The reasons for this blog: 1. To provide basic author information for students, teachers, librarians, etc. (Please see sidebar) 2. I think out loud a lot as I work through writing projects, and I'm trying to dump most of those thoughts here rather than on my friends.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

A few days ago I was uneasy about feeling that I had a grip on where I was going and what I was doing with the former GN. Now I feel better because I dug into the middle and am utterly confused again. I'm wandering around the pages, writing a little, losing track of what I'm doing, moving things around to try to pull them together, then losing track again and writing a little more. It's an utter mess.

I was planning to work on the sample today, but Tyson and I went for a long walk, and while we were out I realized that the middle of the former GN isn't just plot points, it also has some important jobs to do. One is to start setting the reader up to not freak out later when Helen leaves her baby. Another is to clarify different kinds of happiness (continuous low-level contentment vs. risk/uncertainty with spikes of great joy) and perhaps (?) to set up the compromises or losses that come with choosing one over the other. Another is to tie this happiness idea in with the sea, because the book opens with the sea and ends with the sea (excluding framework), and the sea needs to come in again here in the middle where important characters choose to leave on risky voyages.

So I'm massively at sea myself as of today, but I figure at some point it's bound to work itself out. I just have to keep hammering away at it for long enough--and also to set it aside sometimes, so the back of my mind gets a chance to do its own hammering.

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