Endless beginnings

I've been writing since I was six-years-old. Maybe because I was bored, but regardless the reason, my life has been a long narration. Among the piles of manuscripts under my desk and in some cheap IKEA file holders, there are hundreds of stories that have sprung to an almost life from my brain. Most of them still dangle somewhere between the cosmic Milky Way of ideas and the typed page.

My latest attempt is a fun work in progress. It would need to classified as a science fiction novel, though there are no strange beings or space ships. I like to keep things as believable as possible despite any fantastic elements the tale may hold. 

I was inspired to write this story two years ago when I heard a song while I was working. Particular lyrics often inspire bits of story in me even if the song itself is lame. This one was called "Caravan Girl" or something. The point is that the lyrics invoked the imagery of a gypsy girl that kind of reminded me of Red Riding Hood with the cloak and all that, and a horse and carriage rambling through the forest. At lunch break, in the windowless fluorescent-lit room with a Coke machine, I scribbled down the scene I saw in my head.

I liked this gypsy girl, whoever she was—maybe because "Gypsie" is the nickname my husband gave me when we started dating and I have an egotistical calling to portray aspects of myself on paper.  I thought about her a lot and then decided that she wasn't the main character and she wasn't a gypsy.

The main character showed up first as Caleb, then I changed his name because I needed his name to mean something very specific. I have a thing about names. I love my name book.  My grand-père bought it for me as a gift when I was 14. He always bought me writing books and movies. Maybe I'll write a post later about naming characters because it's one of my favorite things.

I decided, exactly two years ago today, to write in first person and to do something I've never done before—write the story in its entirety before fixing anything. This is a difficult and liberating task never been done by this perfectionist. That was my serial problem. I would edit my writings to death before they could even walk. I had thought about writing an overview first and then putting it all together, however I enjoy the element of surprise and I wanted to see where my characters would take me, so I compromised. I have broken down the book into sections and I have the general idea of how it begins and ends and what must happen to get from Point A to Point B. As a tackle each chapter, I work in three sections each containing about 2,000 words. I name these sections before writing them so I know when the action needs to take a turn. It's helping a lot.

When the skeleton story has been finished, I will then go back and do the fun part of fleshing it out. In that time, the sections will expand or deflate or completely disappear, depending on how all the pieces end up fitting together in the end.  It's my story, I can do what I want.

As of writing this post, I am tumbling through Chapter 6. If I had kept to my original calendar plan, I would have had the skeleton finished in May 2009. But things happen (work, children, moving, and other excuses) and I am recently getting back into a regular writing rhythm. Thus I started this blog, to help keep myself accountable to my goals.