Friday, April 20, 2012
The
Art of Writing No. 18
The convenience of an ‘alerts list’ at the
bottom of your growing draft novel is not to be underestimated. Take this note
I placed there while writing Azimuth. I had just conjured it up in an early part
of the narrative and was so taken with it I copied it for later reference:
“Find the she-worm and feed his
flesh to her as he sleeps the sleep of truth.”
Two things about this. First, when I wrote
it I did not fully understand it. The words came through my brain without touching
the sides but they had a Blakian feel to them and were obviously an answer to an
as yet undisclosed hazard facing Princess Sabiya and Kamil the Historian in the
Second Journey. So I copied them on to my list of reminders of all the seeds I
was sowing for later writing. Every time I continued the narrative involving
these two characters my eye would glance down at this note to myself. I would
reject utilising it many times, patiently waiting for the storyline to reach
the point when the quote could be reinserted to drive the story line through
its deepest waters.
These alerts are like faint pointers to the
direction of travel. They are not strong enough to take hold of the story but
by having them in your mind when you are writing they act like mild currents
under your vessel. It is still for you to steer. So, the second thing to say
about the invocational words I copied is that the imagination will write for
you if you learn to let it. Some of the best and most timelessly magical bits
of Azimuth came to me without knowing and challenged me to incorporate them in
the text.
In case my references to Azimuth seem to
suggest it is a fey genre novel about pixies and elves, it is no such thing.
The reviews at http://www.azimuthtrilogy.com/reviews
may dissuade you. So might me saying, “It is an adventure story full of danger
to its characters and their search for answers to why they are alive.”
Labels: Writing. The alers list.
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