later in the year.
There a few graphic novels. I was partly inspired by the events in Iran to read Persepolis and partly inspired by The Amazing Adventures of Kavelier and Clay to learn more about comics. Kavelier and Clay was my great discovery this year. I read it twice and have it packed for another trip coming up, and I read a few other Chabon books. I especially loved Wonder Boys. Another new favorite is Middlesex, which I also read twice, and enjoyed The Virgin Suicides.
I read a bunch of dogs that I can't believe were so highly recommended. But I already complained about those enough. So I'll finish up with this short list of other fiction that I particularly enjoyed in the last year, in no particular order, some new books, some new to me.
-Oive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.
-Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Letham
-Miles From Nowhere by Nami Mun
-The Bird Artist by Howard Norman
-Lucky Girls by Nell Freudenberger
-Happy All the Time by Laurie Colwin
-American Woman by Susan Choi
-Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
-Paris Trout by Pete Dexter
-The Book Borrower by Alice Mattison
Well, one more word, for the sake of poetry this time. Blood, Tin, Straw by Sharon Olds. She kicks ass as always.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
The right tools for the job
Dork time.
I took a big step today. After much deliberation, I decided on and purchased the notebook and pens I'll use to draft the next book. 6 weeks in advance, but I couldn't wait. It's one of the few parts of the process that feels good.
The decision is a little more complicated this time because the supplies have to come with me on a plane trip where I am already pushing the weight limits for luggage. This much notebook paper means two fewer novels I can bring with me to read. They have paper where I'm going of course, but I want to have just the perfect thing, and I can't be sure they have that.
Actually I will have to find something else when I get there. The notebook is 3-subject, 200 pp., college ruled, and I required about twice that much paper on the first draft of my other novel. But I'll have a couple months of writing before I have to cross that bridge.
The spiral is heavy duty so I can flip it open and write on the backs of sheets comfortably, and the cover is heavy duty for long wear. The spiral has a nylon cover sewn over it for less mess, and there's a little loop sewn in to hold my pen! A few pockets are in the dividers, though I don't really clutter those up with loose sheets so much, so a few is just right.
When it comes to pens, I've figured out that I prefer fine/.7mm over xfine/.5mm. I've thoughtlessly bought the wrong size a few times. (They always seem to be the ones on sale.) So I've got a package of Uniball fine points that ought to last I don't know how long. They were too expensive to buy back-up packages. The notebook was too expensive, too. But you have to have the right tools for the job.
End dork time.
I took a big step today. After much deliberation, I decided on and purchased the notebook and pens I'll use to draft the next book. 6 weeks in advance, but I couldn't wait. It's one of the few parts of the process that feels good.
The decision is a little more complicated this time because the supplies have to come with me on a plane trip where I am already pushing the weight limits for luggage. This much notebook paper means two fewer novels I can bring with me to read. They have paper where I'm going of course, but I want to have just the perfect thing, and I can't be sure they have that.
Actually I will have to find something else when I get there. The notebook is 3-subject, 200 pp., college ruled, and I required about twice that much paper on the first draft of my other novel. But I'll have a couple months of writing before I have to cross that bridge.
The spiral is heavy duty so I can flip it open and write on the backs of sheets comfortably, and the cover is heavy duty for long wear. The spiral has a nylon cover sewn over it for less mess, and there's a little loop sewn in to hold my pen! A few pockets are in the dividers, though I don't really clutter those up with loose sheets so much, so a few is just right.
When it comes to pens, I've figured out that I prefer fine/.7mm over xfine/.5mm. I've thoughtlessly bought the wrong size a few times. (They always seem to be the ones on sale.) So I've got a package of Uniball fine points that ought to last I don't know how long. They were too expensive to buy back-up packages. The notebook was too expensive, too. But you have to have the right tools for the job.
End dork time.
Friday, November 13, 2009
First words, second novel
In the last couple months, I've been doing a lot of thinking about and note taking for my next book, and today I put down a few words for the first time. Oh, that felt good.
For the most part, I refrain from writing (a strategy I've written about before -- basically, I'm saving the mojo until the time is right) though the urge is strong. I do various kinds of prep work instead. Brainstorming exercises, research, character notes. Hopefully I'll get to the point where I can outline it some before I start.
