Today's card was about borrowing. The suggestion was to go and find a few of your favourite books, have a read through them, and then borrow from their style in your writing today.
So this morning I picked a few of my favourites off of the bookshelf and began to read. What I noticed is they were all written in the third-person whereas my novel is written in the first-person. Also, they all have much more description than my novel does.
Enter: PANIC MODE!
I went back to my book and started to change it all from first-person to third-person. But with nearly 8,000 words this was quickly presenting quite the challenge. It's not as simple as going from one tense to the other. It changes the whole feel of the book. So I scrapped that idea and have decided to stick with my first-person story. I refer back to the card for Day Three: Abandon the stultifying notion of brilliance and aim instead for the low mark of completion.
As to being more descriptive, there probably is something in that. So I'll be mindful in my writing today to not rush ahead too quickly. To stop, to pause, to describe.
But as to borrowing itself -- when I think about borrowing, I think back to my younger days when I would 'borrow' clothes from my sister. The thing is though that they'd always look better on her. So perhaps the question is, do I want to write my own book or do I want to write an ill-fitting version of someone else's?
I like today's blog a lot! Really feel like I'm taking this journey with you.
ReplyDeleteOn the matter of being more descriptive.. I consider myself to have a rather able and functioning imagination and enjoy a variet of books. I often find that when I read a book, that is perhaps less descriptive, the author has given me more freedom and artistic licence to almost make the story my own unlike when read a heavily descriptive book.
I personally prefer the latter, for example the writings of Dan Brown. The da Vinci code is, controversially, one of my most favourite reads ever. The detailed description of the scene settings lets me enter into the world that the author has created and envisaged which it's normally one I wouldn't have created using my own imagination. Another favourite book of mine is Of Mice and Men which is descriptive but on a whole other level. I feel John Steinbeck is a master at describing an emotion, atmosphere, mood or the situational ambience that he wants to instil within the reader which I LOVE and enjoy.
I guess what I'm trying to say with my enormous waffley comment is... What experience do you want to create for your reader? Do you want to bring them into the world that you have specifically moulded for your novel or do you want to give them a guideline that they can manipulate for their own delights?
Second to all that, I have never actually or ever attempt to write a novel so I actually have no clue what I'm talking about. Ha ha ha!!
Looking forward to tomorrow's instalment!
I wouldn't worry too much about the person, there are great novels written in both. I normally find the first person more engaging (unless you're going to annoyingly change the narrator mid-stream).
ReplyDeleteIf you started in the first you've done it for a reason, albeit probably a sub-conscious one, so I would stick with it.
What a lovely sister you must have, lending you clothes ;)! Keep up the good work and I think I enjoy books both ways :) x
ReplyDelete