Keep writing! Don't spend time on an old novel you have so much disdain for. Simply write a little everyday without hope, without despair. Sharpen your glimpse of the commonplace with precise language to make it immense and startling. Imbue it w/ tension, a sense of imminence, relentless motion. Start with one sentence. Even with no direction home when you put down the first period. Tell the story of a shoe, if you want to. (“For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.” Hemingway)
If characters don’t speak to you or know their voice, they will if you keep them moving forward while they’re looking back. Yr rhythm, voice not plot, will unlock them (yr character’s voice - your own is irrelevant! and don’t edit yrself while yr trying to get it down, while yr in the ‘zone.’ Edit the hell outta it
later.)
The story will help you find the next step and you’ll learn when to be sparse or to linger on a sensation - or a shoe. The story will find find its own end.
I have a friend who writes fiction and I asked him if he knew where the story ends. He said "sometimes." That surprised me, because one of the reasons I was able to finish my novel was I knew where it was going to be. And when I got there I decided to make that my ending. I like your statement, "voice not plot, will unlock them."
This one does cause some reflection for me. Would I do _______ over again? The question of whether or not I would marry this person again, while it would seem obvious to ask that about my first wife, but the answer is not that clear. A lot of wonderful things came from that marriage after the fact. Those steps lead to meeting my second wife. Would I marry her again? While a lot of wonderful things have occurred as a result of that marriage, I probably would not marry her again given the chance to go back in time, whereas I would likely marry my first wife again and trust the process that lead to working for Impact.
I remember your book vaguely. I don't remember much about it even though I read it and could relate to it, from what I remember.
I have been challenged a few times to write a book and over the past 25 years have started to write at least 10 times. Once I even had over 40 pages, but alas, I am not a gifted writer like my 2 brothers and have scrapped any idea of writing. I do have the idea of recording concepts that I have trained on, and also record some guided visualizations. I'd like to talk to you about that sometime!.
I can see why you would make both of those choices. I have a theory that if we really did get to do do-overs it would still be tempting to change some decisions, even knowing that it would change our future.
If I could go back to my time at Impact I would change some things...perhaps?! I wouldn't have gone out with Terry, which means I wouldn't have blown it at the time I did with Diana Hill. I would have liked to have seen where that went. But with Chris being who he was at the time, it may not have worked with any woman I dated. Then again, she might have handled him differently than Wendy?
Obviously I have thought about this a few times.
Would I have become a Quest trainer, would she have handled Chris better, would her and I gotten married, would it have worked out better than me and Wendy (Yes...Wendy was not a fit for me in any way)......would I have stayed at Impact?
Truth is, my choices have affected a lot of people. Had I not married Darleene I probably never would have gone thru Impact. If I didn't go thru Impact, you would have never met Diana. I would be somewhere very different at this point in my life, most likely not in South Carolina.
Keep writing! Don't spend time on an old novel you have so much disdain for. Simply write a little everyday without hope, without despair. Sharpen your glimpse of the commonplace with precise language to make it immense and startling. Imbue it w/ tension, a sense of imminence, relentless motion. Start with one sentence. Even with no direction home when you put down the first period. Tell the story of a shoe, if you want to. (“For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.” Hemingway)
If characters don’t speak to you or know their voice, they will if you keep them moving forward while they’re looking back. Yr rhythm, voice not plot, will unlock them (yr character’s voice - your own is irrelevant! and don’t edit yrself while yr trying to get it down, while yr in the ‘zone.’ Edit the hell outta it
later.)
The story will help you find the next step and you’ll learn when to be sparse or to linger on a sensation - or a shoe. The story will find find its own end.
I have a friend who writes fiction and I asked him if he knew where the story ends. He said "sometimes." That surprised me, because one of the reasons I was able to finish my novel was I knew where it was going to be. And when I got there I decided to make that my ending. I like your statement, "voice not plot, will unlock them."
This one does cause some reflection for me. Would I do _______ over again? The question of whether or not I would marry this person again, while it would seem obvious to ask that about my first wife, but the answer is not that clear. A lot of wonderful things came from that marriage after the fact. Those steps lead to meeting my second wife. Would I marry her again? While a lot of wonderful things have occurred as a result of that marriage, I probably would not marry her again given the chance to go back in time, whereas I would likely marry my first wife again and trust the process that lead to working for Impact.
I remember your book vaguely. I don't remember much about it even though I read it and could relate to it, from what I remember.
I have been challenged a few times to write a book and over the past 25 years have started to write at least 10 times. Once I even had over 40 pages, but alas, I am not a gifted writer like my 2 brothers and have scrapped any idea of writing. I do have the idea of recording concepts that I have trained on, and also record some guided visualizations. I'd like to talk to you about that sometime!.
Keep up the good work!
I love you!
I can see why you would make both of those choices. I have a theory that if we really did get to do do-overs it would still be tempting to change some decisions, even knowing that it would change our future.
If I could go back to my time at Impact I would change some things...perhaps?! I wouldn't have gone out with Terry, which means I wouldn't have blown it at the time I did with Diana Hill. I would have liked to have seen where that went. But with Chris being who he was at the time, it may not have worked with any woman I dated. Then again, she might have handled him differently than Wendy?
Obviously I have thought about this a few times.
Would I have become a Quest trainer, would she have handled Chris better, would her and I gotten married, would it have worked out better than me and Wendy (Yes...Wendy was not a fit for me in any way)......would I have stayed at Impact?
Truth is, my choices have affected a lot of people. Had I not married Darleene I probably never would have gone thru Impact. If I didn't go thru Impact, you would have never met Diana. I would be somewhere very different at this point in my life, most likely not in South Carolina.