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An End Has A Start
I've been rewriting Necromancer Syndrome kind of slowly. I pretty much rewrote the first 25K from scratch. It's only been recently that I've found stuff from the first draft that wasn't so horrible, or actually made sense in the larger scheme of things.
I've also noticed that in the first draft a good portion of the female characters are the take charge, brook no nonsense, kick your ass as soon as look at you type. And I have to admit, I usually cringe whenever I read about that type of uber-woman in fiction (because they're usually poorly written). And guess what? Yup. Same is true for my characters.
I've never rewritten anything quite this large. When I got to the end of the first draft, I was like, "Yay! I'm done! But...not really. It's kind of the start."
But I've realized something. I'm still in love with this idea. The first book I ever finished...none of the characters or ideas really chased after me. I didn't know where I was going, what I was doing, or what the hell it was about (oh yes, 637 pages later, I learned it wasn't about anything. Oh, and was a poor semi-imitation of my favorite book).
But this one...I feel like it's all mine. Not some poorly veiled attempted a fan-fiction or something.
Right.
Anyway, I just finished reading The Golden Compass and started on the next one. Now, I really liked the first book, and so far I like the second one. They're both damn fine books. But in places the author gets perilously close to going on long-winded diatribes about religion. Already in places it feels a little...heavy handed.
I hate diatribes. Whether or not I happen to agree with the author's point of view or not. Trying too hard to make a statement in fiction...just doesn't work for me. If you want that badly to take a stand on something controversial or hot-buttony, get it out of your system and write an essay. Then, set that essay aside and write fiction now that you're a little farther removed from the issue at hand.
Not to say that fiction should be empty, or shouldn't say something important about all sorts of issues. The best stories in literature do that (and I hated reading Victorian literature, but the ones we read chipped away at or challenged the strictness of women's roles, which showed it can be done subtlety). It just shouldn't...rant or push or shove the issue down you're throat. Maybe it's an issue of subtlety. Maybe it's going into the story without an ulterior motive, or the idea that you'll change the world and make everyone see as you see.
I once read a different book in a very popular series by a very popular fantasy author where one of the characters literally stood on a soap box. Seriously. Up on a box. Ten pages later and the character was still ranting. Ten pages of dialogue rants. It didn't move the plot forward. It didn't reveal anything about the character. The character became a two-dimensional mouthpiece for the author's views.
I haven't read anything by this author since.
Ah, and now that I've gone off on a rant about rants (but you'll notice I didn't write a short story about a young recent college grad who is angry about rants in fiction), I shall say adieu.
Erm, adieu.
I've also noticed that in the first draft a good portion of the female characters are the take charge, brook no nonsense, kick your ass as soon as look at you type. And I have to admit, I usually cringe whenever I read about that type of uber-woman in fiction (because they're usually poorly written). And guess what? Yup. Same is true for my characters.
I've never rewritten anything quite this large. When I got to the end of the first draft, I was like, "Yay! I'm done! But...not really. It's kind of the start."
But I've realized something. I'm still in love with this idea. The first book I ever finished...none of the characters or ideas really chased after me. I didn't know where I was going, what I was doing, or what the hell it was about (oh yes, 637 pages later, I learned it wasn't about anything. Oh, and was a poor semi-imitation of my favorite book).
But this one...I feel like it's all mine. Not some poorly veiled attempted a fan-fiction or something.
Right.
Anyway, I just finished reading The Golden Compass and started on the next one. Now, I really liked the first book, and so far I like the second one. They're both damn fine books. But in places the author gets perilously close to going on long-winded diatribes about religion. Already in places it feels a little...heavy handed.
I hate diatribes. Whether or not I happen to agree with the author's point of view or not. Trying too hard to make a statement in fiction...just doesn't work for me. If you want that badly to take a stand on something controversial or hot-buttony, get it out of your system and write an essay. Then, set that essay aside and write fiction now that you're a little farther removed from the issue at hand.
Not to say that fiction should be empty, or shouldn't say something important about all sorts of issues. The best stories in literature do that (and I hated reading Victorian literature, but the ones we read chipped away at or challenged the strictness of women's roles, which showed it can be done subtlety). It just shouldn't...rant or push or shove the issue down you're throat. Maybe it's an issue of subtlety. Maybe it's going into the story without an ulterior motive, or the idea that you'll change the world and make everyone see as you see.
I once read a different book in a very popular series by a very popular fantasy author where one of the characters literally stood on a soap box. Seriously. Up on a box. Ten pages later and the character was still ranting. Ten pages of dialogue rants. It didn't move the plot forward. It didn't reveal anything about the character. The character became a two-dimensional mouthpiece for the author's views.
I haven't read anything by this author since.
Ah, and now that I've gone off on a rant about rants (but you'll notice I didn't write a short story about a young recent college grad who is angry about rants in fiction), I shall say adieu.
Erm, adieu.