I had a flurry of writing earlier this week. Every moment I had to spare I was curled up with a notebook and several pens sticking out of me. I lose most of them in my hair to be honest. They make for good chopsticks. While I was out the other day, after I had successfully burnt myself, my mother took pity on what was the floor of my room and hoovered it for me. In doing so she recovered at least six bics which is awesome because now I have a choice of pen. Anyway I've been writing. I've not touched my only finished piece because blehh I have too many issues with it, I can't progress with my French one until well I go to France and I'm just polishing up the pieces I can write with absolute confidence. It's a rather cheery piece though and I'm not consistently cheerful enough to really dig in and get all of it out of my head. It's there though and there's a lot of notes and stuff so it won't fade like a lot of stories do if I neglect them for too long.
My third one is the one that's consuming me. It's not helped by the fact that I've been reading Bukowski and Palahniuk. I want to write male. See all my best pieces, the ones I am truly proud of and other people have read, all those ones are from a male perspective and I'm always really scared about doing that. I want a voice obviously, because an author without a voice is just a story teller, but I want to be able to write something different everytime and be recognisable without being easy to identify if you follow. Like oh that's by the same author but what in the hell is that person like. I guess it stems from the fact that when I think of a writer I think of something masculine. I started this third thing as a experimental piece. I was a little bored, sick of looking at my old stuff and thought fuck it. I'm on holiday, I'm unemployed, I just sorted out what I want university wise (though I can't make it happen until August but at least I know what I want now and yes it is pointless but hey), I'm more or less on top of this thing called life because I essentially tried a month or so of just not giving a damn. But this thing I'm writing, it's ridiculous and it was really just a filler until I came up with something good. Somehow I've objectified my only female character and if she isn't nagging, she's giving my narrator a hard on. I swear I did not intend this. I was going to write it from her point of view, instead I'm some sarcastic drunk guy in his thirties hanging around with kids and God waiting to ride out the apocalypse in relative safety. And it is backwards. And it's like I'm proud of it but I don't want anyone to read it because it is ridiculous and I can't tell if it's just pretentious nonsense or if it's a goddamn masterpiece. I'm either fantastic or I'm insane or I'm rather dull. We'll see how it goes. I know it's daft to aim so low as to want to be a writer but that is all I want. It's not what I'm going for, I need a job and a career and a life since I cannot picture a marriage or kids. But you know I've wanted it since I was about six years old so why shouldn't I hope to achieve it? If I don't hold on to it I'm left with not a lot after all.
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7 comments:
Everyone has a stigma about what they've written. One of the major obstacles to what I'm writing is that some of my ideas are too big or dramatic for a humourous tone to carry off, so I end up with an inconsistent narrative voice. It's something I'm ironing out with a bit of 'Heeeerre's Johhny!' pruning using an axe called 'cut and paste'.
Its a truth that no writer is ever genuinely happy with what they've written. J.K. Rowling is remarked to have said she wished she'd written Ron as a girl (probably Ginny) and so on. If a writer is ever satisfied with what they've done then they lose tat perfectionist streak and lose their edge. What you're feeling about you big pieces is perfectly normal.
But at the heart of writing is that it is read. Pass drafts and excerpts out to people or into competitions and get feedback. Then it's time for the axe to come out. If you're unappy with a character, like you're objectified female, then change their role and persona or perhaps even remove them altogether. Whatever it takes to bump the story up into the next tier of awesomeness.
P.S. If I ever need a pen, I will be rifling through your hair so be prepared.
P.S.S. I am aware how wrong that sounded.
Well that's kinda the thing, I like her as an object I'm just not sure if I can pull it off being 1) dickless and 2) possibly not attracted to women enough to pull it off but my main character came out male and he wants to fuck her so I kinda have to go where he leads me. Once I get it polished up a little I'll post it somewhere.
And at least you've warned me. I'll break out the helmet next time I see you.
Oh, that's easily solved. To think like a man, simply think like a woman. Then take away reason, and accountability (God I loved that film).
Mind you, you could portray said female character like an object when viewed from the male lead's perspective but have the odd scene in the book coming from her perspective, thereby giving her depth and feasibility while still retaining her object status, at least when viewed through the male lead's eyes.
Also, to objectify someone it helps if the person talks at them, not to them. F'r instance, they'll bark commands at them like they were servants or something ("go stand over there", "take a memo", etc.) The man will use manipulative tactics to get what he wants, be it a quickie or breathing space. If the female complains, the man's self-centred egotistical nature will surface and the blame will be placed wholly on the woman ("You're bored? How do you think 'I' feel, coming home to this crap every night? Maybe if 'you' were more interesting we'd have more to talk about.")
But it's your book. Whenever anyone starts blundering in offering 'advice' (which is the ugly cousin of criticism) about the novel's direction, sometimes it's best to stick your fingers in your ears and sing:
'I'm-not-listening,
la-la-la-la-laaaaa.
You're talking crap,
La-LAAAA-la-laaaaa...(ad infitum)
P.S. Thanks for the helmet warning. I shall break out an anti-helmet tool of some kind next time I see you.
Nah I love advice and I figure the more male input I can get the better. It helps that I'm hardly girly anyway and have the highest contempt for a lot of women. It's getting more ridiculous as I go along and generally everytime she speaks my males ignore her but she's also become something of a compulsive liar and Russian too. I think i know how to flesh her out better, make her seem like a likeable character and have her end up this annoying, ignorable silly girl. It might work if I can commit to it.
I shall wear two helmets and have traps hidden in between the helmety layers. Traps that involve lasers.
Go for it. The first manuscript is never a finished manuscript anyway. If anything, its something solid to work with as you touch it up, amend/delete/add scenes, and turn it from a draft into the finished product.
Mind that to make a character believable to the contemporary reader, you need to develop characters through action and dialogue. Show, rather than tell, what's going on and why (not: 'He was loud and rude' but: 'Hey, you! Away get my dinner!" he bellowed').
They need adequate motivation for their actions and words. Drama is people doing extraordinary things for very good reasons. Melodrama is when they do the same things but for no reason.
And remember to display all the elements you need to conclude a scene or plot device before it's needed. If someone's getting the business-end of a knife at some point then, I dunno, show the frustrated house-wife chopping vegetables in the kitchen prior to the explosive argument that sees dear Mr. Wright getting pinned to a wall. By his testes.
And suspense comes from making the solution of a problematic situation uncertain for the reader. What makes this tricky is that pulling a proverbial bunny out the hat will just leave the reader feeling cheated. Instead, the solution has to have been shadowed or suggested earlier, maybe at the beginning of a scene or even way back at the very beginning. If the reader goes 'ah-ha...' when the solution presents itself instead of 'pfft' then you've succeeded in building suspense and guiding the character through it.
P.S. And thanks for the dual-helmet warning. I will counter-act it with a dual-edged, anti-helmet cutting tool with pneumatic drill attachment. As for the lasers, I'll take my chances. God willing, those Forbidden Pens will soon be mine.
you guys are crazy!
Also, "male input" hurhrurhrurh
Followed by female output in nine months! hurhurhur
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