And I actually do still write, but I haven't very much lately. (We're in major Christmas cantata mode at church right now -- we've had extra choir practices the last several weeks.) But at the back of my mind are various plot issues, story ideas and resolutions mingling together. One of those is to get the first part of Secrets in Connors Grove into shape enough to enter in the ACFW Genesis contest. (Of course, that means I need to send in my dues.) And in the longer term, I need to finish rewriting Secrets, because it needs it and it's the first of the Connors Grove stories. And I still intend to finish my NaNo novel (A Long Night in Connors Grove).
But if I'm going to do some serious revision, I need to address some problems in my writing and I just realized what one of them is. I explain too much. First of all, I have this tendency to want to give all the backstory up front, which slows down the novel way too much. (But I already knew I do that.) But I just realized that I also resolve conflicts and suspense threads with explanation. It's a lazy approach to storytelling. And what brought me to this epiphany? I read Mark Bertrand's excellent post on his writing blog, Notes on Craft. And the light went on. Of course, now I have to figure out how to earn the conclusion of the novel, but I think it can be done.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment