organic writing


Random quote of the day:

“That Bible salesman character [Flannery O’Connor] had created from the whole cloth of her imagination had broken free from her control and did exactly what the story demanded he do. That’s a magic moment in fiction, I tell my students. Trust the accidents, I tell them. A story is a story is a story. Only the story counts, I tell my students.”

—Chuck Kinder, Last Mountain Dancer

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Desus and Mero, Beyoncé, or the Marine Corps Marching Band. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

Random quote of the day:

“The true artist will write in, as it were, small leaps, on a hundred subjects that surge unawares into his mind. In this way, nothing is forced. Everything has an unwilled, natural charm. One does not provoke: one waits.”

—Jules Renard, Journal, September 1887 (ed. & tr. Louise Bogan and Elizabeth Roget)

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Desus and Mero, Beyoncé, or the Marine Corps Marching Band. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.

 

I managed 1402 words last week. Not an impressive total, but there was an insurrection so I’m giving myself a pat on the back anyway.

This fantasy novel involves Nazis—the WWII kind—and I can’t decide if it’s perfect timing or perfectly bad timing. At any rate, it will take me a long time to finish it and by then we will certainly know more about the progress of Nazism in America and whether or not we survive it.

But I’d be lying if I didn’t say my own manuscript is giving me the squicks right now. I’d work on something else but this one is doing the talking. Insistently. I know better than to try to shut up what is wanting its time on the stage. I started the preliminary work on this novel some years ago and there were Nazis in it from early days. I wrote about 27k before it stalled last summer. (I also know better than to force something to talk when it doesn’t want to. It means I need to figure stuff out before I proceeding.) But it started mumbling again about a month and a half ago and during the Christmas break it started talking very loudly indeed.

I just work here. So I follow where I’m led. I will not, however, say that I am just following orders. I’m “channeling” something—and I don’t mean anything booga booga by that. Zeitgeist or shadowlands, I can’t say. I suppose it will let me know in its own “sweet” time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Random quote of the day:

“First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him.”

—Ray Bradbury, Santa Barbara Writers’ Conference speech, 1972

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Laurel and Hardy, Ariana Grande, or the Salvation Army Band. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.