Doing some research today, there were a few details I wanted to capture, but I wanted to get them in context to show how I'll use those kinds of details. So I indulged by letting myself slip into the voice of the character giving these details -- which are part of the backstory -- in narrative. It's a hell of a lot more fun than rewriting. Or searching for agents for my first book.
I'm doing all this prep work in anticipating of starting to draft the book shortly after the start of the new year. I'll have a big change in my schedule and environment then which I think will allow regular intense focus on writing a new book.
Probably not a lot of posting here until then -- all the work is pretty mundane -- but the few minutes of writing I did today seemed noteworthy.
For the most part, I refrain from writing (a strategy I've written about before -- basically, I'm saving the mojo until the time is right) though the urge is strong. I do various kinds of prep work instead. Brainstorming exercises, research, character notes. Hopefully I'll get to the point where I can outline it some before I start.
Doing some research today, there were a few details I wanted to capture, but I wanted to get them in context to show how I'll use those kinds of details. So I indulged by letting myself slip into the voice of the character giving these details -- which are part of the backstory -- in narrative. It's a hell of a lot more fun than rewriting. Or searching for agents for my first book.
I'm doing all this prep work in anticipating of starting to draft the book shortly after the start of the new year. I'll have a big change in my schedule and environment then which I think will allow regular intense focus on writing a new book.
Probably not a lot of posting here until then -- all the work is pretty mundane -- but the few minutes of writing I did today seemed noteworthy.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
More reading than writing
It's been a week or two of not much progress on the book. I've been paying attention to other responsibilities and waiting to hear from a couple readers.
I got to the Brooklyn Book Festival last Sunday, which was a lot of fun, and came home with a pile of reading -- mostly journals but a few books from the small presses I've been interested in. I've been reading all that and a ton of other stuff lately, still stewing on the possibilities for my second novel. (Actually, on the drive home I got another intriguing idea for a book totally different from the one I've been stewing on, so that's going to be a problem.)
I've been getting out to some readings, including one last night by my friend Tim Parrish, author of Red Stick Men and of another book that so far the publishing world hasn't got hep to. (Come on publishing world. WTF?) Congrats to Alice Mattison and the other organizers of the Ordinary Evening Reading Series. It's a very cool New Haven event.
I just got word that I'll be giving a reading next month at an event organized by The New Haven Review. Watch this space for more detail.
I got to the Brooklyn Book Festival last Sunday, which was a lot of fun, and came home with a pile of reading -- mostly journals but a few books from the small presses I've been interested in. I've been reading all that and a ton of other stuff lately, still stewing on the possibilities for my second novel. (Actually, on the drive home I got another intriguing idea for a book totally different from the one I've been stewing on, so that's going to be a problem.)
I've been getting out to some readings, including one last night by my friend Tim Parrish, author of Red Stick Men and of another book that so far the publishing world hasn't got hep to. (Come on publishing world. WTF?) Congrats to Alice Mattison and the other organizers of the Ordinary Evening Reading Series. It's a very cool New Haven event.
I just got word that I'll be giving a reading next month at an event organized by The New Haven Review. Watch this space for more detail.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Back to graduate school
No, not really. But I have been doing some reading that reminds me of being in graduate school -- back when I spent a lot more time trying to understand what Derrida was talking about.
This is prompted by thinking a lot about possibilities for my second novel. (I have a goal of starting a new project shortly after the start of the year to coincide with another big change in my work schedule.) And that thinking has led me to revisiting some of the literary theory I used to spend so much time with. Or, more accurately, to the theory that wasn't in vogue then and got skipped over or very aggressively dismissed. Like people wouldn't talk to you in the hallway if they thought you were curious about the wrong stuff.
Or, even more accurately, not literary theory so much as literary criticism. I'm trying to lay my hands on good examples of close reading of literature. People spend so much time articulating and defending ways of reading, that it's hard to get to the reading itself, never mind wading through the specialist's vocabulary (presuming that the writer actually intends anything intelligible, which I think it's legitimate to wonder about sometimes.)
I'm interested in what I'll call, until I better educate myself and figure out who has already discussed this, a classical rhetorical reading of literature--an analysis of how a novel achieve it's effect on the reader. What are the moves that a novel makes to create its effects? Maybe I'm looking for more of the kind of insight I got reading James Wood's How Fiction Works, but different. His other books were too thematically oriented to satisfy this interest.
