A Shotgun Posting
I'm using my dad's laptop to access the internet these days, and tonight he told me as a condition of using his computer, I have to post a blog--so here it is, my shotgun posting.
As you know, I am settling back into life in America, which includes getting reacquainted with my family and making plans for the summer. One of my goals for this summer, set long before I left Japan, is to get back into writing. And by writing, I don't mean posting on this blog, great as that is. No, rather, I am referring to the fact that since the age of 14, I have dreamed and schemed of being a novelist. Though I no longer list "novelist" as my official end-game career goal, I would still like to get published someday. Unfortunately, I fear I may have peaked a little early. The closest I've ever gotten to completing a novel, you see, happened when I was 16. I reeled off over 200-pages of an amusing little tale. And I had several other, shorter but mostly comparable, attempts in high school. Each of those efforts was frustrated by the same deadly flaw: A complete meltdown of plot. While beginning what turned out to be the final novel-manque of my high school life, I resolved to break this cycle of meltdown by actually outlining my plot before writing the book (imagine that). The result: I never got past the prologue.
That may not exactly sound like a Golden Era of productivity to you, but last night when I sat down at my laptop intending to start down the long road of finally redeeming myself as a novelist--having wallowed, year after year after year, in the miry pit of essays, short stories, poems, emails, screenplays, online posts--I produced, alas, exactly 4 and a half sentences of blah. If you're unfamiliar with the specifics of what "blah" entails, just imagine you're reading someone with the literary talent of Dan Brown and the plot-making ability of whoever wrote "Go, Dog, Go" (which is a great book, it just doesn't have any real plot), and that should give you the general idea.
Have I given up already then, you may be asking? No, indeed! I even have this crazy idea that if I can produce a solid plot outline without wearying myself to the point of needing a 7-year hiatus from novel writing, I might, just might, actually produce something resembling a finished product. But that's being quite generous with myself, I assure you.
All right, this shotgun post... is over. Ciao
As you know, I am settling back into life in America, which includes getting reacquainted with my family and making plans for the summer. One of my goals for this summer, set long before I left Japan, is to get back into writing. And by writing, I don't mean posting on this blog, great as that is. No, rather, I am referring to the fact that since the age of 14, I have dreamed and schemed of being a novelist. Though I no longer list "novelist" as my official end-game career goal, I would still like to get published someday. Unfortunately, I fear I may have peaked a little early. The closest I've ever gotten to completing a novel, you see, happened when I was 16. I reeled off over 200-pages of an amusing little tale. And I had several other, shorter but mostly comparable, attempts in high school. Each of those efforts was frustrated by the same deadly flaw: A complete meltdown of plot. While beginning what turned out to be the final novel-manque of my high school life, I resolved to break this cycle of meltdown by actually outlining my plot before writing the book (imagine that). The result: I never got past the prologue.
That may not exactly sound like a Golden Era of productivity to you, but last night when I sat down at my laptop intending to start down the long road of finally redeeming myself as a novelist--having wallowed, year after year after year, in the miry pit of essays, short stories, poems, emails, screenplays, online posts--I produced, alas, exactly 4 and a half sentences of blah. If you're unfamiliar with the specifics of what "blah" entails, just imagine you're reading someone with the literary talent of Dan Brown and the plot-making ability of whoever wrote "Go, Dog, Go" (which is a great book, it just doesn't have any real plot), and that should give you the general idea.
Have I given up already then, you may be asking? No, indeed! I even have this crazy idea that if I can produce a solid plot outline without wearying myself to the point of needing a 7-year hiatus from novel writing, I might, just might, actually produce something resembling a finished product. But that's being quite generous with myself, I assure you.
All right, this shotgun post... is over. Ciao
posted by Peter Rice at 8:06 PM
3 Comments:
dont worry peter. its entirely possible to write a novel without any plot. if it becomes too difficult, just go for the alice in wonderland effect.
I have also dreamt of writing a book since the early age of eleven. I tried to coerce one of my sixth grade classmates into co-authoring a book with me. That was my first failed attempt as he thought, despite my efforts to describe the endeavor otherwise, that I was referring to the kind of book you write as an assignment in elementary school (notebook pages stapled together with a few quick illustrations completely overshadowing the slim text). My goal was a hundred pages. We never reached twenty. I also tried my hand at writing down the road as a college senior. I didn't get further into my autobiography than three pages. I think if I ever try again, I will write a screenplay. I'm fairly certain that I could come up with something containing a bit of depth and equally as much or more comedic value.
i'm glad you like dan brown
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