Is what it feels like - it's not as though I'd fallen off - but getting back into it is difficult. It is partly because a lot of it is editing and I feel if I edit the first 4-5 chapters ever again it will only be with a gun at my head. They now feel as flat as ink... but perhaps I should say "very smoothly written" and be nice about my writing.
This afternoon I was delighted to discover that having cut a whole darling chapter (the sojourn in France) it was necessary to create a miniaturised flashback version to get in the Amsterdam Sex Olympics and the somewhat sexist Jim Haynes (who is not mentioned by name) - he of the open dinner party fame... to illustrate how Lucy's ideas about open Brave New People fell a bit flat. So that cheered me up. Then Finn came home and we had long amicable discussions about homework, detentions, social class, his new English teacher etc. I am a bit worried since Finn is behaving more responsibly etc. at home, but I fear he hasn't quite got his act together at school. He does have a new friend who is "even more of a grammar fascist than me". I was shocked at the this: Finn was notable for his "whatever" attitude to grammar a few months ago, I remember explaining the difference between There are and there is to him... he said I was being ridiculous and that no one cared about it. I said that people might not care, but in the end if people didn't use proper grammar then no one would be able to understand each other - that there were already people I'd met who couldn't understand me because I spoke more accurate English and I couldn't really understand them because their language wasn't specific enough and contained too many possible meanings. Obviously this discussion has gone in, and now he is priding himself on this.
This is of course the wrong blog for these observations, but I suppose it's language - it's part of my demesne, and obviously both Ned and Finn have benefited from having literate parents. Finn is also becoming fascinated with the nuances of social class - interestingly has made a new friend (the grammar fascist) who he says is the most middle class boy in school...it's hard to tell really, so many of them talk down so as not to be noticed. But I am delighted he has a new friend.
Literature: I actually wrote a bit first thing this morning - because when I woke up I found I had an idea about Conscience which was so useful. I realised that John Ames, the protagonist in Gilead was roughly a contemporary of my character David... although MR has wisely avoided giving him any antiquated ideas. Obviously David is a very different person, and younger, more volatile... but for whatever reason I started writing the fateful bedroom scene from Conscience - and found more ideas as I went along, so clearly leaving David and Kitty on the compost heap for a bit has softened them and they are now metamorphosing nicely.
This afternoon I was delighted to discover that having cut a whole darling chapter (the sojourn in France) it was necessary to create a miniaturised flashback version to get in the Amsterdam Sex Olympics and the somewhat sexist Jim Haynes (who is not mentioned by name) - he of the open dinner party fame... to illustrate how Lucy's ideas about open Brave New People fell a bit flat. So that cheered me up. Then Finn came home and we had long amicable discussions about homework, detentions, social class, his new English teacher etc. I am a bit worried since Finn is behaving more responsibly etc. at home, but I fear he hasn't quite got his act together at school. He does have a new friend who is "even more of a grammar fascist than me". I was shocked at the this: Finn was notable for his "whatever" attitude to grammar a few months ago, I remember explaining the difference between There are and there is to him... he said I was being ridiculous and that no one cared about it. I said that people might not care, but in the end if people didn't use proper grammar then no one would be able to understand each other - that there were already people I'd met who couldn't understand me because I spoke more accurate English and I couldn't really understand them because their language wasn't specific enough and contained too many possible meanings. Obviously this discussion has gone in, and now he is priding himself on this.
This is of course the wrong blog for these observations, but I suppose it's language - it's part of my demesne, and obviously both Ned and Finn have benefited from having literate parents. Finn is also becoming fascinated with the nuances of social class - interestingly has made a new friend (the grammar fascist) who he says is the most middle class boy in school...it's hard to tell really, so many of them talk down so as not to be noticed. But I am delighted he has a new friend.
Literature: I actually wrote a bit first thing this morning - because when I woke up I found I had an idea about Conscience which was so useful. I realised that John Ames, the protagonist in Gilead was roughly a contemporary of my character David... although MR has wisely avoided giving him any antiquated ideas. Obviously David is a very different person, and younger, more volatile... but for whatever reason I started writing the fateful bedroom scene from Conscience - and found more ideas as I went along, so clearly leaving David and Kitty on the compost heap for a bit has softened them and they are now metamorphosing nicely.
No comments:
Post a Comment