tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235768611327366654.post2070755737735454171..comments2023-05-14T04:39:08.524-04:00Comments on Words in the Right Order: Building blockDan L-Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235768611327366654.post-89036433561710940972008-11-11T20:05:00.000-05:002008-11-11T20:05:00.000-05:00I noticed that too, in Patterson's essay. And when...I noticed that too, in Patterson's essay. And when I found the "Learn Writing with Uncle Jim" thread earlier today, I noticed that he <I>also</I> uses the "take away everything that doesn't look like an elephant" image that I'm fond of referring to. It's almost like someone's trying to Tell Me Something.<BR/><BR/>("Have more material than you need" is also the first rule of improvisation, which every kind of creativity is also a form of; but that's probably an essay for another day.)Dan L-Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235768611327366654.post-66588823671656627892008-11-11T17:52:00.000-05:002008-11-11T17:52:00.000-05:00How interesting that Katherine Paterson used an ex...How interesting that Katherine Paterson used an extremely similar metaphor in her <A HREF="http://www.nanowrimo.org/node/3124518" REL="nofollow">pep talk</A> just today! The only difference for her is that the block already exists in the world, and has to be unearthed. I tend to agree more with your view, Jes: we have to create that block. And that's a hell of a job. <BR/><BR/>I think it also speaks to the whole idea of silencing your inner editor and not revising until you have a complete block to work with. Revise too much too early, and you'll damage the structural integrity of your block or take out something you could very well use later to shape a nose or an arm. You're very right, Dan: it is better to have more than you need than not enough.Elly Zupkohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00504321351871068060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4235768611327366654.post-38882538020809018262008-11-11T09:35:00.000-05:002008-11-11T09:35:00.000-05:00Jes, that's a particularly apt metaphor for me thi...Jes, that's a particularly apt metaphor for me this time around. My current work-in-progress is something of an incoherent mess; I'm not even sure where exactly it's going, or if there's going to be any plot to speak of, only that there are all these set pieces I want to arrange into something that might pass for a story. And I think I've finally talked myself into just throwing everything out there and letting it sort itself out; later, I can pare it down to what's necessary, but I can't do that unless I have more raw material than I need. <BR/><BR/>Jim Macdonald (whose writing advice I really need to find and add to the sidebar links) compares novel writing to building a crate: if you have a bunch of pieces of wood of about the right size, and you nail them together and it's not quite right, you can always disassemble the thing and put it back together again until you have a crate. (Short stories <I>don't</I> work this way, but that's another subject...)Dan L-Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10378801381611890154noreply@blogger.com