Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Three Quarters There (Or maybe halfway)

I've managed to get the fifteenth of the original twenty scenes into first draft form and still feel that I am on the course I originally set. The work proceeds apace and with surprisingly little difficulty, which makes me think that I have been using the wrong writing method for the past too-many years.

What is surprising at this point in the story's development is that I am finally starting to see the real story and that is changing subsequent scenes in an unexpected fashion.

Building a story is more than the process of putting down words that describe the characters, scenery, and actions.  Each phrase or sentence is a proposition that lays the groundwork for what follows.  After a while everything you have written restricts and informs the writing that follows.  That's a mechanical description of what takes place, but if you ask me of the wellspring from which the writing flows I'd be hard pressed to answer.

Call it my Muse and, when she decides to take over, the writing seems to take on a life of its own.  It is no longer me telling a story so much as the story making itself known to me.

Thus far I've been writing a running narrative that proceeds more or less chronologically from where I thought the story should start.  At this point I can see that the real action occurs in the latter part of that timeline.  This means that telling the tale as intended would delay giving the reader the kick that they need to continue reading.  From an architectural point of view the story cannot be told as it stands.  Therefore, when I finally get all the words down in the first draft I'll have to once again restructure the scenes so that the pace is more even.

The need to do this was not  unexpected since I knew at the outset that some rearrangement of scenes would be required.  Of course, that will probably mean another draft.

Or two.

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