Finally, I have been able to make a start on editing "The Vampire Hunter".
Working on this again it occurs that writing is not magic. The results can be magical, of course, but those results are rarely arrived at because of some incredible inspiration, or because the author had this fabulous vision which materialised under her fingers without conscious effort. Someone sat down and wrote the words, then that same someone read these words back and critically analysed every single one.
Writing is certainly fun, but it also work. It's like hiking in that sense: it is something you do for fun, but it takes effort to get somewhere. The trick is to have a goal which is worth the journey, and preferably to make the journey itself worthwhile.
So, I've corrected typoes in the first 45 pages of the typescript. I should get the typoes finished this weekend or early next week, then I can go back and correct facts, then fill in holes in the plot and narrative. I am hoping to have something readable by the third week of January.
And it will mostly be in first person, complete with gooseberries.
Posted by Dunx at January 7, 2005 01:02 PM
Your hiking analogy strikes a chord (though I see it in terms of cycling, myself). Some of it is really bloody dreary, exhausting, seemingly unrewarding. You think (I do, anyway): "Wait a minute, I'm doing this *voluntarily*?" But then, on a good day at least, you emerge from the undergrowth to a beautiful vista, or a thrilling descent, and it's not so pointless and stupid after all.
Here's to that vista on "The Vampire Hunter". I'm looking forward to it :)
[matt] Thanks for running with the analogy - you expanded on the point better than I could have done. I don't think I could ever equate writing to cycling though, because for me the journey is the whole point on the bike. I don't (or rather, I no longer) ride in order to get to places.
[Zee] I had some characters that I thought were superfluous which I christened "gooseberries" because they were just getting in the way of the story. They're not as superfluous as I had thought.