I would recommend "Il Postino" (The Postman. dir. Michael Radford), a charming, lyrical Italian film about metaphor and poetry. Not exactly about novels but you just might find inspiration.
You might have seen this already but how about viewing it again?
Start re-writing it in first person. If it's already in first person, the start it in third person. Actually, give your protagonist the Cowardly Lion's persona. Or leave it all alone until November.
What I need to do is RUE, or Resist the Urge to Explain (a great acronym cribbed from a book I have on self-editing fiction.) For some reason, I -- and by extension, my characters -- feel like they need to give a whole brain-dump before the story actually starts. This is soul-deadening and momentum-killing. "Show, not tell" is my personal demon, and he was all horns and hellfire yesterday.
I've slept on it, and I'm just going to skip the boring crap and jump right in. If there needs to be a better beginning, I'll figure it out after I get to the end.
Maybe what you need is some crazy enthusiasm. After all, pantsing it is definitely not your speed. You need some energy and a willingness to just give 'er. Jumping in in the middle is a good start. Maybe you don't need to backtrack and put a beginning on at all. Enough will become clear that the opening exposition won't be necessary.
It is funny how courage is contagious. I was willing to give it a pass until I came across my wife typing away on her iPad. There was no way I wasn't in at that point.
7 comments:
How about watching a film?
I would recommend "Il Postino" (The Postman. dir. Michael Radford), a charming, lyrical Italian film about metaphor and poetry. Not exactly about novels but you just might find inspiration.
You might have seen this already but how about viewing it again?
All the best!
Start re-writing it in first person. If it's already in first person, the start it in third person.
Actually, give your protagonist the Cowardly Lion's persona.
Or leave it all alone until November.
What I need to do is RUE, or Resist the Urge to Explain (a great acronym cribbed from a book I have on self-editing fiction.) For some reason, I -- and by extension, my characters -- feel like they need to give a whole brain-dump before the story actually starts. This is soul-deadening and momentum-killing. "Show, not tell" is my personal demon, and he was all horns and hellfire yesterday.
I've slept on it, and I'm just going to skip the boring crap and jump right in. If there needs to be a better beginning, I'll figure it out after I get to the end.
Viewing good films help me a lot in my writing precisely because they show and tell.
Cheers
Maybe what you need is some crazy enthusiasm. After all, pantsing it is definitely not your speed. You need some energy and a willingness to just give 'er. Jumping in in the middle is a good start. Maybe you don't need to backtrack and put a beginning on at all. Enough will become clear that the opening exposition won't be necessary.
It is funny how courage is contagious. I was willing to give it a pass until I came across my wife typing away on her iPad. There was no way I wasn't in at that point.
Typewriter Brigade to the rescue! Who's with me!
Erm...
My warmest commendations for trying to NaNo in the summer: my narrators wouldn't show up (they're too used to November.)
-Lisa Shapter
Word: "Aphia" - one of those Hermes Baby Alphsmarts, of couse
So... off topic question...
how do you do your fauxcasts? Is it just a text file saved as an image?
And advice on writing... Try something new. Like my vignette challenge. Go outside your comfort zone, and you never know who will come knocking...
Wordverif: syndi
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