The Sorrow and the Pity - but enough about me...

Okay so I went off tracks for awhile there but I recently did something I recommend to every struggling wannabe writer out there in the blog-o-sphere - take a real Writing Workshop!


My fabulous fiancee suggested we go to the University of Iowa's Summer Writing Festivaland it was a great idea. Ten days and three workshops later (a pair of two-day weekend classes and a five day week-long workshop) I now have a newly completed short-story and about 20 new pages of decent novel material - but most importantly, I completely re-envisioned my novel and it will now be told in three first person narratives one of which is based in part on my own life as a teenager.

So there you have it. Look into U of Iowa for next Summer or check into your local colleges for writing workshops. It was great to be immersed in a serious atmosphere with other writers and experienced instructors who provided excellent input, stimulating creative exercises and all-around enthusiastic vibes. - JC

Changes to setting - This should help

At first I was very resistent to the idea but I decided to restage the novel in the original (i.e. accurate) time period by beginning in 1930's Philadephia and having the "present day" action all take place in 1987.

I was frightened of the idea of writing a period piece set in the 80's instead of a contemprary novel but I realize that it will be more true to the characters and to the narrative to set it up this way. I went through the first 20 pages and made the necessary changes and will now proceed according to this plan. I had to decide now before things got too convoluted and I am happy with my choice.

I don't know whether this will affect the popularity or marketability of the final novel but it should yield a more accurare and less manipulated accounting of the characters and events. It also gives me the freedom of painting trhe surrounding action with a Reagan era brush which should be a lot of fun.

Day 21 - Remote Writing with Stephanie

I had a few false starts and lots of delays over the past 2 weeks. Rewrote some of the material and fleshed out the characters but didn't do any major writing.

On Saturday Jan 23rd I went to a coffee shop in NoHo (The Amsterdam Cafe) and wrote on her laptop onthe utside patio for an hour or so. Worked out the intro to Maddy's character - I decided to set it in, you guessed it, a coffee shop.

I was happy with the work but I am moving far too slowly on the novel. It's been three weeks and I only have 12 pages.

DAY 5 - Actual Writing

Okay so I wrote the first page and a half - the first scene of The Birth of James. It's okay, the tone is dark. I like that. Though I realize I have to set the time and place better - right now it is just a woman having a baby, we don't know the year or the place.

Still, it's nice to be moving forward.

I forget which author it was who said: "Most writers don't enjoy writing - they enjoy having written."

Day 4 - Time is Passing

Today wasn't a total waste. I had a conversation with my co-worker Michael and told him some of the basic plot points of my novel and was able to get some clarity regarding the core of my story. Sometimes talking about writing is helpful - but mostly it is just a distraction.

Tonight was a "Date night" with my fiance, Stephanie, so I didn't write per se. But she is very supportive of my writing and will do anything she can to help (God Bless her). We did watch a documentary series about "The Emotional Life" and I was inspired by one of the subjects - a former drug addict and Juvenile delinquent who was arrrested 24 times. Just by interacting with one influential adult he turned his life completely around and eventually became a successful Cardio-Thoracic Surgeon and professor. I will use some of that to fuel my character of JEROME.

The theme of my novel is HOPE - that makes me a little nervous because I don't want it to be sappy or sentimental.

DAY 3 - Slippage

I didn't write anything tonight. Spent time online at some Novel Writing websites like "Write a Novel in 100 Days" and took a few notes but that was it.

DAY 2 - How Long Is This Going To Take?

I have written a half dozen screenplays and learned that one way to handle the anxiety and fear of beginning a project is to lay out the structure then adapt it as I go along. So I did some simple preliminary research and tried to estimate a length for my novel. Taking Pride and Prejudice as a template I decided on a manuscript length of about 400 pages or approx 100,000 words which should leave me with a finished novel of about 275 - 300 pages. That is a respectable length.

I am still anxious about my prose; my screenwriting history has left me with an overly terse style. I think it may be too lean for a juicy novel read. I will have to focus on developing more depth and detail. I know I will always lean more towards Hemingway than Melville but even Hemingway's efficient prose had beautiful evocative imagery and intensely emotional passages. I must become intensely observant.

I wrote another page an a half of my outline - changed some character details.

DAY 1 - Do I Really Want to Do This?

I suppose I am writing this blog as another way of procrastinating actually writing my novel. So I am applying a few simple rules - all my blog posts will be short and to the point to save my time and energy for the actual novel writing.

I am actually creating this Blog on Day Five since I started my novel writing process on January 3, 2010. But I will backdate a few posts like this one.

On DAY 1 I laid out the basics of a story that has ben knocking around in my head for the past ten years. It will revolve around three characters with the MAIN character being based in part on my Uncle James, deceased about ten years, my Dad's younger brother, who had a very difficult and challenging life rife with tragedy. I will interweave his story with two parallell stories, one about a young woman living in Florida and the other about an African American tenenager in North Carolina.

I spent about 2 hours this evening laying down the basics of an story outline - I ended up with three pages of notes. I like the absic structure so far.