Saturday, January 22, 2011

Red Ink Notes

For a little insight into this writer's brain, here's a glimpse at what my red ink notes look like (as copied from a fat 5-subject notebook.)  (Picture the below in barely legible red handwriting):

UEQ - hashing

Okay so Rue & S are at Rue's old house.  J is in the basement - alive or dead?
  • - What now?
  • - W comes back - surprising the gals
  • - C kills W?
Oh my god, who the hell cares? Why is any of this even remotely important?

You got too far away from the premise.

What is the premise?

A govt doing X is the set up - what is the point of this novel?

Somewhere along the way you lost the idea of what you wanted from this book.  Obviously you wanted to show what the world would be like if the government forced people to be Y.

Rue should've been a D, but she wasn't allowed to be - so she did it on her own.  Rising above.

The best will always rise above.

(pg2)

The best will always rise no matter what people do to make them Y.

(
With all letters in place of character names and plot points I'm not ready to make public yet.)

Believe it or not, the above took me a while to write because I was stopping to think.  And that's where I stopped because my hand was cramping and then I let myself get distracted by the sheer ease of watching TV as opposed to hashing this out.  Unfortunate because I think I was this close to a breakthrough.  I think it hinges on that last statement at the top of pg 2, but it fell apart along with my wrist's ability to hold a pen.  (And my brain's getting sucked out watching Gold Rush* on Discovery.)

It's like that scene from Frankenstein (or maybe Young Frankenstein) where the monster is trying to pick the music out of the air with his fingers.  I know the idea I'm searching for is right there, but I can't grab it out of the air.  Bleh.

I will make myself figure this out today.  Even if I have to spent the whole day crocheting and the whole night writing in my notebook - being much harsher than I was last night.  (I can really kick my own ass in these hashing sessions.)

Wish me luck.

*Is it just me or should that show be renamed Fools' Gold?  Because none of those guys seem like they have two brain cells to rub together.  I mean, don't they think ahead?  Plan ahead?  About anything? I have an idea.  If you're planning on moving your whole lives to Alaska, learn about indigenous wildlife (a black bear and a grizzly are distinctly different), pay attention to labels (bug spray should not be doused on a person like a cheap hooker splashes on perfume), investigate where your water source is coming from before you drink it without boiling it (umm, yeah, that brown crud might not be safe for consumption).  Seriously, the brightest person in camp is the dog.

5 comments:

  1. OK, I don't watch Gold Rush, but after your pithy description, I want to! Love the dog line!

    Also love the glimpse into your notebook. I, too, have a 'writer's diary' where I ponder the big and little questions of the manuscript. Mine is a little more scathing - I should do a post on it, if you don't mind the slight plagerism!

    And don't you just hate it when the idea, the brilliance, is just beyond reach? I know I do!

    Good luck with the continued hashing, B.E. - and have a great weekend (over and above the 'skirmish').

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  2. Feel free, Janet. I'd love to get a glimpse into your writing notebook. And trust me, my notes are usually much harder on myself than last night's bit. There's generally a liberal sprinkling of WTF??? - in bold and underlined. LOL

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  4. Good luck! I don't take notes, but I talk to myself quite a bit. The hubby thinks I'm a bit of a loon.

    And I totally agree about renaming the show. :P

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  5. Ha! Love the insight into other writers' thought processes. You'll have your breakthrough.

    Have a good weekend!

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