…generating new output for the first time in a couple of weeks.
The past couple of weeks have been tied up with revising this and that, tidying, organizing, handling submissions, things of that nature. All very important, and all “productive,” but this morning I wrote new material, and it felt like I’d been injected with a dose of a drug to which I’m addicted but from which I had abstained for a prolonged period.
I started and completed Chapter 8 of Ghost Inn, a total of approximately 1400 words. I’m pleased with the results. I’ve been writing this section in my mind for a couple of days, but only in the most general way. I knew the setting and the circumstances, and what issues the lead character had to deal with in the scene, but I didn’t know how it was going to play out. Sometimes that’s dangerous, or intimidating at least. I’ll know what I’m supposed to write, but when I sit in front of the computer I’m overwhelmed trying to figure out how to turn images into words. I experienced a bit of that this morning, but after a computer game (miniature golf) to clear my mind, I started plugging away. Before long, the character was revealing himself to me, and I also discovered a nifty little piece of imagery to represent the situation at the same time. A metaphor, literally hanging on a wall in the scene, that reflected the character’s feelings onto himself. I love it when that happens, when you see something as an incidental part of a scene that comes to life and becomes important and unforeseen. Very cool.
I know who will take center stage in Chapter 9 and what he’s up to in general, and I can’t wait to write that one, too. The book takes place over a five-day period. Wednesday is finished, and Chapter 9 will finish Thursday, the day that essentially brings all the characters together. I hope to write that one tonight or tomorrow morning, which leaves me a real four-day weekend to consider the events of Friday. A few characters have important business to tend to on that day, whether they realize it or not, whereas others will be essentially treading water until Saturday, which is when the feces hits the A/C.
The challenge with Friday will be to make everything that happens—or at least everything that I show happening—on that day important. Everything has to be part of the build-up so that when Saturday arrives—especially the afternoon and evening—I (and readers) know how everyone will react.
It’s truly amazing how 1400 words of output have re-energized me on this project.
