Okay, it’s enough. I’ve watched my last screaming progressive video. It’s not fun anymore. And I’m good with the Trump cabinet picks and his agenda. Honestly, that’s his problem. He’s responsible for avoiding weasels and psychopaths. That’s what we hired him to do. Every once in a while it will be interesting to note how that’s all going.
I will admit I’m watching very intently the madness in Ukraine. Apparently, the neo-cons running the war have decided to start WW III before they are physically dragged out of office. And, I assume this is also the case for the Pentagon. So, I can’t say I’m done with Ukraine because it’s not done with us yet. But I restrict my attention to a few daily checks on some YouTube channels that cover the war. So, until the mushroom clouds blossom over Dunwich I’ll take a watch and wait approach. Which is about as much as I can logically hope to do.
So, what does that leave for me? Well, as I’ve been reminded, I’m supposed to finish up that book. And, lo and behold, I have been doing some work. I put together a list of changes and additions to round it up and I’m rereading it to find any weaknesses or mistakes in the story. And I’ve recognized a few. Connors’ role in Iraq needs to be clarified and justified. After all mega-billionaires aren’t usually strolling around forward operating bases of a war zone as if it were Silicon Valley.
And I have to inject more personality into my main characters. This means I have to invent scenarios where they interact beyond strategizing how to pick off evil intelligence officers and their goons. And, heaven help me, I might even have a relationship break out between Connors and Grace. It would tie up some loose ends and add to the emotional interest in the story. And so, I’m looking at those things. But what I’ve noticed is that when you start a story by the braille method (that is, without a somewhat detailed outline) it’s hard to tack an outline onto it once it’s gotten beyond a certain point. It’s like an off-the-rack suit that doesn’t quite fit in a bunch of places. Trying to make it fit requires a lot of alterations. And some of these alterations feel awkward or rub the author the wrong way because they seem antithetical to the way you originally saw a character or an event. It’s a very uncomfortable activity.
What it’s made me aware of is that starting a story with a good road map ahead of time is an invaluable asset to finishing the story. So, the lazy lout in me says, “Well, put this story aside and start another one from scratch with a good outline. But I know myself too well. That’s terrible advice. What needs to be done is to bite the bullet and put in the work and wrestle with the problems until they’re resolved in a creatively satisfying way. So that’s what I’m going to try to do.
What it will require me to do is put a few hours in every morning to get it done. And that’s few hours every morning that won’t be devoted to reading the news and political stuff. Well, I guess the world will survive with me at half strength. You folks may notice a certain slackness on the site but I guess it can’t be helped.
Anyway, let’s give it a try.
If it were simple, everyone would be doing it.
Sorta make you envy the authors who can whip a workman like novel by the seeming dozen per year.
I following such author but in the SF genre by the name of Neil Asher. He’s incredibly prolific but every blasted one of them is a attention grabbing nail biter with credible hard science backup. Another author but from the Military genre, F.X. Holden, an Aussie, is the same.
Tom, I don’t envy them but I have great respect for anyone who has both talent and work ethic. My biggest shortcoming is a lack of discipline. I enjoy the simple pleasures of life so thoroughly that it’s very easy for me to put aside work, even work I enjoy, to luxuriate in the experience of just being alive.
“…starting a story with a good road map ahead of time is an invaluable asset to finishing the story.”
Just a quick thought–did Charles Dickens use this approach? I thought that he would write
a chapter or so and get it published in a magazine. So if this is true, what approach did he use? Anyway, good luck with your endeavor and thanks to Tom D for the Neil Asher SF author recommendation..
Neil, the commercial aspect of writing is always a struggle for authors. I’ll have to see if Dickens talked about his “process.” Serializing novels has come back into fashion from time to time. I think I remember Stephen King serialized “The Green Mile.”
Heinlein got his start serializing his stories in the old pulp fiction mags. I believe E E Smith did the same. I loved the pulps. Those and the Big Little Books.
The reality of book selling has been disrupted by Amazon. What it will look like in a few years is a mystery to me. Will it end up like the music industry? Will physical books completely disappear? We’ll have to see.