creative self-assessment on a broader level ~

most creative people i know do one thing and stick with it. they may have in mind an endlessly unfolding universe (l. frank baum, c.s. lewis, joss whelon ~ did i even spell that right?), but they start somewhere and then move through it. much as i think george lucas has lost all touch with reality, he made a committment and saw it through to the end. even rowling, after seven books (or however many) intends to finish the series and then move onto something else (possibly even under a psuedonym).

so i dunno why i have so much stuff clogging up the track in my sprint against the clock. i mean: i'm never gonna finish the race if i don't even run and at the moment i am doing anything but running.

last night i hopped into bed and asked myself the question: what is the one thing i can commit to so i can get this pokey flow chugging?

i realized that pretty much all the barriers that existed before (which i enumerated quite articulately in a prior post) still exist. i've resolved none of them.

i also realized that until i resolve the narrative problem, which is really the big bonji of issues for me, this is going to continue to be a stumbling block.

ergo:

1. third person is out the window. begone omniscient and limited omniscient übernarrator (razi-el excepted, of course).

2. perhaps faulkner did do it best in As I Lay Dying. why not just start each piece with the name of the person "speaking"? simple and to the point.

3. taking no. 2 a step further, why not start each piece with an expository bit of victorian titleage: "wherein", "in which", etc. i've always wanted to do this but have never had the courage.

the question is whether this can sustain over the duration. will a reader get sick of the format and/or will i get sick of titling things at length?

i think the best way to explore this will be to kick off the new season of Reconstruction in this new format. it will give me a chance to get into the voices (Lewis is always easy, James could be a problem so i need the practice). i would also like to simultaneously go back and see what happens if i try to apply this to From Slaughter's Mountain. i think i intend to keep that book a three-voice book, but Reconstruction may have to juggle multiple characters to keep things in check. i dunno where my copy of faulkner is at the moment, and i don't recall how many voices he juggles ~ for sure more than three, possible five? with Reconstruction it would end up with a minimum of six, possibly as many as twelve. the other thing about FSM is that with expository "tags" the chronology becomes less of an issue because the tags can serve to orient: in which so-and-so remembers x, in which so-and-so gives their take on y, etc., thereby giving the reader a sense of continuity.

having made this decision, i really need to step up my dialect research and i need to finalize a voice for mr. painintheass morsey. anyone know of any good resources for new york 19th century idioms? how about virginia?

while i dunna think i can ever top the "My mother is a fish" chapter, i can foresee some interesting things structurally with this method that will make it fun and challenging for me.

as to the art:

well, it's a fun side thing, but i have so little confidence in it going anywhere, i think i best drop it as a serious venue for the time being. it'll always be something i do on the side or when i'm just too burned out to write anymore, but i think i've come to the conclusion that i've been using it as avoidance rather than for its own merits (after all, if you draw the picture, you don't have to write the narrative explaining what's going on!).

but i really need to focus on the writing and start finishing some of the vast piles of work i've started. i need to march boldly onward!

so...

...off i go.

: D

all aboard for the soooooooouuuuuuul train ~ !

on the plus side, i think i am feeling better. i say "think" because i'm still coughing, though it seems not as often.

~ * ~

NEW YORK — E.L. Doctorow's "The March," a sweeping novel of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's march from Atlanta to the sea during the American Civil War, on Friday won the National Book Critics Circle's 2005 fiction prize.

good for doctorow. i still haven't made it past chapter four. i dunno what it is about his books ~ in fact, it's rather disturbing to me. maybe i have some sort of subconscious animosity or competetiveness going? could it be i'm not connecting to the work on some level because it's in some way too much like my own? no...that's silly.

all i know is that this is the third doctorow book i've not been able to read in spite of being extremely interested in the content. something about the way he tells stories is just off-putting to me and i can't figure out what it is. boggling.

that said, i haven't written one word today. i had to take the dogs to the park and then go grocery shopping and then eat hot dogs because for some reason i was just in the mood...and then it was an X-file marathon during which i was countlessly reminded what a silly show it was (which nonetheless did nothing to impede my watching it). and so here we are, light fading, night falling, and i've had visions of suger plums dancing in my head all afternoon, but they've yet to make the transition into tangible product (i.e. storytelling).

~ * ~

let the games begin ~ !

so here's the deal for the evening: i'm gonna give myself assignments just to get into the swing of things. i'm gonna put names of characters in a hat and then topics in another hat (do i even own two hats? no matter). then i'll draw lots and write on a timer: let's say ten minutes for each character. just write write write and see what comes out and see if i can stay in voice. i'll write until midnight ~ that's five hours straight (at which time i will likely become a pumpkin ~ or at least have the mentality of one).

i'm gonna use the Story Tarot for prompts because so far it's the one i've found the least intrusive and the most flexible/fun.

i'll start officially at 6:30 and maybe post my progress at the end of the evening (or maybe even mid-way if things are going well).

in case you're wondering, this exercise in insanity is marginally inspired by this cool art challenge that i randomly came across: Head Injury Theatre: Art Crash 214

: D

feel free to make recommendations/prompts of your own if the mood takes you. just remember that my characters all live in the 19th century (so no jet skiis ~ though i confess i want to write a "modern" take on these characters involving a plot with snowmobiles, but that's for another time).

* insert starter's pistol report ~ ! *