How all of this relates to any novel I may write, it's hard to describe. I'll let you know when I figure it out.
So, I have a pile of books from the library from a lot of old-timers. I'm digging I.A. Richards and Leslie Fiedler. I'm intrigued by the thesis that Andre Brink proposes about self-consciousness about language in the novel as a form, but I don't see it in the examples he draws out. I get that the novels he surveys have play with language as part of their plot or theme, but I don't see how the novels are themselves self-conscious. So, I'm not yet finding what I'm looking for. Maybe when I start this Wayne Booth book, The Rhetoric of Fiction.
Additional reading note: I've been up late reading Dan Chaon's You Remind Me of Me and am enjoying it a lot. It has certain superficial elements in common with my book, so I'm studying it to see he achieves his effects and what I can learn from it.
This is prompted by thinking a lot about possibilities for my second novel. (I have a goal of starting a new project shortly after the start of the year to coincide with another big change in my work schedule.) And that thinking has led me to revisiting some of the literary theory I used to spend so much time with. Or, more accurately, to the theory that wasn't in vogue then and got skipped over or very aggressively dismissed. Like people wouldn't talk to you in the hallway if they thought you were curious about the wrong stuff.
Or, even more accurately, not literary theory so much as literary criticism. I'm trying to lay my hands on good examples of close reading of literature. People spend so much time articulating and defending ways of reading, that it's hard to get to the reading itself, never mind wading through the specialist's vocabulary (presuming that the writer actually intends anything intelligible, which I think it's legitimate to wonder about sometimes.)
I'm interested in what I'll call, until I better educate myself and figure out who has already discussed this, a classical rhetorical reading of literature--an analysis of how a novel achieve it's effect on the reader. What are the moves that a novel makes to create its effects? Maybe I'm looking for more of the kind of insight I got reading James Wood's How Fiction Works, but different. His other books were too thematically oriented to satisfy this interest.
How all of this relates to any novel I may write, it's hard to describe. I'll let you know when I figure it out.
So, I have a pile of books from the library from a lot of old-timers. I'm digging I.A. Richards and Leslie Fiedler. I'm intrigued by the thesis that Andre Brink proposes about self-consciousness about language in the novel as a form, but I don't see it in the examples he draws out. I get that the novels he surveys have play with language as part of their plot or theme, but I don't see how the novels are themselves self-conscious. So, I'm not yet finding what I'm looking for. Maybe when I start this Wayne Booth book, The Rhetoric of Fiction.
Additional reading note: I've been up late reading Dan Chaon's You Remind Me of Me and am enjoying it a lot. It has certain superficial elements in common with my book, so I'm studying it to see he achieves his effects and what I can learn from it.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Two new essays out
I have two new essays out on arts/culture/literary websites:
"Decompensate your way to better fiction" on The Millions.
"Film adaptations: Short stories vs. novels" on The New Haven Review.
"Decompensate your way to better fiction" on The Millions.
"Film adaptations: Short stories vs. novels" on The New Haven Review.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Revising Chapter 1
Lots of stuff happening on the "getting out there" front, but the only actual work on the novel has been to start working on Chapter 1. I met with a friend who has some contacts, and she's going to look at this chapter before referring me, so I'm trying to get that as sharp as possible. The work I did last week on the excerpt for my website helped me get keyed in on some of the sentence-level bloat that I can do better on. I continue to be amazed about how much stuff can come out after so many dozens of readings already.
In general, I'm leaning toward revising the book one more time before starting to send it out. I'll decide next week I think.
In general, I'm leaning toward revising the book one more time before starting to send it out. I'll decide next week I think.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
I get a shout out on The Arts Council of Greater New Haven website
In a run-down of cool New Haven writer's websites, I get a shout-out from Bennett Lovett-Graff, publisher of The New Haven Review, and contributor to The Arts Council of Greater New Haven's monthly newspaper.
Thanks Bennett. Those other websites look great, too.
FYI, if you go to the original, you'll see a note about protecting my identity. That's back when I was keeping this blog anonymously.
“Working on a Novel” is a true author’s blog, being the online diary of the trials and tribulations of one writer engaged in the tedium and exhilaration of trying to make out of a sufficient number of words that thing we know as a “novel” — a story that will hang together over the course of several hundred pages. At this author’s site, visitors will see a record of false starts and episodes of writer’s block, as well as rushes of literary inspiration and adrenaline — all familiar to those of us who have always known how much mightier the pen is than the sword — and how much more difficult it is to wield.
