The slow creep of progress

Even the author isn’t fully in control of what develops in a novel

The novel creeps along, far more slowly than I would like. I have discovered that each new book requires some different approach to its organization. I don’t know exactly why one method lapses into being ineffectual. Maybe innovating the process is part of the process.

Anyway, instead of my usual maps and charts, this time I am using color coded tabs in my printed manuscript to keep the different plot lines in order and distributed properly throughout. The way the focus shifts from one character to another is a question of pacing, and it is mostly intuitive. As I re-read I find myself thinking there’s too much of somebody, and where is somebody else, so I rearrange, and then that can create continuity problems which must be addressed. It’s like putting together a complex puzzle with no correct answers.

This novel is developing a shift in emphasis on the characters, which feels to me as if I am being pulled in a different direction. That, too, is intuition more than planning. I set out moving one way, and find the whole thing going somewhere else. It’s not a muddle, but the full formation is not yet clear. It’s also—if I’m doing it right—not completely under my control. If I try to stop the direction and pull it back, I get stuck. It’s a bit like following a country road in the middle of nowhere without a map. You walk along, looking around at where you are, but you can’t turn back, and you can’t decide to take a turn—you have to just follow the road and look for the signs. It’s all pretty mysterious. Even to me.

The color tabs for each character—and a group— in the new novel, in no particular order.

And now for your gratuitous dog photo:

I bought a big box of new soft dog toys, partly to keep Eli from carrying our socks all over the house, but mostly because he loves them. Auggie, who cares only for green balls, has been industriously shredding them, as you can see from the stuffing beneath the couch. I come into a room and it looks as if something has exploded. Their relationship is like that of all siblings: sometimes contentious, but with an underpinning of affection. You can tell this is affection by Eli’s flattened ears.

You can purchase my books at your favorite bookseller. Some of my favorite shops are Honest Dog Books, Boswell Book Company, Mystery to Me Books, Books and Company, Barbara’s Bookstores, Barnes & Noble, Target, and, of course, here. My illustrated children’s book, My Dog Pete is available only here.