33K and holding
Okay, so I didn't write that much during my first week working at the Really Big Coffee Company. Actually, I did get some writing done—I'm back to writing on lined tablets like I did for the first two novels—but only half of it was transcribed into the computer.
The other half is a new story line/character. Denise, Arne's daughter from his first marriage, is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University where Johnny, Arne's youngest son from his second marriage, goes for his freshman and sophomore years. Yet, back when Arne first went AWOL from his second marriage, Denise had only just started at the University.
The piece I wrote was Denise discovering her father in a small, quaint, touristy town on the opposite bank of the Hudson River. Arne is on his way away from New York City, away from the serial killer his been living with and who he recently killed in a fight for his life.
The problem is: The stuff I've been writing about Johnny occurs nine to fifteen years later. This means it has too occur earlier in the book, but that changes the structure I've been working out in my head. This isn't a major problem, just an inconvenience considering the timeline of the entire novel.
Yet, the timeline is a major concern as it starts when Arne is five years old and his parents and older sister die. It ends when Arne and Johnny meet twenty years after Arne supposedly commits suicide. Johnny is nine when Arne supposedly jumps off the ferry. He is twenty-nine when they meet.
Arne is developing into a problem. When I first conceived the story Arne was my age when he ran away, not resurfacing until twenty years in the future. Although I am in a sense a "futurist", I didn't to have to carry the narrative into an unknown time. As a result, I moved Arne's age back so that he could leave twenty years before now, give or take a couple of years. This way Johnny is attending school in the Nineties and finding his father in the present time.
Also, each character's narratives are written in first person because I'm interested in how they react to each other. In Denise and Johnny's case, I want to get down inside them and see how they react to the world their father creates to meet his psychological needs. In Arne's case, I want him imagining he's in control of his world, while at the same time everything around his is totally screwed up because of his skewed world-view.
I suppose once I get everything written and layed out is some sense of order the story will make sense, but right now with each character going off in their own direction is getting a bit confusing. And, I suppose I might consider writing each character's story then piece the work together, sort of like someone might make a quilt.
The other half is a new story line/character. Denise, Arne's daughter from his first marriage, is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University where Johnny, Arne's youngest son from his second marriage, goes for his freshman and sophomore years. Yet, back when Arne first went AWOL from his second marriage, Denise had only just started at the University.
The piece I wrote was Denise discovering her father in a small, quaint, touristy town on the opposite bank of the Hudson River. Arne is on his way away from New York City, away from the serial killer his been living with and who he recently killed in a fight for his life.
The problem is: The stuff I've been writing about Johnny occurs nine to fifteen years later. This means it has too occur earlier in the book, but that changes the structure I've been working out in my head. This isn't a major problem, just an inconvenience considering the timeline of the entire novel.
Yet, the timeline is a major concern as it starts when Arne is five years old and his parents and older sister die. It ends when Arne and Johnny meet twenty years after Arne supposedly commits suicide. Johnny is nine when Arne supposedly jumps off the ferry. He is twenty-nine when they meet.
Arne is developing into a problem. When I first conceived the story Arne was my age when he ran away, not resurfacing until twenty years in the future. Although I am in a sense a "futurist", I didn't to have to carry the narrative into an unknown time. As a result, I moved Arne's age back so that he could leave twenty years before now, give or take a couple of years. This way Johnny is attending school in the Nineties and finding his father in the present time.
Also, each character's narratives are written in first person because I'm interested in how they react to each other. In Denise and Johnny's case, I want to get down inside them and see how they react to the world their father creates to meet his psychological needs. In Arne's case, I want him imagining he's in control of his world, while at the same time everything around his is totally screwed up because of his skewed world-view.
I suppose once I get everything written and layed out is some sense of order the story will make sense, but right now with each character going off in their own direction is getting a bit confusing. And, I suppose I might consider writing each character's story then piece the work together, sort of like someone might make a quilt.
posted by Carl Holiday at
7:47 PM
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