Thanks Bennett. Those other websites look great, too.
FYI, if you go to the original, you'll see a note about protecting my identity. That's back when I was keeping this blog anonymously.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Draft query letter up for critique
A draft of my query letter is up for critique at The Public Query Slushpile, a kind of workshop site. Thanks to Rick for running that. Feel free to drop in and add your two cents.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Summary, synopsis, blurb
I've been working a lot on the various iterations of the summary, synopsis, tag line, and query letter meat that I need to start getting the book out there. I knew that writing short is harder than writing long, but this has been even more challenging than I expected.
I think I've got a pretty good longish summary, which is on my newly launched website, www.awishinonehand.net. Let me know what you think of it.
I think I've got a pretty good longish summary, which is on my newly launched website, www.awishinonehand.net. Let me know what you think of it.
Friday, August 28, 2009
What the real work is
Busy busy week tending to the business side of things -- researching and preparing for getting my typescript out there. (The new website should launch next week I think.)
That kind of work interests me and plays to be obsessive nature a little bit, so it's quite easy for me to get into it and not do any real writing. Which is OK for right now. I'm between drafts -- I should let it sit and not work on it. And working on query letters and a plot synopsis and an excerpt to put on the website is a form of working on the writing. Now that I think about it, I should cut myself some slack for god's sake. I've been writing like crazy this week.
I guess I'm feeling anxious because my motives aren't pure. I've been thinking about promotion a lot more than about making the book better.
And I'm feeling anxious because it's starting to sink in that I do need to make the book better. The most recent draft just isn't going to be the last draft. Working on the excerpt is showing me that. Every day I cut a little bit more from that small sample. I'm eager for my readers to get back to me so I can get hustling on the next draft.
That kind of work interests me and plays to be obsessive nature a little bit, so it's quite easy for me to get into it and not do any real writing. Which is OK for right now. I'm between drafts -- I should let it sit and not work on it. And working on query letters and a plot synopsis and an excerpt to put on the website is a form of working on the writing. Now that I think about it, I should cut myself some slack for god's sake. I've been writing like crazy this week.
I guess I'm feeling anxious because my motives aren't pure. I've been thinking about promotion a lot more than about making the book better.
And I'm feeling anxious because it's starting to sink in that I do need to make the book better. The most recent draft just isn't going to be the last draft. Working on the excerpt is showing me that. Every day I cut a little bit more from that small sample. I'm eager for my readers to get back to me so I can get hustling on the next draft.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Amazing what can be cut
I've been working on building a website about myself and the book (to be announced here when it's finished), and one thing I did today was to pull out some pages of my book for an excerpt to include on the site. As I was looking it over, I was amazed at how much I kept finding to tighten it. This was an excerpt of about 750 words, a key moment that establishes some of the basic drama to kick off the story, written early in the process and revised a thousand times since then. And I found about 6 different phrases and half sentences that I now recognize as clutter but somehow never did before. At what point do I trust that I've caught everything that I'm capable of catching and call it done?
One lesson of this exercise is the benefit of reading in short bursts. I think if I had read and edited this section and kept going for a couple of hours, I would have found less and less to cut as I went on. It's really hard to get in and stay in the editing mindset when you're feeling hurried -- when you're thinking less about how it actually reads than how much you want to get it done.
One lesson of this exercise is the benefit of reading in short bursts. I think if I had read and edited this section and kept going for a couple of hours, I would have found less and less to cut as I went on. It's really hard to get in and stay in the editing mindset when you're feeling hurried -- when you're thinking less about how it actually reads than how much you want to get it done.
Monday, August 24, 2009
A new kind of reader--Testing my courage
Three readers have my book right now. The first two are in the same category more or less as previous readers--helpful but impartial friends. The third is my baby sister. She's the first blood relative reading it.
That feels a little bit scary because it's getting closer to the limited number of people who -- however much I insist that it is fiction and not a representation of my family -- will tend to see themselves in the story anyway and perhaps feel not a hundred percent OK with that. My sister was actually born after most of the real-life events that influenced the book, so she won't be offended on her own behalf. And she probably won't be offended at all, because she's sophisticated enough to separate fiction from memoir. But she might feel a little bit protective of other family members who could potentially see themselves in the book.
