mamculuna | (no subject)

Writing and gardening, and a chance to weed?

All spring and most of the summer, when not travelling, I've been trying to revise Alice Rising which now has a different title, for one thing. I really loved writing the zero draft, but I knew I couldn't do anything with it until I fixed some major problems, made some additions, got a better opening, etc. I understand how writing is like gardening--you put the plant in the ground, but without sun and water, fertilizer and weeding, it's not going to have flowers and fruit. And usually I feel the same way about revising--sometimes it can be hard work and even unpleasant, and some weeds you had to see go. And you can't create the sunlight if it's not there.

Well, Alice. I planned the revision in much more detail than I usually do, with a very enhanced outline, lots of research, and backstory galore that I wouldn't necessarily use. But the more I worked, the less I was happy with the result. And I'm beginning to think maybe I'm trying to grow a lilac in the tropics.

I'm beginning to think that the writer part of me has very clear ideas about how a story needs to go. And sometimes when I revise, I come up with some intellectual idea (like, character X needs to be a moral person, moral in this particular way, or trying to fit too closely to history when a book's not really historical. Or whatever), but the writer part can't work with that.

Not sure what's going on with Alice, but pruning and weeding and amendments just don't feel right. Maybe she needs transplanting or different fertilizer.

Anyway, I've put her aside for now, and taking some time to work on stories instead. You can see one over at Alice if you feel like reading and commenting.