Feel Free to Ignore 7.9.16
This is my new blog, Feel Free to Ignore. I would rather you did not notice my writing here. I don't want to appeal to anyone, please anyone, or gain publicity in any way, shape or form.
I did some writing tonight online. I won't say where. I am just glad I did. Maybe someday, somehow, I can get this novel out of my head - this saga about one man who struggles with a dual personality, and another who is tortured by the unwavering belief that he has died. I think I've finished this novel twice now, but it still calls to me, still asks me to add to it, and I can't help but comply.
Somehow when I use Scrivener, I feel obligated to plan the novel out, chapter by chapter, and then the future chapters never come to fruition. I think I've made about 4-5 different files in Scrivener about the same novel.
I wish I could write something else.
Tonight I was thinking that there had to be a thread between the two men suffering from mental illness. And I realized that it could be either 1) the Walking Corpse Syndrome character could be the one who discovers/realizes the existence of the 2nd personality of the other man, or 2) the Walking Corpse Syndrome character could be the one who convinces the other man that he is, in fact, ill and needs help. Not really sure which direction I should go in. On one hand, it would be nice to have some mystery about the 2nd, hidden personality of the 'mad scientist' character. Or, I could have there be mystery only in the minds of the other characters. Hmm....
Anyway, I will see.
I realized at one point that I don't do well with criticism, though it has taught me much. I realized I didn't really trust all the critiquers at AW to have my best interests at heart. Some of them just seemed to want to ruin the confidence of others. I know I grew as a writer and reader after spending so much time there, but overall I felt like it led to me agonizing about things before they even got off the ground. Now that I have read more widely, I feel able to tell the difference between a well-written book by a skilled, dedicated author who lives and breathes to write, and then on the other hand, a book that was more or less produced to satisfy an undemanding reader (one who wants good grammar and error-free writing, and a recognizable plot/conflict, but not much more than that.)
But am I able to produce the former category of book? Not likely. But it's weird to know the difference.
There are still categories of books that are written by authors who are geniuses, most likely, that I still can't fathom (Proust, for instance, or David Mitchell, who wrote Cloud Atlas) but I feel like I have grown, anyway, over the last five years, and I don't want to lose what I've gained.
Hence the writing. But it remains to be seen whether I will ever deem my stuff good enough to self-publish. I think it's unlikely.
Heather C.
I did some writing tonight online. I won't say where. I am just glad I did. Maybe someday, somehow, I can get this novel out of my head - this saga about one man who struggles with a dual personality, and another who is tortured by the unwavering belief that he has died. I think I've finished this novel twice now, but it still calls to me, still asks me to add to it, and I can't help but comply.
Somehow when I use Scrivener, I feel obligated to plan the novel out, chapter by chapter, and then the future chapters never come to fruition. I think I've made about 4-5 different files in Scrivener about the same novel.
I wish I could write something else.
Tonight I was thinking that there had to be a thread between the two men suffering from mental illness. And I realized that it could be either 1) the Walking Corpse Syndrome character could be the one who discovers/realizes the existence of the 2nd personality of the other man, or 2) the Walking Corpse Syndrome character could be the one who convinces the other man that he is, in fact, ill and needs help. Not really sure which direction I should go in. On one hand, it would be nice to have some mystery about the 2nd, hidden personality of the 'mad scientist' character. Or, I could have there be mystery only in the minds of the other characters. Hmm....
Anyway, I will see.
I realized at one point that I don't do well with criticism, though it has taught me much. I realized I didn't really trust all the critiquers at AW to have my best interests at heart. Some of them just seemed to want to ruin the confidence of others. I know I grew as a writer and reader after spending so much time there, but overall I felt like it led to me agonizing about things before they even got off the ground. Now that I have read more widely, I feel able to tell the difference between a well-written book by a skilled, dedicated author who lives and breathes to write, and then on the other hand, a book that was more or less produced to satisfy an undemanding reader (one who wants good grammar and error-free writing, and a recognizable plot/conflict, but not much more than that.)
But am I able to produce the former category of book? Not likely. But it's weird to know the difference.
There are still categories of books that are written by authors who are geniuses, most likely, that I still can't fathom (Proust, for instance, or David Mitchell, who wrote Cloud Atlas) but I feel like I have grown, anyway, over the last five years, and I don't want to lose what I've gained.
Hence the writing. But it remains to be seen whether I will ever deem my stuff good enough to self-publish. I think it's unlikely.
Heather C.
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