Introducing structure to my writing
I’ve entitled this draft “By the book”, only because that’s precisely what I’m trying to do with this version. With the last 2 magnum opi (heh) and the countless other small ones before those, I had grabbed the bull by its proverbial horns and simply started writing.
Only to find that it’s one thing to write an essay. It’s quite the other to write a book.
Structure. My draft lacked structure. My characters lacked structure. And in my arrogance and naivete, I had marched on and started writing without answering some pretty fundamental questions about who my characters are and where they wanted to go.
Which meant that on some days, my characters were manic or mellow, depending on how much caffeine I’d inhaled. Which meant, after a while, that they all started to meld together somehow at about the 60,000 mark and become a giant chorus of Ho Hum.
I’ve met writers who say that they write without an outline. They just sit in front of the computer and let their imaginations (and the voices in their heads) take over. I’ve found that I cannot do that. As much as I would love to be that talented, it’s beginning to dawn on me that I first need to understand a few more fundamentals about plot and character, before I let the words drip from my fingertips.
Enter Garry Disher.
I don’t know who he is, and I have no real idea of his writing credentials apart from what they printed inside the book cover. But I picked up his book, “Writing Fiction: An introduction to the craft” at the Lifeline bookfair this March for $2, and even though it was first published in 1983, I figured the principles aren’t too different.
Also,
- It’s thin, which is good because I’m impatient.
- It’s to the point, which is even better (see point one).
- It’s a start.
Because you know what they say about insanity… it’s doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different outcome.
Here’s to trying something new.
