Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Hearing the "Voices" Again...

So right now I’m about to dive into one of the “important” chapters of the novel I’m currently writing. You know, the part that the characters (and readers) have been waiting for - the proverbial hitting the fan.

But before I could write a word of it, I needed to go back through all of my notes. A great many notes dealt with this exact part of the book. I certainly didn’t want to forget to include anything salient that slipped my mind. It’s also a less easy task than it would seem, since I made it rather difficult for myself. I had quite a few files of notes. Not to mention some scraps of paper and one-line files that I also needed to make sure I had another gander at before compiling the scene.

As usual, I had a few bits missing. Not a shortcoming. Rather room to work out the little stuff. I hoped that my characters (ZJ and Andy) would provide me with some more details of their adventure. And oh yes, yes they did. In fact, they kept me up an hour or more past my bedtime - giving me info ranging from the sequence of new material to snips of conversation. It didn’t just comprise this “important” chapter, either. They lit up more of the rest of the work, too.

I did not escape so easily. When I finally made it to bed, ZJ forced me to grab my cell phone and launch the Notepad. Yup, even more. Nothing like typing drama into a tiny keypad under the covers.

I believe it’s fair to say I have quite the handle on the story now. Not that I ever lacked a grip on it. You might recall from this post that sometimes only the framework can be seen. Well, ZJ and Andy just painted, furnished and decorated it. But I just bet they still have some doozies they're still keeping to themselves as of yet.

It’s quite a story. I’m glad it’s being told to me. Now I just have to form it into words.

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