Pull It In
In trying to describe my work-in-progress, I realized last night that it's rather huge--interesecting storylines, multiple POVs, lot of characters (some human, some not), time travel, 400+ years of history. It's out of control.
And so I took a deep breath, and I said (to the woman who asked), "It's about a couple falling in love as the entire world quite literally falls apart."
And then I exhaled.
Sometimes, I think it's good to pull it in. I am actually, for real, taping up that sentence to my desk today. And I am going to leave it there, through every scene and every century, through plot twists, and tragedies, and scenes of ordinary days and end-of-days. Because in the end, that is what the book is about.
The bigger your story, sometimes the easier it is to lose sight of it. And sometimes the easier it is to lose the emotion of it, the character of it, the depth of it. You can get so distracted with world building and these great hooks, and with the bells and whistles you toss in, that you forget the emotional core.
So that's what my book is about. I feel so much better. I've pulled it in. That's the heart of it. Will there be plague and destruction and wandering people with no recall of who they are? Yeah, a little of that. Will Chernobyl's dead zone be there? And London in 1665? And New York in 2018? Yeah. But in the end, it's about two people finding a desperate love as civilization is ending.
Do you find you sometimes need to pull it in?
20 comments:
My son's teacher sure thought I needed to pull it together. I went to the parent teacher conference and walked into last year's classroom. This year's teacher comes to get me and I'm giving her a blank look and staring around her room like I've never seen it even though I was there the first day. Fortunately I was in tune with all this year's activities, I just seemed to think last year's teacher in last year's classroom was the one doing it.
I hope she now sympathizes with my son when he says, "I don't know what Mom did with the form!"
Richmond:
I have many "pull it together" moments, LOL!
E
I made it to my kids conferences okay this week, but I completely missed an opportunity to visit my son's classroom--it wasn't on my radar. When I realized it, I asked my son about it, and he said he was bummed out that I didn't show up. And never told me ;-( Oh well, sometimes we all make mistakes.
I feel like my NaNo is an exercise in pulling it in. I keep thinking to myself, this will be a great place to add to later. Which is a little funny, since NaNo is supposed to encourage fluffing up the word count. I just am trying to stay true to the story instead of exploring extraneous ideas and avenues during this draft.
I think sometimes we get mired in our details as writers--it makes it hard extract out the essence to write a good pitch or query.
I'm always in need of pulling it in. I swear I could talk for ten minutes about a 500 word flash fiction piece I've written, and not give away the "whoa" ending. That glassy eyed stare is a dead giveaway that I need to pull it in.
Heather:
In this case, it's not even my pitch (though I have to work on that, too). It's the emotional core I have to keep front and center.
E
Beth:
I find if I remind myself of the core, it will (I hope) keep me directed in every scene.
E
My wip isn't nearly as complicated as all that, but it does have a couple twists and turns. When I pull it all in to the "simple sentence" it sounds so boring, but I guess I shouldn't look at it that way, huh?
Thank you for all the comments on my chapters. I'm still trying to digest the comments and figure out how to correct. I told my sister it is like staring at a Chevy Impala knowing this is the vehicle that will get me to NY but the engine is broken and I have not a clue how to fix it. She told me, don't think of it as a Chevy Impala. It's a Rolls Royce.
I definitely think there are dangers in the so-called "high concept" description: It's like Moby Dick Meets Pride & Prejudice!
At the same time, I think there are good reasons to do so that don't necessarily have anything to do with marketing (where it's a damned good idea). Sure, "obsessed ship captain hunts a white whale to his and his crew's doom" doesn't quite tell you what Moby Dick is all about, but it is the core of the story. And a lot of times writers lose sight of the core of their own story.
I'm trying to pull it in, I really am... some of my characters are resisting being tamed at the moment :-)
Melanie:
Like I've been saying, to me it's less about a "pitch" as a reminder of what the soul of it is.
E
Richmond:
No problem. It is a Rolls Royce.
;-) Just need to polish her chrome a little.
I think remember that each scene has a conflict/purpose, and work with that core.
E
Mark:
Agreed! You couldn't sell, I don't think, without your hook. But I think it's sometimes good to remember what the emotional center is.
E
I'm often trying to pull it in.
Here's what I have posted on a note in my writing space. This is compliments of The Literary Lab blog a couple of weeks ago:
"Don't let plot push your protagonist. Have the plot result for the protagonist pushing against life."
It's been helping me to focus on all my characters' journeys.
SCAR often wants to explode into a million tiny plotlines, especially now that I've got MPOVs. But at its heart is Trinidad, trying his damnedest to save his people.
Erica, that distinction makes sense.
I love your sentence. Reminded me a bit of Moulin Rouge, where it said "This is a story about love."
To pull my book in, I would just have to say it's a love story. My favorite kind :)
Yeah, except it's not there yet, so I have to create it. So I keep writing then throwing away everything, which isn't even close to normal for me.
I feel like I have a thousand of tendrils flailing in the wind and no body. I've got plot and elements up the wazoo.
Nadine:
It's funny . . . I rewrote the entire second chapter, and I was surprised at the love story there. It's very much about shutting the world out.
E
Spy:
This one has a lot of tendrils, but they are starting to be much clearer. I have decided on three POVs--Evie's (third, close), Nathaniel's (third, semi-omniscient), and Sister Irene (third, close, but she can see death). Aleksey's POV is going to be told through Nathaniel, as is Crick's. But even though they get their own chapters, it's still through death's eyes.
E
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