That possibility, and the more likely problem of how other relatives will react, is something that an author has to tune out or they will end up channeling the voices of self-criticism and self-censorship. I've tried to think of it this way: imagine your mother's most embarrassing secret, the thing that just burns her up to know that you probably told your spouse but that no one ever speaks of. If you're not willing to put that into a story should it be required (not that it always is), then you're not ready to be a writer. If you set out determined to avoid hitting certain sensitive spots, you're on a path to compromising the art at some point.
That's a way to think of it, but life is never so black and white. I guess that's more of a guideline. I'll let readers 1 and 2 judge if I've compromised on the art. In the meantime I'm nervous about what my sister will say. It's like two streams of intimacy crossing courses -- the intimacy of sibling relationship and the intimacy of revealing an artistic work that I've put a lot of myself into. Thus, a whirlpool of anxiety.
That feels a little bit scary because it's getting closer to the limited number of people who -- however much I insist that it is fiction and not a representation of my family -- will tend to see themselves in the story anyway and perhaps feel not a hundred percent OK with that. My sister was actually born after most of the real-life events that influenced the book, so she won't be offended on her own behalf. And she probably won't be offended at all, because she's sophisticated enough to separate fiction from memoir. But she might feel a little bit protective of other family members who could potentially see themselves in the book.
That possibility, and the more likely problem of how other relatives will react, is something that an author has to tune out or they will end up channeling the voices of self-criticism and self-censorship. I've tried to think of it this way: imagine your mother's most embarrassing secret, the thing that just burns her up to know that you probably told your spouse but that no one ever speaks of. If you're not willing to put that into a story should it be required (not that it always is), then you're not ready to be a writer. If you set out determined to avoid hitting certain sensitive spots, you're on a path to compromising the art at some point.
That's a way to think of it, but life is never so black and white. I guess that's more of a guideline. I'll let readers 1 and 2 judge if I've compromised on the art. In the meantime I'm nervous about what my sister will say. It's like two streams of intimacy crossing courses -- the intimacy of sibling relationship and the intimacy of revealing an artistic work that I've put a lot of myself into. Thus, a whirlpool of anxiety.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Excerpting novels for short story publication
Today I'm beginning a new phase. (Or ramping up a new phase anyway -- there aren't really bright lines between each step in the process, so I'm sure I'll be spending a lot more time on previous phases, too.)
I'm starting to work more actively toward the general goal of getting my work out in front of other people. The ultimate goal is publication with the strongest possible distribution of my novel, but the general goal in the short term might include for example opportunities to read aloud, workshops, sharing with friends, developing my query letter, publication of other material (see this recent essay in The New Haven Review for example), and publication of parts of the book.
That last one is what I'm working on today. I've been stewing on how different chapters and even a discarded chapter might work as stand-alone stories that I can submit for publication in literary journals, and today I started working on one. I'm finding out pretty quickly that it's not easy.
First, there's the obvious problem of a chapter referring to events or background established earlier in the book. OK, so now the chapter needs a lot of new exposition to become intelligible.
Two, the drama of a chapter that the reader is experiencing is in large part dependent on the complications that have been introduced earlier. Reading the chapter as something that stands alone, it suddenly feels very flat. The drama has been drained from it because we're missing a lot of information about what pressures the characters are under. In theory, that could be handled with exposition, but the chapter really depends on the reader to feel it, not to be told about it.
Third, is the problem of resolution. Readers of a chapter and a story have different expectations about endings. Obviously, a cliff-hanger is tolerable and even desirable in a chapter but a violation of the compact with the reader in a story. Even when chapters don't have what are commonly called cliff-hangers -- and mine don't I think -- they do have them in small ways. Important things at stake for the character are left as open questions.
Those are just the problems I've figured out for myself so far, but what this suggests to me is that a novel excerpt in many cases doesn't just have to be patched up to make it work as something that stands alone. They have to be rewritten into very different stories with different points. It feels like I'm taking the same characters but having them develop and work on a different set of problems than the chapter does -- that what is important in the chapter is less relevant in the tight timeline of the story.
