Drinking Salsa by the Gallon
That's what I do with my weeknights: consume massive amounts of salsa.
It's my new addiction. Right now, it's the only thing that makes me deliciously happy.
(Even the description combines more than one of the senses consequently heightening the experience)
A friend of mine raised a challenge to me recently: to write a novel in 30 days.
(a crap novel, but a novel nonetheless)
My first reaction echoed my inner monologue: "I am not capable of writing a novel! Are you on crack?"
Then idea began growing on me. In fact, I find myself thinking about it frequently.
It will most certainly be crappy, but it will be mine.
One of my ideas includes the main character recalling a time when (she/he?...Not telling) was deliciously happy.
[make sure to dwell on "deliciously" when reading]
Delightfully pleased, wildly passionate with spectacular feelings of excitement on which one's senses endlessly feast,....
And now, nothing.
(the nothing part is my life - not that of my character)
How sad that I feel that my life could not possibly include this delicious happiness anymore.
(unless it came in a jar with cilantro and jalapenos)
It's my new addiction. Right now, it's the only thing that makes me deliciously happy.
(Even the description combines more than one of the senses consequently heightening the experience)
A friend of mine raised a challenge to me recently: to write a novel in 30 days.
(a crap novel, but a novel nonetheless)
My first reaction echoed my inner monologue: "I am not capable of writing a novel! Are you on crack?"
Then idea began growing on me. In fact, I find myself thinking about it frequently.
It will most certainly be crappy, but it will be mine.
One of my ideas includes the main character recalling a time when (she/he?...Not telling) was deliciously happy.
[make sure to dwell on "deliciously" when reading]
Delightfully pleased, wildly passionate with spectacular feelings of excitement on which one's senses endlessly feast,....
And now, nothing.
(the nothing part is my life - not that of my character)
How sad that I feel that my life could not possibly include this delicious happiness anymore.
(unless it came in a jar with cilantro and jalapenos)
posted by Black Mamba at 7:58 PM
10 Comments:
You know what's weird? I was talking to Tim on the phone, and he mentioned this 30 day novel thing, and just now, writing in my Other bloggy on livejournal, I wrote the following entry, which has a certain almost identical idea to the one you mention here.
[inserted from my Livejournal entry .. written about 10 minutes ago...]
My friend tim phoned and we talked, as we often do, about all sorts of stuff. but one thing he said that stuck in my mind is the idea of writing a 30 day novel. One writes it in the 30 days that are November. One should write, say, 30 thousand words. That's a lot of words.
One little idea he mentioned, that I think is a good one, is not to write in one's highest and loftiest style, or with any kind of attempt to impress with one's literary prowess. I do tend to kill my writing urge by criticizing what I write. That's the trouble with being self-conscious about one's own writing.
But every time I read a novel by a young writer in her (or his) twenties or thirties, I think, "I can write better fiction than this". Well, how about writing something, rather than nothing, and leaving the better part out of it.
Idea #1: Mix the thing I really like about Dorothy Sayer's detective novels (the witty and crystaline nature of its prose), with the thing I really like about Before Sunrise and Before Sunset (the talk about love, life, fate, destiny, everything), and the thing I really like about Amelie (the way that the movie makes me feel), and write some quirky thing that aims more at feelings, delicious feelings. I think C.S. Lewis really succeeds at putting things he considers delicious into his Narnia books. There must be some way for me to capture some of this in writing.
Idea #2: Write something bitter, in which I don't like any of the characters very much. I got the impression that Miriam Toews (who wrote A Complicated Kindness) didn't like her characters very much, with the exception of the protagonist's father. Maybe, in a non-autobiographical twist, I'll write a bitter story about a man embittered by his parent's earnest fundamentalist athiesm, so he adopts some obscure religion that is offensive to their tastes and beliefs, perhaps Cao Dai, a weird hybrid religion from Vietnam, that our hero tries to import into Canada. (This might, in fact, end up trying to copy the style of the master of dark short stories, Flannery O'Connor, and while it would be nice to write a tip-of-the-hat in her direction, I shouldn't like to completely copy her mode.)
Idea #3: Write a romance novel. This could of course, be fun, and is the most ludicrous thing I can imagine myself ever doing. This idea is just ludicrous enough that I could do it. It would certainly help me to leave behind any pretense to high-brow literary merit.
The world has enough bad novels already - why not write an autobiographical retrospective about one of your life experiences - like 'Wind, Sand and Stars' by Antoine de Ste. Exupery?
Warren:
That's crazy! (everything. but particularly the reference to "things delicious"!).
I like your idea #1 best
Timlap:
Yes I would.
Unfortunately it's 9:35pm and I'd be walking in on the middle of the film :(
Well if you're going out for refreshments afterward, call me.
Papasmurf:
The only thing I've read by Antoine is Le Petit Prince (en francais). Perhaps I should look into Wind, Sand and Stars.
For now, I think I'll avoid anything autobiographical. Although admittedly, anything I would write would most likely contain elements of my passed.
Tim - you are such a "writing-pusher" Take your evil mind altering substance back to the ghetto, man!
Ultracrepidarian & Black Mamba - JUST SAY NO!!!
We should start a little book club to discuss the works of de Ste. Exupery and other fine authors. We could meet for beer and nachos and salsa (of course) and have intellectual discussions - or a reasonable facsimile thereof.
I for one think Tim is doing Yeoman work here.
How many chapters have you written so far?
only one and November is getting on quickly here...
I've written two chapters, and a bit of a character summary thingy, so I can write down who these people are, and so I can let the plot happen in whatever way it happens, as long as I have some idea who is who. Even if I don't finish the novel, I'm still going to at least WRITE as much as I can in November.
Tonight, Tuesday, I should be at Scouts. But I'm havinga bit of a meltdown, and I can't face life today. My shoulders are wound up so tight, I'm liable to snap at the poor little kids who I'm supposed to be having fun with and teaching scouting stuff too. So I took tonight off. I wish I had some companions around in this city to go out for a beer tonight.
Sigh.
Warren
Black Mamba, your audience eagerly awaits your newest post, or are you too busy scribbling out your shiny new (crap) novel?
Warren, don't be discouraged, Thunder Bay is full of all sorts friendly beer drinking people.
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