I don't think I have an author in me, but this is interesting. Please keep us posted on the processes, both on finalising the book, and the struggle to get published.
Tim Mostly harmless (just plain Norwegian) -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Paul Stenquist Sent: 24. oktober 2006 02:27 To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List Subject: Re: Way OT: How I spent my summer Hi Lasse, I spent a lot of time thinking about how the book should work before I started. I knew I wanted the narrative style to be part of the concept. Because the protagonist gradually becomes psychotic as the plot unfolds, the narrative is the vehicle that illustrates this. When he lapses into a psychotic state, the narrator switches to the alter personality. I did have a false start. I began writing in 1st person, past tense, but realized early on that past tense would spoil the effect. So I switched to present tense. I soon discovered that a first-person narrative is limiting, because it can't be omniscient. But I've been able to work with that. There is enough meat in the protagonist's interactions to sustain without providing information that would be unknown to him. He's a complex character in a very difficult situation. I wrote the beginning first, then the end, and finally the middle. But by the time I reached the point where I was ready to attach the ending, the plot had evolved, so I rewrote all of the final chapters. But having a goal from early on and some idea of where the story was going was beneficial. The ending that I eventually created was far stronger than what I had originally foreseen. I think it's surprising and quite powerful. But what others think will, of course, be the real test. Paul > From: "Paul Stenquist" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >> Thanks Lasse. Good to see you here. > > Thanks. > >> I'm hoping this will be the beginning of the next part of my life. > > Well, I'll share those hopes for you. > >> But one never knows. All we >> can do is to keep pounding away at it. I think writing is a habit. If >> you do it every day, it becomes a part of your life. It's like >> dieting. You just have to get started. > > Let's see if I can too. In fact today I contacted two publishers by > telephone regarding a project I've been thinking of for a long > time. Not a > novel though. > I will have to submit a draft or a synopsis, and we'll continue > from there. > > Anyway, I guess there is enough headroom on the list to allow for a > bit of > literary OT for a change among cars, beverages, dogs and OS:s etc.: > > I gather you have been writing a lot, however mostly shorter things > as I > understand from earlier posts by you. > When writing a (first) novel, you deal with a completely new aspect of > writing/telling - the extended form, the development of the story > etc. - has > this posed problems or dilemmas to you while writing, or have you > been able > to write this draft without any particular agony about how to find > a form > which benefits your story the best? > > Lasse > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
