So yesterday there was no progress—Denver and Poncho ate up most of the day. They did well, though, and we had some time to relax in the afternoon, so that was a goodness.
Today went a bit slowly. I'm wrestling with dialogue, something I've always been terrible with—so, of course, my novel is full of it. I am attempting to figure out how to avoid the clunkiness that arises, the odd, stilted nature of my exchanges; coupled with a more archaic style of diction, it's often messy. I've been reading Tolkien and LeGuin again, to see how they accomplish so much passage of information with such a minimum of dialogue, and almost all of that of a natural timbre.
To that end, I worked through one sticky place with the old-fashioned paper and ink, which is slow going but often leads to more insights than the cold glow of electrons. (It also gives my eyes a break from staring at the screen). So my output today was relatively low, but it's useful stuff, I think.
With any luck, I'll be taking a little hike in the morning tomorrow before I jump in. This will either be inspiring, or it will ruin me. We shall see.
3 comments:
Praying for you in this endeavor - you will bless, reach & captivate many, I am certain....do not be discouraged, even in the 'blank-out' moments of capturing/inventing dialogue, for the Lord your God is with you....Happy writing!!!
To me, there's something strangely gratifying and productive about filling up pages of real paper with ink as you write. I can't explain it, but that's why I far prefer to journal in an actual book than on the computer. Also, yes, it is good to give your eyes a break. Working on a computer all day destroys your vision very quickly; I notice a big difference when I'm on the computer often. I pray that you persevere in your endeavor!
I think we may be similar in this regard: my typing speed sometimes outstrips my thought processes, so I'll find myself staring at the screen dumbly more often than I would when I write by hand. It goes more slowly, but that allows my imagination to catch up to the degree that I get a cramped hand from trying to keep up. But at least then the ideas feel like they're coming in a torrent rather than an intermittent trickle.
Dialogue kicks my butt, too. I wonder if it would help to figure out what information you want to relay in that particular scene - the purpose of the scene, really - and then sort of "retrofit" the dialogue afterward? I've found myself doing that in my comic scripts, but I can't say yet how well that works. I assume that it may not flow the way you prefer to write, either, but it's a thought.
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