UPCOMING--And, Writing Questions, Anyone?
I'm still deluged with secret lives to write, and so am taking a longer break. Besides, after not writing any fiction since finishing the new novel, it's extremely therapeutic to be writing these secret lives, many of which are coalescing into wonderful little short-shorts; at least, I'm delighted with them. :)
Coming up, hopefully within a few days, interviews, some profiles of artists I admire, and continued reading of John Crowley, Flights, and The Circus in Winter. I note that Matthew Cheney has taken up this methodology of a slow dissection as well.
I have read "Snow" in the Crowley collection and find it to be a marvel of delicacy, memory, and regret. More on that soon.
Meanwhile, I am more than happy to answer any questions you might have about writing, in the comments box for this blog entry. Counter punching is so much easier than launching fresh offensives...
Jeff
posted by JeffV @ 8:41 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I have a question regarding point of view.
I'm increasingly torn between the unique, engaging voices possible with first-person and the sweeping perspective provided by third-person. I'm trying out intertwined and sometimes recursive multiple first-person narratives, but frankly, it's very tricky.
So what's my question? Well, do you think this is an approach worth taking at all (I would like othe people to be able to read my stuff one day) and do you have any pointers to places where I could read this sort of narrative, and well, after reading Veniss Underground, anything you have to say on point of view is just fine by me.
thanks
Hi--thanks for the questions.
When I've got more than one project I'm equally passionate about, I start on the one I'm most likely to finish first. For example, if something seems likely to be a novella rather than a novel. Or, I'll do the one that's least like the one I've done before. Or, as is the case with my current projects, I have to go in chronological order and finish The Zamilon File before completing Fragments from a Drowned City. It's tough, though, because you can feel as if you're frozen just because you have such a wealth of different possibilities in front of you. Of course, the truth of it is, if you sit down with any one of those projects at your peak writing time--which for me is the morning right after I get up--you're likely to be inspired.
With regard to point of view--that's a more complex question (and a very interesting one!) and might be best answered with an actual blog entry. Give me a few hours to think about it and either give you a complete response or post a blog entry about it in the next week.
JeffV
Regarding point of view--I usually use the point of view and the voice (first/third/second) that creates the greatest sense of immediacy. If I have multiple viewpoint characters, I tend to stay away from using first person because it's difficult to make them individual enough to stand out from each other. I also think multiple first person narratives in a novel or story tend to become tedious even if differentiated. I use second person to attain the ultimate immediacy at the risk of alienating some readers who won't get into it. But to answer your question--you should do whatever feels right, whatever feels comfortable to write, and let the markets take care of themselves. There usually are only one or two best ways to tell a story, and you can certainly get hung up on figuring out which ones those are.
Anyway, this is a very incomplete answer, but I would like to address the question in a regular blog entry later in the week.
JeffV
Thank you so much for taking the time, and I look forward to any further post by you on the larger topic of points of view.
Rajan--Yup. Absolutely taking questions!
I never start a story until I know the ending. And by knowing the ending, I mean in general. I don't mean specifics. And that ending might change during or after the writing of the story. But if I don't have an end goal in mind, I don't start the story, because I know I've never finished a story if I haven't known the ending before I started it.
So, I start with a character, a situation, an ending, and usually some kind of surreal or magic realist image connected to the character.
Because the *journey* itself is vague, knowing the general ending doesn't spoil it for me. And since the ending may surprise me anyway--i.e., when I actually get to the writing of the ending, the character or situation may wind up radically changing it, I often experience short, sharp shocks of epiphany that keep things fresh. Sometimes the ending changes because I know more about the character by the time I get there. I am definitely exploring a character I know little about while writing. I only do back writing on a character's history, personality, etc., after finishing a rough draft, just to check and see if there's anything I should add in terms of detail, or if there's something about the character I still don't know that's important to the story.
But everybody's different. What works for me would be totally wrong for someone else.
JeffV
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