The hardest part - pinning things down

I think the hardest part of a novel for me is pinning things down, and keeping them pinned down. I watched my cat Emer the other day. She pounced on the feather toy, but a little wriggle from me made the string look more enticing, so out went her paws in rapid succession. The string was tired down, leaving the feather free to be whipped away. What she thought was solid (her hold on the prize) was an illusion, and it was wasn't hard to totally exhaust her, especially by letting her capture the fleeting sense that she has accomplished something.

This is how the writing process goes for me. It isn't really a question of beginnings, middles and ends, although I do think the middles are the hardest for me. It's more like seeing shadows of the project come and go through the mist of other choices, other possibilities, consequences, and scenes played out by the actors in my head, with camera angles and directorial instructions shouted out in a whisper. At times, I am surrounded by characters, each arguing or begging for a part in the opus. It is hard to tell who to listen to, and when. An "excess of imagination" seems such a neutral term for it. I'm still getting used to the problem that each choice narrows some paths and widens others, and you don't have a breadcrumb path to help in choosing which way to go. Many paths work, but they lead to different stories.

So, like a channel surfer with cable, I get flashes of beginnings, scenes, cliffhangers, "feel good endings" and deep conversations, often from several projects simultaneously, while I try to figure out what to wrestle into the current novel.

Sound familiar, or am I the only one?

The Hardest Part

by Ann - answering my own question

For me, the hardest part of writing a manuscript is the beginning. I rewrite my first chapter a dozen times, then throw it away and start someplace else. I rewrite that a dozen times, and start again. I know a novel is supposed to start as close to beginning of action as possible. Easier said than done. Richard Peck says, “The first chapter is the last chapter in disguise.” I try.

For my work-in-progress, though, the beginning practically wrote itself. The middle sailed along, until I started removing a character and his subplot. (Now I feel like I’m trying to wrestle a Bengal tiger back into its cage.) The ending I initially planned was unsatisfactory because it cheated my protagonist. She deserved better. Then as I was playing with alternate endings, a wonderful line from Walt Kelly popped into my head, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” I knew what to do.

Question of the Week: In a novel, what's hardest to write?

This is Ruth writing.

Ann asks: What's hardest to write, the beginning, middle, or end, and why?

For me it's the ending.

When I start the novel I already have the middle.

The beginning is fun to write because it's a challenge to come up with a hook.

The end is tough because when I start writing I don't know what the ending is.

Or if I do know, it seems too pat and I need to bump up the challenge and make it tougher.

Which, incidentally, just about sums up how I handle my life, as well.

"This hike isn't hard enough. How can I make it more of a challenge?"

QOTW: Novels are Hard.

In response to Ann's question: All of the above.

But to be more specific, of the choices given, I pick middle. The middle is hard because usually when you begin a novel you have an idea about the premise, which gives you a clue how to start the thing. Like a lot of people I tend to start too soon, but it isn't hard--wrong? Yes. Hard? Not so much. Same for the ending. If you tend to write mostly chronologically (as I tend to so far), by the time you've muddled through the middle, the ending is less difficult, at least, in terms of HOW it happens.

But the middle. It's the bridge. It's the juicy filling. It's the part between slices of bread. And it's hard because this is where I tend to wander off into the desert and take detours and forget that I'm supposed to be going THERE. So the middle ends up being a huge mess, mostly, for many drafts. At it's best, it is an exploration of themes with some good stuff to keep for the later drafts (only to throw it out later because you realize it really really really doesn't belong after all, but I digress--see? I'm bad at this). At its worst, the middle is a convoluted, disorganized, wretched annihilation of things like character development, through lines, and yes, the English language itself. Me no like middle. Me afraid of middle.

My solution is to write a novel with no middle. Yep, just a really long beginning attached to an equally long ending. Now that was easy. Endings I can do.