If you’ve read the blog entries from the end of 2014 and the start of 2015, you know about the catastrophe that was my first stab at this novel. I got the first part (1977) written, which wasn’t all that impressive an accomplishment because I was basically just word processing it from a previous printed draft (Word file lost in a hard drive crash).
Then when I moved into uncharted territory with the 1982 section, it went directly to hell. From this I learned a few things.
First, I now believe it was a mistake to try to write another novel right after finishing Deep Mist. I’m sure the pros, the women and men who make an actual living at this novel thing, start a new one the moment they finish the old one. Evidently that doesn’t work so well for me. Good thing I have a day job.
Second, I believe it was a mistake to try to write without the structure and goal-setting provided by National Novel Writing Month. More on that in a minute.
Third, I believe it was a mistake to treat the high school part the way I did the grade school part. Several things in the first section (particularly the incident between the bully and the Dingleberry) are based on my actual grade school memories. Not literal recreations, but at least tied to my past.
I couldn’t and can’t do the same with part two. I find that I don’t remember my high school years particularly clearly, and what I do remember wasn’t good (though at the same time it wasn’t bad in a fun, basis-for-fiction way). I liked some of the classes. I liked some of the teachers. I started a relationship that grew into a marriage that’s at 32 years and counting. Beyond that, my personal background is almost completely useless.
There things stood in January 2015, when the entries in this blog peter out. Since then, two Novel Writing Months have passed. In November 2015 I gave it another try. And failed again.
That time I learned a new lesson: don’t mindlessly obey writing tips from other authors. I’d been reading a lot of advice from folks who swore that the best way to create something worth reading was to let it develop organically. Begin with some characters and a vague idea of the path they’ll tread, and let the story grow from there just like in real life.
Nope. That may work for some writers (so if it works for you, then good on ya). Absolutely not for me. When I wrote Deep Mist, I didn’t plan out every little step in advance. But I did have a rough outline to keep me on track. The writing process took some twists and turns, and those were (more often than not) fun. But with almost no structure, I made almost no progress. And what “progress” I did manage to make was mostly crap.
For example, part two features a scene where the main characters play pool. All the novel needed at the start of this section was a brief “the characters played pool, talked for awhile, and then something interesting happened.” But letting it “grow organically” turned into an amazingly dull account of every topic discussed and every twist and turn in the (completely irrelevant to the story) pool games. That might be good for a particularly neurotic screenwriter, but it was pure death for a novelist.
And so after a few days I gave up.
Fast forward past the work stress and depression that prevented me from even getting a toe hold in 2016.
This year I’ve made a firm commitment to National Novel Writing Month. And better yet, I’ve got an outline of the entire thing (parts two and three) from beginning to end. Toward the end of October I got the plot pinned down (naturally leaving some flexibility in case it takes different turns while I’m writing). I also deleted the bad stuff from the 3000-some words of part two that I’d already written.
Today I took a sick day in part because I genuinely didn’t feel well and in part so I could hit the ground running on this project. It’s off to a great start. The outline is working wonders for my writing. I’m loving the feeling of writing fiction again, and I’m even loving my obsession with getting a good daily word count.
And that, dear reader, I’ll spare you this time around. Before I started this entry, I went back and re-read the stuff from 2014. I was genuinely awestruck at how relentlessly tedious all my fussing about word counts was. This time around blog entries will cover locations in the story, general good day / bad day impressions, and anything I think might genuinely be of interest.
Mind you, I’m still going to obsess about word counts. I’m just not going to ask you to put up with it.
In that spirit, let me say that Day One went quite well. I started by adding a couple of bits to part one, things that I needed to establish early so I could come back to them later. Once that was in place, I picked up part two right where I left it two years ago (post crap cutting). Donald and Danny had just arrived at the King Henry pool hall. By the end of the day I got all the way through the pool hall scene and the set-up for the next section, which I’ll start tomorrow.
By the way, King Henry’s is one fragment actually based on my high school years. The name of the spot was King Louie’s, but otherwise it was quite similar to its fictional relative. The real place has been dead for years. Johnson County built a history museum in its gutted corpse.
One final note: I’m pleased with the cover graphic I came up with this time around. The photo is of the real Hangman’s Bridge in Hays, Kansas.
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