Wandering up the bunny trail

[pjthompson]

POVs are breeding like rabbits. Once I violated my "no new POVs late in the story" rule with Ramona, it looks like I uncorked the bottle and released the hounds...the genie, that is. Another new POV cropped up in chapter 26 and I suspect at least one more is going to happen before I'm done. At this point, though, anything I can do to keep the story moving forward (albeit, slowly) is a good thing. I'll worry about fixing things later.

And things are going slow. Part of the reason, I suspect, was that the ending of this novel got so complicated I was forced to do a detailed outline in order to tie up all the loose ends. It's killed a lot of the storytelling impetus for me. Or maybe I'm just tired. Or maybe my discipline, which used to be so discipliney, has gone south on permanent vacation.

I would really (really really) like to write a simple, straightforward novel next time. Really. My ideas get so dingdangnabbily complicated, each and every time. But my mind doesn't seem to work that way. Except for my "short stories." Most of those have novelistic pretensions, but I call them short stories because they don't have the infernal complications my longer work tends to have. Maybe I should pursue that. Maybe there are some simple, straightforward novels there. I'd probably finish more.

Or maybe I'm just in the process of re-evaluating who I am as a writer, what I want from this writing game, what I don't want. I know that I am a writer and will always write, I just don't know about the rest of it anymore.

And here's a wonderful post from Justine Larbalestier on writing versus a career in writing. It couldn't have come at a more propitious time for me.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I could be writing this post . . .

[pjthompson]

Hey, I wish you would. It's something that can't be said enough, what with all the people tying themselves in knots over "careers."

[pjthompson]

Oh wait, did you mean mine or Justine's? I just assumed you meant Justine's.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Nope, you and complicated projects.

[pjthompson]

lol - As if to prove my own point, I've just spent two hours doing intensive research for a "short story" that really can't be more than 6k worth of substance and layering in enough worldbuilding for a novel.

[jenstclair.livejournal.com]

"I would really (really really) like to write a simple, straightforward novel next time."

Yeah, me too. And I'd like for the next novel not to take over a year to actually finish, too!

[pjthompson]

I hear you there. I was doing roughly a novel a year there for awhile, but this one keeps stretching and stretching.

[quilzas.livejournal.com]

Oy.. I know exactly where you're coming from. Things tend to spin off with a life of their own once my brain gets working, and then it all seems to turn into a juggling act. Simple just never seems to stay that way.

[pjthompson]

No, *sigh*. I guess one's brain just does complicated or not. It seems to be congenital condition (at least for me).

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

The PoV thing can be a problem... but, like you said, at this point you'd might as well get it out of your system, and then you can go back and try to work around it later if you want to. Maybe you'll find out you just needed to get things straight for yourself, but the reader won't really need it.

[pjthompson]

Maybe. But right now it seems to work. That might not hold up on a reread, so we'll definitely have to see about that!

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Indulge, I say. Write however you need to write to keep the story coming. As you so wisely pointed out, worry about fixing later, if fixing is indeed needed.

[pjthompson]

Yep, I'm indulging. If it's leading me towards farce, then farce is where I'll go. ;-D