And then there are the things you write that aren't necessarily poorly written...but you kind of wonder how on earth you wound up going there. How did my comic caper novel wind up veering into a drama? Wait, my princess story has dwarves now? (That actually worked really, really well. Dwarf as a dentist? Don't think it's been done!) That scene with the guy talking to the girl that somehow became incredibly awkward? Yeah. Some days, the story just waltzes away from you.
And some day, the story doesn't waltz, it stomps away and sulks in the corner. That's where I am right now. I've been struggling to get more than three words written on this story. Per day. Possibly per week. And the really sad thing is that the kids I teach in my Sunday school are adorably faithful about asking me, "What comes next? Have you written any more?" They get disjointed synopses. They get bare snippets. And they keep asking for more. I think it's partly because I have promised, on my word as a Sunday school teacher, that I will let them read it. If it's ever finished.
I really like this story. I'm working on my second draft, seeking to expand, to better characterize, to remove plot holes. I have the plot worked out; I have the filling material for the holes on my mental shelf; I have a more-or-less idea of how characterization will improve. (Yeah, it's a little more hit and miss...) And somehow, I get far more stuck on this draft than I did on the first! Right now, I am trying to write a ballad for the Bard to recite. I have a verse and a half. I need at least three. And it doesn't help that I gave myself a kooky rhyming meter to work within. It's got to tell a story, and it's got to be a halfway decent poem, and it's got to fit the Bard's personality.
I must be out of my mind.
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