JP is working on my story now. She is
all ahead full, and I'm grateful. I am myself rolling on with the
third part of my trilogy. No more writer's block for me. I mean I
have the occasional tie ups and ins in regards to story and pacing,
but that goes with the territory. I don't know how other writers do
it, but the pacing of a story is important. It is the scene cuts and
how you cut them that matter the most in a story. It can't hop
around, it can't cut in the wrong place, but then again, to build
some suspense you can't have it continue on and on without pausing it
at places. But when you do, where to do go from there? To what
character and to what predicament? Do you go back in time or do you
go forward, or stay in the same time continuum?
Do you hop about in the same time just
appearing at differing locations? Do you slip into some private
matter or some public spectacle? What do you do? Well as an author,
its all your call. Where and when you cut to is your business, but do
so wisely. And this sometimes is the cause of a block. A writer
pauses to question if this next cut through his novel's reality is
the correct cut, an accurate cut that is answering or questioning the
readers senses. It is what it is. That's what makes the difference
between a good writer and a mediocre one.
Am I a good writer? Hell if I know. I
haven't really sold a novel although I have published a short story
that was gripping enough. I didn't luck onto the story, I had it
fully formed in my head and I brought it to life much like a woman
would a baby. I jumped about from scene to scene confidently, cutting
my way through the narrative until I got to the end. I liked it, and
it sold right out of the gate to a Canadian publisher. This was years
ago though, but every time I think of it, I take it apart to examine
its inner workings. I tinker with its gears and pulleys to see what
made it stand out as a story and then I use it as a form of template
for the stories that I am presently writing.
Does this work? I'm not so certain. The
fact is that I worry that it might give an appearance of a cookie
cutter story when compared to others of mine. Also, stories differ in
logic, content and pacing. Since this is the case when making logic
leaps in your story scenes you can't really copy success. You can
only build an instinct for scene juggling.
You are actually the fly on the wall,
the eye of God, as you peer in upon the innerworkings of your
creations, but what do you do? Do you chronicle EVERY SINGLE
INTERACTION? Of course not. Just like you don't follow your
characters into the bathroom to take a dump might be the same reason
why you don't listen in on a conversation between two characters in a
room. Because it's either boring or irrelevant. You want to appear in
either an exciting scene or informative one and as few of them as
possible. You want your story to move fast, stay lean, muscular,
anything less will never be a page turner. Long winded explanations,
tiresome dialogue, listless action, these are murder to a story. You
jump from scene to scene, appearing and disappearing, giving your
reader insights, or excitement.
But where to jump and when is up to
you. Some writers are under the impression that you have to cover
everything. The character's drinking habits, drug habits, social
habits until tears fall from the eyes. Every single conversation,
every single movement, every single event as if fearful of missing
something. But that makes a good writer. Missing that which can be
missed, and gleaning the few glittering gems from human interaction. The more lumps of
coal you collect, the more tiresome your story will be, and the more
tiresome you make your story, the less of a chance of getting
published, or being well read. Whereas the more gems you search out and sparingly collect in
your scenes, the better and tighter your stories, and the more of a chance you will
have to catch an agent's or editor's eye, get published, or be well
read.
I'm stuck now, wondering where to
appear next in my narrative. I'll cook up a new scene, I'll appear
somewhere enticing, somewhere informative, somewhere that my reader
wants to be, and move the story along. I'm patient. It'll come when
it comes.
The same for you...it's your call.
Gregory
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