Tensing up
Just checking in after doing an edit on one of the chapter of the novel. This was just a verb pass, which is becoming a rather standard thing. The short story on which the novel is based was written from one perspective, looking back on a career; but the novel goes chronologically through the same events.
For whatever reason, I still seem to write a lot of it in the past tense, or wose, in a passive voice. But hey, as long as I fix it all before it gets published, it’s all good.
I guess this plays into a dilemma I’ve been having about the novel lately. And by "the novel," I mean the form, not my novel specifically. I guess I’m just having a largely academic debate with myself about what the novel is. I’m reading about two to three chapters of Dickens’ Bleak house now, and that (like my book) is also told by a main narrator (great minds and all), and every so often, his narrator actually refers to the writing down of the information.
But I can’t wrap my head around the motivation for our narrators. This isn’t a diary. It’s a story. I guess, when I pick up a novel written in the first person, my instinct is to know my relationship with the narrator as a reader. Why is he/she telling me this? I don’t even care what the conceit may be as to why this person is addressing me and telling me about events in their lives, just give me something.
This may be why I’m most in love with Chuck’s book Survivor. The guy is in a plane, recording his life story into a tape recorder, and the book is a transcript of that tape. Done. I’m there. And it’s explained within the first page or so. Good. Now let’s get on with it.
But my book doesn’t have that clarity. Not yet anyway. He just… starts talking, and finishes 500ish pages later. Why? Who is he talking to?
I think I understand why I enjoy my book as a reader, but I’m still unclear about why this guy is telling the story. I may never know. I don’t know that it matters. I know I’ve read amazing stories where it is never even considered, just starts and pulls you along.
As for my routine as set out a few posts back, it’s changed a bit, all for the better. I’ve finally gotten out of my funk, and my days almost immediately returned to getting up early (7-8 a.m.), heading to the gym, and then reading, writing, eating, etc., all day, then watch some TV, read what i worked on a bit more, then crash.
Another huge help is that I started a new program to keep me in line, whereby I invited a bunch of people to read the book in installments. Every Wednesday and Saturday, they get to read a chapter, until we all hit The End. Now, this would have been mildly successful if I kept the group down to a small pocket of friends, but to apply some pressure, I opened it up to people back home on the east coast, a large group of friends, mentors, people I respect, etc., etc.
And, man, if that didn’t do the trick. Truth be told, I’m not really that far ahead of them, and that scares the hell out of me, so I’v been giving the book more time per day than I ever did prior to doing that.
So, if you read this site, we know each other, or you’re just like, "what gives? Why aren’t I getting a chance to read the book now?", just let me know and we’ll see what happens.
Not sure what the funk was all about, but it seems like everything is firing on all cylinders again. Still need a job, but we’ll get there. One thing at a time…
