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November 05, 2005
The Shape of Things
I saw a student production of the above play last night, and I was glad to have been there. It was brilliantly cast, and the actors all did solid, thoughtful work. Of course there were choices I disagreed with, everyone has their own idea of how a moment should be crafted. But cast, director and designer should be really, really proud of their work.
Dave didn't go with me. Grad school, full-time job and some stuff on the side are finally taking their toll, I think. At one point yesterday, he and Polyphemos were zonked on the couch. It was so sweet. So he didn't go to the show, preferring to stay home and do some sleeping. So of course last night was the night everyone who knows him attended. Well, maybe not everyone, but most of them. Every. single. person. asked me where he was. And to every. single. person. I gave the same answer: He's asleep on the couch with the one-eyed cat.
Paul thought it was a good play title; John said it sounded like a country western song. I plumped for the title of a collection of essays. Regardless, it's a great image. Which is why I kept repeating it.
Okay. Must do some novel-oriented writing now. I've set myself a new goal: 2000 words a day. The way I see it, my story is going to need lots and lots of cuts and editing once it's finished, so why not make sure I can pare things down and still have a book-length book? As of 2am, I was at 9680. By tomorrow evening, I need to be at 12,000 words. Considering that I've just now got to the interesting part, I don't think I'll have trouble getting to that point.
My only worry is that I'm going to turn out to be Stephen King or Tom Clancy, writing thousands of words that nobody cares about. Not that they don't tell compelling stories, only that they tend to ramble on sometimes with uninteresting and unnecessary detail. I want my story to be spare and clean. I have to write all the detail now to be sure I get the whole thing out, but I'm going to work very, very hard once it's done to be sure that there's no excess.
Last fall I read an interview with George Saunders (I don't recall where) in which he said something I have taken to heart in all of my writing since. -- Well, except here, of course. This is just for me, and anybody who thinks I say too much here is welcome to stop reading any time. -- Anyhow, I was so impressed with one of the things he said that I typed it up and hung it on the wall above my desk:
My thought is that you trust the hot spots. Don't even think about anything else. Look for the place where the prose energy is high. Cut away the other stuff--be brave enough to do that.
Right now, I'm writing the whole, bloody casserole. Later on, I'll go through and pick out the tasty bits.
Posted by sally at November 5, 2005 11:51 AM
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