All of this raises the question of how feasible the whole endeavor is. Of course chapters and short stories are different literary forms, and trying to pass off one as the other is sort of like trying to help your guest visiting from India feel at home by taking them out for sushi since they grew up with Asian food. There may be something in the weave of a given novel that prevents it from becoming anything else without completely unraveling it first.
That's kind of how I felt recently reading an excerpt from a new novel by one of my favorite short story writers -- Lorrie Moore. (She said herself in an interviewer in Believer magazine that when it comes to short stories or novels, "The nature of the idea determines which form or genre it will be in.") She has a new novel coming out in a couple weeks called A Gate At the Stairs and The New Yorker published an excerpt of it earlier this summer as "Childcare." In that form, it was easy to confuse with a short story, and reading it as such felt a little uneven. At times it felt like a novel on slick magazine paper and at other times it felt like a New Yorker story that was pulling its punches. It set up and abandoned relationships with characters that I was intensely interested in, and then the whole thing ended with a thud. I'm taking this as a lesson about the difficulties of excerpting and a sign that the novel will be terrific.
The other thing I'm taking away from my efforts so far is the possibility that the flatness I'm seeing when I read my chapter as a story is a big hint about the chapter being flat. Even with the context of previous chapters to help sustain the chapter in the reader's mind, it may just read that flat still and it may have taken me reading from this different perspective to see it. I don't want to think so, but I'll be looking closely at that, which may send me sliding back like in Chutes and Ladders to a much earlier phase in this process.
Meanwhile, in addition to reading the Lorrie Moore story, I've been hunting around in literary journals for examples of novel excerpts to see how well they stand alone and how they are adapted. It's kind of a specialized literary skill, and I'd appreciate anyone out there letting me know how they have gone about it and how editors respond to it.
I'm starting to work more actively toward the general goal of getting my work out in front of other people. The ultimate goal is publication with the strongest possible distribution of my novel, but the general goal in the short term might include for example opportunities to read aloud, workshops, sharing with friends, developing my query letter, publication of other material (see this recent essay in The New Haven Review for example), and publication of parts of the book.
That last one is what I'm working on today. I've been stewing on how different chapters and even a discarded chapter might work as stand-alone stories that I can submit for publication in literary journals, and today I started working on one. I'm finding out pretty quickly that it's not easy.
First, there's the obvious problem of a chapter referring to events or background established earlier in the book. OK, so now the chapter needs a lot of new exposition to become intelligible.
Two, the drama of a chapter that the reader is experiencing is in large part dependent on the complications that have been introduced earlier. Reading the chapter as something that stands alone, it suddenly feels very flat. The drama has been drained from it because we're missing a lot of information about what pressures the characters are under. In theory, that could be handled with exposition, but the chapter really depends on the reader to feel it, not to be told about it.
Third, is the problem of resolution. Readers of a chapter and a story have different expectations about endings. Obviously, a cliff-hanger is tolerable and even desirable in a chapter but a violation of the compact with the reader in a story. Even when chapters don't have what are commonly called cliff-hangers -- and mine don't I think -- they do have them in small ways. Important things at stake for the character are left as open questions.
Those are just the problems I've figured out for myself so far, but what this suggests to me is that a novel excerpt in many cases doesn't just have to be patched up to make it work as something that stands alone. They have to be rewritten into very different stories with different points. It feels like I'm taking the same characters but having them develop and work on a different set of problems than the chapter does -- that what is important in the chapter is less relevant in the tight timeline of the story.
All of this raises the question of how feasible the whole endeavor is. Of course chapters and short stories are different literary forms, and trying to pass off one as the other is sort of like trying to help your guest visiting from India feel at home by taking them out for sushi since they grew up with Asian food. There may be something in the weave of a given novel that prevents it from becoming anything else without completely unraveling it first.
That's kind of how I felt recently reading an excerpt from a new novel by one of my favorite short story writers -- Lorrie Moore. (She said herself in an interviewer in Believer magazine that when it comes to short stories or novels, "The nature of the idea determines which form or genre it will be in.") She has a new novel coming out in a couple weeks called A Gate At the Stairs and The New Yorker published an excerpt of it earlier this summer as "Childcare." In that form, it was easy to confuse with a short story, and reading it as such felt a little uneven. At times it felt like a novel on slick magazine paper and at other times it felt like a New Yorker story that was pulling its punches. It set up and abandoned relationships with characters that I was intensely interested in, and then the whole thing ended with a thud. I'm taking this as a lesson about the difficulties of excerpting and a sign that the novel will be terrific.
