General Writing Update

tyunglebower ♦ September 9, 2013 ♦ Leave a comment

I haven’t posted one of these in a while. So here is where my writing stands at the moment:

-I seem to have found a way to get Novel 2 back on some kind of track for the foreseeable future. For the last week or so I have spent time most days rewriting certain sections of what I have so far to fit with a leaner, and possibly more thematic structure for the book. As I have cut away a lot of the plot twists and red herrings and “whodunnit” aspects of the story, potential for greater exploration of my theme has emerged in various places in the narrative. Even once I correct for the new “timeline” if you will, about one half of the actual plot still remains to be written. But I’m confident now that with this course correction, I’ll be able to come up with something, and complete a far more solid first draft than that which I was originally writing.

-I continue to work on my companion piece for my first novel. (Flowers for Dionysus) It’s a series of ten short stories all of which take place in the same community theater as does the novel. I want there to be ten of them, and I am currently stuck on number five. I have ditched it several times and started over. I’m not sure what they problem has been, but in this most recent attempt I have tried something I have never done before; I have utilized second person.

For those unfamiliar with the term, second-person is a rarely used form wherein the reader is made to feel as though they themselves are doing the actions within the narrative. “You climb to the top of the stairs, all the while afraid of what you might find when you get there.” As you can probably tell, it’s not a POV that sustains itself very well over long fiction, but once in a while it works in shorter pieces. I think I can make it work for this story. Perhaps that is why I had such a block on it before; perhaps it is calling me to step outside of my normal way of writing and give this unusual point of view a try. The thing is, I believe it can work this way…but I don’t think I will be visited second-person very often again once this is finished.

I need to pick up the pace on those stories anyway. They tend to fall by the wayside, and I am not sure why.

-Quota. I told myself I would write ten short stories in 2013. When I finish the story I mention above, I will have achieved that. Hopefully I will exceed it somewhat as well. I know ten doesn’t sound like much to some of you, but I am usually working on something longer. Drafts of Flowers for Dionysus  or lately, rebooting Novel 2. So unless I have something due up for my writer’s salon, I don’t always put the time into my short fiction that I probably should.

-On the subject of the writer’s salon…I have to decide if I want to submit my own stories to it anymore. I still intend to be in the salon, (especially since right now I moderate every other meeting.) Yet I’ve been thinking over the last few weeks that I may need to put a moratorium on submitting my own work for a while. Historically it has been helpful, but lately I have felt a bit of a disconnect between myself and my shorter fiction.

I can’t blame that on the salon per se, but the last few times I have submitted one of my stories, I’ve felt like the thoughts of mostly well-meaning people have created a bit of a wedge between me and the work. I’ve not been in a receptive mood in recently weeks as pertains to a group dynamic, and I think it may be time to keep my writing to myself for a while, and let it unfold in a way that speaks to me and only me, without outside advice. i think all writers in fact need time when they are alone with their work, and are more selective in who gets to read it. I may be entered such a season myself for now. I may have to stick to advising others for a while.

-I continue to polish a one-man show, based on some of Shakespeare’s speeches. Soon I will have to “perform” it for a camera or something to see how the sound flows, even if I have not memorized anything yet.

-Been giving some thoughts to Big Project 3. I call it that because I don’t know if it’s a novel, a play, or even a screenplay I want to work on after Novel 2 gains its legs. Flowers for Dionysus is, for all intents and purposes, on it’s final two revisions, and will probably be sent to an editor with the year. The second novel will then take writing time precedent, and I always want to have the next “big” project determined ahead of time.

Truth be told it should probably be a novel. I call myself a novelist and they say when you release one, you should have another one almost ready to go. Especially if you self-publish. But I don’t know which idea I am pursuing next, so I don’t know if said idea belongs in a novel or not. I have a notebook full of single sentence summaries or the broadest of concepts, and not all of them lend themselves right away to run media or the other. Then again, the idea for Big Project 3 might not even be one I have written down in my notebook yet. It may be something that strikes me between now and whenever. There is no way to know.

I know I’ve wanted to try my hand at a mystery novel at some point. But I also have a rough outline for a play that’s been sitting around a while too, and it might be time to take a break from novels after all. I can’t let myself stress over that decision this early, however. It isn’t quite time to make that decision. But I am scanning the horizon way off in the distance for what should be “next-next”.

-I submitted a short monologue to a friend of mine who is putting together a presentation of some kind at her school. She called for submission from everyone she knew. I don’t know if mine will be used or not, but I enjoyed writing it.

-I have had the basic premise for a series of short science-fiction stories for a while now. I should probably start thinking about laying out a tighter course for that. Maybe.

-I continue to work on poetry and post it over at www.tyunglebowerspoetry.blogspot.com.

That’s where I am with writing for now.