When the idea for Selkie Song first came to me, more than two decades ago, I saw the myth of the selkie as a powerful metaphor for sexual and romantic abuse: a man met this enchanted fairy creature, a seal in the sea and a woman on dry land, and stole her seal skin, her deep feminine self from her.
This novel has undergone so many deep changes. Early on, the main character was neither Ben, the young man who discovers the selkie, or Eloyn, the selkie herself. A third character took center stage, and the story of Ben and Eloyn filtered through the then protagonist's consciousness. Thanks to Louise Hawes, I realized I was protecting myself from the full impact of Ben and Eloyn's story. The whole novel shifted.
Now it is shifting again as I revise, though in a subtler way. (The earlier change dropped the novel from 250 pages to 90; then it grew again in the new direction.) Now I feel like Ben's heart and soul are fully revealing his true self to me as I revise; some events later in the novel that never felt like he had earned them now flow in a more unified way.
I am grateful for the process of revision, for my experiences as a writer, and for the way both Ben and his story are coming into deeper alignment.
I believe characters live in one layer of reality and readers in another. It is my job as an author to build a bridge between the two. I strive to share writing struggles and triumphs. Inspired by Jo in Little Women, I began writing at age nine and submitted my first story for publication at seventeen. I haven't looked back since; words, pens and paper, and the keyboard have been my constant companions ever since.
Showing posts with label character-driven fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label character-driven fiction. Show all posts
17.1.12
25.9.11
Slowing down (at least for the day)
At the most recent meeting of my writers group, I shared one of the first chapters that is not in the heroine's point of view. Instead, the reader spends some time viewing the world from the perspective of Holofernes, the Assyrian general and Judith's antagonist.
The group made some strong suggestions to amp up the sense of what I'll call the general's "evil quotient." While that does not materially change the manuscript, I need to spend some time today in his head and heart. Afterward, I always feel like I need to take a shower.
It also requires that I slow down, sit quietly with paper and pen to hand, and jot down what Holofernes sees, believes, thinks and (ick) feels. I've actually done something I don't usually do today: put off my writing time by writing emails, washing dishes, etc. But the novel will be all the better for the progression of my sister writers' feedback, the consult with my character (little though I like him) and the eventual revision.
The group made some strong suggestions to amp up the sense of what I'll call the general's "evil quotient." While that does not materially change the manuscript, I need to spend some time today in his head and heart. Afterward, I always feel like I need to take a shower.
It also requires that I slow down, sit quietly with paper and pen to hand, and jot down what Holofernes sees, believes, thinks and (ick) feels. I've actually done something I don't usually do today: put off my writing time by writing emails, washing dishes, etc. But the novel will be all the better for the progression of my sister writers' feedback, the consult with my character (little though I like him) and the eventual revision.
Labels:
character-driven fiction,
revision
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