The other thing I'm taking away from my efforts so far is the possibility that the flatness I'm seeing when I read my chapter as a story is a big hint about the chapter being flat. Even with the context of previous chapters to help sustain the chapter in the reader's mind, it may just read that flat still and it may have taken me reading from this different perspective to see it. I don't want to think so, but I'll be looking closely at that, which may send me sliding back like in Chutes and Ladders to a much earlier phase in this process.
Meanwhile, in addition to reading the Lorrie Moore story, I've been hunting around in literary journals for examples of novel excerpts to see how well they stand alone and how they are adapted. It's kind of a specialized literary skill, and I'd appreciate anyone out there letting me know how they have gone about it and how editors respond to it.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Good luck charm
I made the run to the copy shop today and had draft 8 printed out for my next two readers. I delivered one and the other will be tomorrow. When I dropped it off, this reader said he had done this twice before for friends and that one of them was published. I said he was my good luck charm then and that I would rub his belly.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Done. Done?
Today I'm calling an official end to draft 8, which is good news by itself. And I can say that I did the scope of work this summer that I intended in pretty much the timeline I wanted (I'm a couple weeks behind.) which took a lot of discipline and long hours. I feel like I've hardly been outside all summer.
The less enthusiastic way of looking at it is that I wanted to consider this draft the last one before I start sending it out, and now that I'm through it I don't have the confidence that's the right decision. Basically, I feel like there's stuff wrong with the book, but I've lost the ability to find it and deal with it. I need some other perspective.
Which is OK. I can get some. (I'm passing it to a couple readers tomorrow.) I guess I just don't know if it's necessary to wait for their feedback before starting to send it out, because they could possibly confirm my hope that it's ready, or if I definitely should wait because they're going to help me see how much more work it needs.
Alright, a look at the numbers:
-Post-draft depression: Check
-Page count: 316 pp, a decrease of 12, less than I expected based on how it was going in the early drafts. Makes me wonder if I lost some steam on the close line editing as I went on. I definitely had some interruptions that had me taking my eye off the ball.
-Word count: 92,307, a decrease of 4,000. That's like losing 4% more bodyfat after you've already lost a third of your weight. And that's before figuring in new muscle mass (new scenes I added in during this draft.)
Next up . . . I'm not sure. I need to focus on my paying work, so I'll take a few days off at least and probably more. If I'm lucky I'll hear back from one of my readers pretty quickly which will help me make some decisions. I've got some related writing projects I'm thinking about, including developing some of the chapters for submission to journals. Maybe I'll decide to start writing query letters! That would cool. Like I say, it'll be at least a few days before I start to get a handle on what I'll do next.
The less enthusiastic way of looking at it is that I wanted to consider this draft the last one before I start sending it out, and now that I'm through it I don't have the confidence that's the right decision. Basically, I feel like there's stuff wrong with the book, but I've lost the ability to find it and deal with it. I need some other perspective.
Which is OK. I can get some. (I'm passing it to a couple readers tomorrow.) I guess I just don't know if it's necessary to wait for their feedback before starting to send it out, because they could possibly confirm my hope that it's ready, or if I definitely should wait because they're going to help me see how much more work it needs.
Alright, a look at the numbers:
-Post-draft depression: Check
-Page count: 316 pp, a decrease of 12, less than I expected based on how it was going in the early drafts. Makes me wonder if I lost some steam on the close line editing as I went on. I definitely had some interruptions that had me taking my eye off the ball.
-Word count: 92,307, a decrease of 4,000. That's like losing 4% more bodyfat after you've already lost a third of your weight. And that's before figuring in new muscle mass (new scenes I added in during this draft.)
Next up . . . I'm not sure. I need to focus on my paying work, so I'll take a few days off at least and probably more. If I'm lucky I'll hear back from one of my readers pretty quickly which will help me make some decisions. I've got some related writing projects I'm thinking about, including developing some of the chapters for submission to journals. Maybe I'll decide to start writing query letters! That would cool. Like I say, it'll be at least a few days before I start to get a handle on what I'll do next.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Tidy endings
I've been working on the last chapter and the epilogue today and am technically done. (More on the difference between that and actually done a little later.) I worked hard in the earlier drafts to lead up to a complete and satisfying and believable resolution, and I was pretty confident about it, but one of my readers is calling the question.
