Update on the Novel 2

Since I wrote so much for my mid-week blog, today I thought I'd write a quick update on my novel.

As I approach the climax, work has been slow, especially since I still haven't figured out how to write in a plausible ending, based on the personalities and behaviors of my characters, nor what that ending should be. The past few days, I have written two or three pages worth of material, only to have to delete most of that progress by the time my writing session is over, leaving me with a few paragraphs, at most, by bedtime. I believe Oscar Wilde said it best when he described writing in this manner:

"I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again."

The writing process is slow and can occur in fits and starts. One's progress in the morning can be negated by one's progress at night. Besides these observations, this quote points out how meticulous one has to be when revising. But one also needs a forum in which to try out new things and not have to worry about tidying up the wording or the grammar to perfection--a place where one is allowed to fail easily is also a place that allows one to succeed easily.

This blog isn't such a place, since I am writing partly for me and partly for my audience. Since my goal here is to communicate to my readers--which lies at the core of all literature--I can't write sloppy grammatical sentences or let spelling errors slip by, whereas when I write in my diary, only I have to be able to read and understand what I write. Even there, if I write terrible sentences or spell words strangely, then I will lose the meaning of what I wrote over time, as I rely more and more on the words to fill in the gaps of my memory, rather than the other way around. Still, this blog is a place where I can iron out rough edges, without having to make them smooth as glass.

As for my novel, I hope to finish my current revision in two months, if not sooner. I have gotten to the point where I'm ready to move on to short stories and poetry, instead of having this novel hog all of my writing time during the week.

Until next time.