Beats revising...

Today did not turn out at all as planned. My date with my sister did not happen, which was just as well, as I was having a day of mysterious fatigue (which happen from time to time). I ended up lying around until mid-afternoon, and then wasn't sure I was going to write at all--but to my surprise, a whole new story thread started talking to me, so in the spirit of "what the hell; why not?" I embarked on it.

It actually isn't a new idea; it's one that's been kicking around in my head probably since I was in my 20s. I've started on it a few times, too, and never got very far--in part because I was trying to force it to go in a specific direction, one where it very obviously didn't want to go. This time, I thought I'd just start with the first two sentences and see what happened.

What happened was nine pages of a fantasy-type something-or-other, which may or may not turn into something of substance. In the past, I had it figured for a novel, but I honestly don't know whether I've got a novel in me anywhere (not even the historical novel I've chipped at periodically for eons). Maybe it will end up being a long short-story (oxymoronic as that is). Or maybe it will end up as many of my ideas do, begun and then abandoned in a fit of self-distaste.

I know the received wisdom, and I know that it is, in fact wise: one must simply keep writing, and damn the torpedoes. But sometimes I re-read something I've written and my gorge rises to the extent that I simply cannot go on with it. I'm starting to learn to approach from a different angle instead of abandoning the project entirely. I've done that at least five times with the historical novel--even to the extent of completely recasting one of the two main characters and creating a whole new back-story for her. And generally speaking, that works.

But the historical piece has an overall arc already in my head: I know the high points from beginning to end, and I know how it ends. How I get from one high point to the next is still a mystery to me, but it has had the general shape intact from first word on the page. This one, not so much--largely because its genesis is a dream I had when I was perhaps in my teens. The dream may be recorded in one of my journals somewhere (I have them going back to the summer when I was 18), but I won't dig through them to find it. I'll just work with the two images I have: a child's hand reaching into a bar of light in an otherwise dark cellar-like space, and a woman turning a fog into brilliant light. I know it's the same person in both images, and there's a little more to the image of the fog (armored warriors on horseback, trees and fen, a prince or king), but otherwise, I've got nothing to work with other than what my imagination turns up on the spot.

Which is kinda fun, of course. "Huh! Who knew that was going to happen next? And who's that person over there; turns out to be an important character. I had no idea."

And then there's the fun of naming. I did a whole chapter on naming in my dissertation, and its an idea Le Guin wrote about in several essays. The right names matter, as she fiercely states. If you get the name wrong, you get the character wrong, no two ways about it. And fantasy names are a challenge. They can't be too ridiculous (Lord Barf of Smorgola) and although sometimes a very common name being used in a fantastic setting is lovely, in the kind of story I'm working on, the names need to be just other enough without being off-putting. I love the challenge of it.

The other challenge, of course, is remembering the names once one has come up with them, but I struggle with that in my "realistic" novel as well. I'm crap at names, even of actual human beings I meet. (Who are you again?)

In any event, it was a fun few hours. Tomorrow, I have to take my car to the shop and may be there for some time. I may take the computer with me so I can write, though honestly, I'm more likely to sit and read or knit. And then the postponed coffee date with my sister. So again, there may not be a blog post tomorrow. I may not write anything tomorrow (other than the occasional FB post). But so far, I'm liking this whole "What do you do?" "I write" thing. (I won't like the inevitable follow-up question, "Have you published anything I'd have heard of?" but eventually I'll come up with a response that amuses me instead of making me feel somewhat defensive.)

And for now, I'm drawing a line under this and calling it good enough for today. Let the mindless noodling commence.