I have been working on the same chapter for like two weeks. Well, sort of. The problem is, this chapter is the lead in to the latter part of the book and I keep staring down the line at the end and changing my mind about the approach.
I mean, I know where I’m starting, I know what happens, I even know where I’m going to end up. It’s just… what’s the best order of events to get there? How do I build this so it has the maximum impact? Who can I shoot?
I keep going ‘aha, I’ve figured it out’. Next day, ‘aha! I’ve figured it out!’. Next day… you get the idea.
Yesterday I finally started to write the chapter instead of once again reconsidering my solution from the day before. And then spent all day writing and rewriting the same five hundred words, I tried three different approaches from two different perspectives. And then I started again.
Knowing exactly what you want to achieve is, at times, a pain in the ass.
But I think I knocked it down in the end. So today is going to be about picking up the pieces I left strewn across the battlefield, polishing them up and pretending no one heard the screaming.
Provided I don’t change my mind again. Wish me luck.
* Robert Cormier
Kandace Mavrick
Paul McLaughlan
arkayspark
14/12/2012
And it’s honest unlike most pursuits, because you admit you make mistakes! The thing is with writing your mistakes make your achievements better…and the more adventurous you are the better they become.
Julia
14/12/2012
On my Facebook feed the title ended with “unlike, say, bra” and I was really confused. I am less confused now. ^_^
Writing to me always seems a bit like knitting with multiple colours, where you have all these strands and you think you’re humming along just fine till suddenly everything’s all knotty and there’s cat fur on some of the wool and you have to unpick half your stitches till you’re back at a point where things make sense again.
Hope the scene comes together for you!
Kandace Mavrick
14/12/2012
Heh. Should probably have tweaked that.
I do not knit. I mean, I learned the basics when I was a child but I decided pretty early on I’d be better off sticking to baking where I can change my mind about where I’m headed halfway through and not end up with a hole you can stick an arm through.
Um. But yes. Madness and knots and cat fur and missed stitches and losing your place in the plan and Is this a scarf or a cardigan?. Creative endeavours always seem bound to descend into chaos, but if you’re lucky, somewhere along the road to disaster everything somehow turns out fine 🙂