After a three-day weekend of totally screwing around and not writing a word on the book, got back into it yesterday with a bit more than 1,500 words. That put me somewhat beyond 6,000 words total. Very shortly I will sit down to the laptop, galleys on a writing easel and about 20 reporter notebooks and see what I can do today. I want to beat the 500 word minimum; in fact, I'd like to write 1,500 or 2K every day, but doubt I will and don't want to tie myself to that expectation.
At this point, I'm simply building the story block by block, from start to finish. When that is done, I will go back and create the "writing" in it. And yeah, some of that will be "fluff," no denying it. And some humor at points, where appropriate. This is a dark and tragic story at best, and a little mood-lightener at places won't hurt anything so long as they don't damage the credibility of the story.
As an example, I plan to give asides such as the one below, concerning the DA who prosecuted the case. This is from a section completed.
That kind of thing. Back story and reference in some parts, personality stuff. You can't just lay down the utter bleak details without some kind of cushion, it's too dry and uninteresting.
Oh well, enough talking about how to do it. Time to do it instead.
At this point, I'm simply building the story block by block, from start to finish. When that is done, I will go back and create the "writing" in it. And yeah, some of that will be "fluff," no denying it. And some humor at points, where appropriate. This is a dark and tragic story at best, and a little mood-lightener at places won't hurt anything so long as they don't damage the credibility of the story.
As an example, I plan to give asides such as the one below, concerning the DA who prosecuted the case. This is from a section completed.
~~~
Assistant District Attorney Eleanor Cahill had handled the prior court actions in the case. Cahill was a good prosecutor who could get as tough as any of the boys when the going got rough, as she demonstrated many a time. However, with a case of this magnitude before the court, there was little doubt that the big gun himself, DA General Robert Gus Radford, would guide the prosecution with a personal hand. Thus, few were surprised to see General Radford seated on the state’s side of the table, flanked by Cahill and a stack of files.
“Gus,” as he was known to one and all, was a formidable foe in any court. A rather large man with a disarming friendliness, he came across to witnesses as a man ready to understand anything. He had a slight stammer and perhaps he used it to advantage at times, giving the impression that maybe he wasn’t keeping up with things well as he might have. But there was a steel-trap mind working all the time and, at the right moment, Gus would spring it and catch some witness under cross examination in a situation hard to explain. And he could come back with biting sarcasm when it was deserved.
Once, while questioning a woman whose husband, along with another man, was charged with robbing an elderly county resident, Radford inquired of whether or not she had noticed anything strange when she arose the morning after the robbery. The woman said she hadn’t really noticed anything unusual, although there were two sets of men’s clothing that hadn’t been there the night before in the middle of living room floor that morning. And also, she noticed a sawed-off shotgun on top of the refrigerator. That gave Radford a perfect opening, as he turned toward the jury and smiled.
“Oh, I’m sure we all understand that,” he said in all earnestness. “We all get up and find strange clothing in the middle of our living room floor and sawed-off shotguns on top of our refrigerator.” Several of the jurors unsuccessfully tried to suppress grins at that and at least one reporter struggled to keep from bursting out laughing. The witness could do nothing but sit there with a mortified look on her face.
~~~
That kind of thing. Back story and reference in some parts, personality stuff. You can't just lay down the utter bleak details without some kind of cushion, it's too dry and uninteresting.
Oh well, enough talking about how to do it. Time to do it instead.
1 comment:
1,525 words written this morning, which puts me closing in on 8K. I think I can finish the draft sometime in October, which will give me plenty of time to polish it up before year's end.
Two books in the last half of the year isn't bad, though I don't know that's a pace I wish to continue in the future--maybe two a year would be more agreeable.
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