It is well understood that in a phrase like 'getting that story out' the key word is "that". We all know we're not talking about just any story, but that story.
I won't keep you in suspense (although a good writer would): I am not writing that story. Maybe next time. This time, I'm writing something fun. To give you a hint, I had to really stop myself from relying on a dwarf purple dragon to bring the heroine her evening mead.
If this kind of book doesn't write itself, I thought to myself, what will? Because I need every possible help. And I get it not from: memory (unreliable), imagination (stilted, fickle), but from: friends; yakult; Moona (sole- and soul- reader) and Kira with whom I discuss character's names. I also rely on the phone, not to ring.
I am weaning myself off the internet (but not tonight) - and kindle. The only thing left in my bag is a book of Codewords; I solve several every day - and guess what? Sometimes they give me hints about the book. For example, the last two words a few days ago were "say" and "ice" - and the people in my book made a prompt u-turn to get to a glacier and do something extremely important and exciting on ice...
This is unreasonable fervour, some will say, what if the last words are "write" and "end" - will I put the pen down and spend my day on YouTube? Or "syphon" and "sanity"? You get the idea.
Apart from acting as an occasional oracle, this Codeword whim has become a bit of a torch-in-the-dark. I'm getting better, slowly - and a sensational thing started to happen: sometimes I see a word, fully formed, perfect, although there are no letters or clues there - only empty boxes and code numbers. In the same way the day might come when I will see a book, fully formed before it's written - with characters and actions, with words and comas and the right geography.
Then I won't feel like I'm skidding on ice (!) every time I get towards the middle of a phrase. And when I finish my premonitory Codewords with "Xenon" and "cashew" I will know exactly what to do.
I won't keep you in suspense (although a good writer would): I am not writing that story. Maybe next time. This time, I'm writing something fun. To give you a hint, I had to really stop myself from relying on a dwarf purple dragon to bring the heroine her evening mead.
If this kind of book doesn't write itself, I thought to myself, what will? Because I need every possible help. And I get it not from: memory (unreliable), imagination (stilted, fickle), but from: friends; yakult; Moona (sole- and soul- reader) and Kira with whom I discuss character's names. I also rely on the phone, not to ring.
I am weaning myself off the internet (but not tonight) - and kindle. The only thing left in my bag is a book of Codewords; I solve several every day - and guess what? Sometimes they give me hints about the book. For example, the last two words a few days ago were "say" and "ice" - and the people in my book made a prompt u-turn to get to a glacier and do something extremely important and exciting on ice...
This is unreasonable fervour, some will say, what if the last words are "write" and "end" - will I put the pen down and spend my day on YouTube? Or "syphon" and "sanity"? You get the idea.
Apart from acting as an occasional oracle, this Codeword whim has become a bit of a torch-in-the-dark. I'm getting better, slowly - and a sensational thing started to happen: sometimes I see a word, fully formed, perfect, although there are no letters or clues there - only empty boxes and code numbers. In the same way the day might come when I will see a book, fully formed before it's written - with characters and actions, with words and comas and the right geography.
Then I won't feel like I'm skidding on ice (!) every time I get towards the middle of a phrase. And when I finish my premonitory Codewords with "Xenon" and "cashew" I will know exactly what to do.
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