At issue now is the last effects of the events of the book on my character. He goes through some pretty dramatic events and the immediate conflict gets resolved for him, but having an epilogue at all kind of requires you to talk about all the stuff that doesn't get immediately resolved. Maybe it's the current conventional wisdom about psychology, but readers may expect certain kinds of lasting effects, but for whatever reason this reader wasn't buying what I was selling. Too tidy.
So what I've been doing is trying to rewrite so that it still leads to the same final tidyness but shows more messiness along the way to make it credible. As usual, I'm pretty sure that it's improved, but I'm not so sure it's good enough.
At issue now is the last effects of the events of the book on my character. He goes through some pretty dramatic events and the immediate conflict gets resolved for him, but having an epilogue at all kind of requires you to talk about all the stuff that doesn't get immediately resolved. Maybe it's the current conventional wisdom about psychology, but readers may expect certain kinds of lasting effects, but for whatever reason this reader wasn't buying what I was selling. Too tidy.
So what I've been doing is trying to rewrite so that it still leads to the same final tidyness but shows more messiness along the way to make it credible. As usual, I'm pretty sure that it's improved, but I'm not so sure it's good enough.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Custom book covers
I have to admit that I've started to let myself daydream and even strategize more recently about the publication and marketing part of this process. I was pretty disciplined in the first several drafts, just focusing on the work, but I've started to indulge. As a consquence, I've especially been reading and thinking a lot about alternatives to the traditional publication and marketing models, and today I hit on a fantastic idea all my own, I think.
I got it while reading this post in the Printmag design blog about book cover designs that were nixed before publication. Interesting examples in there. As I was reading, I was mousing over the images wondering if I could save any of them to my harddrive (I couldn't), which got me thinking about all the ways people repurpose digital content from the web. I could imagine fans of these books deciding to print out their own custom covers, kind of like how back in Nokia's heyday, the kids were pimping the clamshell covers of their phones.
What Nokia did in that case was to market the possibility and to sell the gear to do it, and the interchangable phone skin was born. A more recent version of that kind of marketing is how M&Ms allows you to customize the message on the candy and credit card companies let you upload your own images to printed on the cards. It's making money off an impulse as old as kids marking up the paper bag covers to their textbooks. (Have you noticed that you can't mark on the plastic book covers they sell now?)
That's basically my idea -- the publishers, especially those in the print-on-demand business, should look at creative uses of those rejected cover ideas. How cool would I look rocking the subway while reading something with the cover that Chip Kidd really wanted to use? Or one that the author chose? Or a copy of Ulysses with a cover I designed myself?
I'm thinking it could cut down on returns and result in more upselling to hardcover and casewrap, more repeat sales to collectors, and more mulitple unit sales for gifts.
Anyway, that's the kind of thing I dwell on a lot lately. Not exactly good for the work, is it?
I got it while reading this post in the Printmag design blog about book cover designs that were nixed before publication. Interesting examples in there. As I was reading, I was mousing over the images wondering if I could save any of them to my harddrive (I couldn't), which got me thinking about all the ways people repurpose digital content from the web. I could imagine fans of these books deciding to print out their own custom covers, kind of like how back in Nokia's heyday, the kids were pimping the clamshell covers of their phones.
What Nokia did in that case was to market the possibility and to sell the gear to do it, and the interchangable phone skin was born. A more recent version of that kind of marketing is how M&Ms allows you to customize the message on the candy and credit card companies let you upload your own images to printed on the cards. It's making money off an impulse as old as kids marking up the paper bag covers to their textbooks. (Have you noticed that you can't mark on the plastic book covers they sell now?)
That's basically my idea -- the publishers, especially those in the print-on-demand business, should look at creative uses of those rejected cover ideas. How cool would I look rocking the subway while reading something with the cover that Chip Kidd really wanted to use? Or one that the author chose? Or a copy of Ulysses with a cover I designed myself?
I'm thinking it could cut down on returns and result in more upselling to hardcover and casewrap, more repeat sales to collectors, and more mulitple unit sales for gifts.
Anyway, that's the kind of thing I dwell on a lot lately. Not exactly good for the work, is it?
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