Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. As other reviewers have noted, this was a series of lectures, and therefore should NOT be considered a guide on "how to write a novel." If, however, you have a background in English literature and want to write a novel, then you may find this book an interesting exercise in critical analysis.
I found the sections on story, people (parts 1 and 2), and plot thought-provoking and insightful. What made these sections most interesting were how Forster used examples to explore his analysis. Even though he refers to several novels I have never read, he provided sufficient context that I was able to understand his points with relative ease. Having read these section, I feel that I will be able to assess my own work to see how it stands up in each area.
I struggled a bit with the section on prophecy as it stabbed at my memories of reading Moby Dick, Billy Bud, and The Brothers Karamazov, from almost 20 years ago. Even so, combined with Forster's examples and analysis, I remembered enough to feel like I had a reasonable grasp of the analysis. That said, I think it will be worthwhile to revisit at least one of those books in the near future and then reread this section to see if I really understood it.
When Forster's subjects increased in complexity, diving into the more nuanced aspects of fantasy and patterns & rhythm, I floundered. I found it nearly impossible to fully understand his points without having read the novels from which he drew his examples. The concepts of rhythm & patterns in particular I feel are macro-level elements that one can only really appreciate in the context of having read an entire novel. Because of this, I didn't feel as though his examples could do the concept justice. I have limited experience reading Henry James, and none with Marcel Proust, Anatole France, or Percy Lubbock, all of whose novels Forster used as examples, so I had reason to flounder. And, unlike my interest in Melville or Dostoyevsky's work, I honestly have no interest in reading these authors, so it seems that my only opportunity to gain insight into Forster's analysis on fantasy and rhythm & patterns will be if I read some of his novels in which I hope he managed to demonstrate some of his advice.
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I'm a regular follower of Mur Lafferty's I Should Be Writing blog and podcast. Recently she posted this YouTube video from the Digital Marketing team at MacMillan Publishing. Based on my years of professional experience, I can attest that it accurately captures the entire process for how books are made. Enjoy!
As the video states, non-fiction books take far less time to produce than fiction, often because we are only allowed a few weeks to write them (versus decades) and also because we only have time and the staff to copyedit one out of every 18 books, rather than each book 18 times.
My tendonitis started bothering me late last week. For anyone not familiar with my experience with it, back in early 2003, I was out of work for several months because I had it very bad in both arms. I was experiencing shooting pains from the elbow down my forearm into the nerves between my middle and ring fingers on both hands. I couldn't type, I couldn't hold a pen, the vibrations from driving even hurt my hands. Luckily, a consultation with a hand surgeon and a nerve conduction test confirmed that it wasn't carpal tunnel, and so no surgery was required. I was able to make a full recovery through rest and physical and occupational therapy. Eventually I was able to return to work, but only on the condition that I be hypervigilant about taking frequent breaks and being careful not to spend too much time on the computer. Taking a year off and changing jobs went a long way to strengthen my arms and improve my attitude toward overworking my arms. It's been almost three years since I've had any serious symptoms, that is until now.
It turns out that the last few weeks of working the day job, at which I'm typically at a computer for 8-10 hours, then coming home at night and spending another 2-5 hours working at the breakneck pace NaNoWriMo requires has had a siginificant negative impact on my arms. I started feeling the twinges of nerve pain in my fingers mid-last week. With that in mind, I took a few days off over the Thanksgiving holiday, hoping my body would have enough rest to recover so that I could make the final push to finish my NaNoWriMo novel without further difficulty. Alas, that is not the case. I spent a couple of hours tonight writing another 3,000 words, bringing my total word count up over 26,000. But with these few hours of work has come the frightening and familiar series of sharp pains shooting ever stronger through both arms.
I will finish this novel, but I will not be finishing a draft of it this month. Perhaps if I were closer to the 50,000 word goal, I would push through, but given that I would have to write over 5,000 words a night for the rest of this week, I don't think my body could take the stress. It is far more important that I maintain my health so I can continue to work at my day job. So, all of that said, I'm officially calling it quits on my attempt at completing a draft of a novel in a month. I've learned a lot doing this, but those lessons are the subject for another entry at another time. Now is the time for a heavy dose of Advil and a good night's rest.
Long hours at the day job today, but I still managed to squeeze in some time after work to pump out an above quota day's worth of writing: 1,794 words. This brings my total word count up to 18,201.
The good news about today's effort is that I climbed out of the rabbit hole I went down yesterday while chasing that plot bunny, and came out to find myself able to resume one of the original subplots of the story.
I'm still ~5,400 words short of where I should be, but I think I can overcome that this weekend as I lock myself in the house while Melissa goes out to do a work project all day Saturday.
For now, it's time for bed.
Okay, I'm knocking off for the night. I broke the 16,000 word mark, so I'm giving myself the rest of the evening off.
I'll admit it, I invoked the power of a plot bunny--one of those amusing but meaningless tangents that likely will not make it into the final draft, but worked well in the short term for keeping the creative juices flowing.
In case you wondered, I killed off one supporting character (SC) with this plot bunny (not literally), but I compensated by introducing seven more. I guess meeting Richard Russo and hearing him read from his latest novel last week really inspired me. Oh, shoot, I didn't blog about that event...well, maybe later this week if/when I'm blocked again.
Okay, as you can see by the subject line of this entry, I'm slowly trudging along on my effort to write a novel in a month.
I have had a few good days, mostly over the weekend. The weekdays are a real bear given how much time I spend in front of a keyboard for the day job. I'm just not able to endure a 16-hour day of sitting at a keyboard, as my inflamed tendinitis is starting to remind me.
| To see my progress on the novel, keep your eyes peeled while visiting this site for one of the widgets a fellow NaNoWriMo author, Paul Hawke, has developed. He's created a few, including the one to the right.
This is a simple display showing overall progress and how I did on any given day. Light green and red show where I was above or below the goal for the day, bold green and red are reserved for days where I did exceptionally well or monumentally badly. |  |
Now I'm sure some of you who check this site shortly after I post this entry will notice the discrepancy between the word count in the subject of this entry and what the graphic says. The reason for this is that I generated the graphic earlier in the day, before updating my word count. If you don't believe me, you can view my NaNoWriMo profile on the official site.
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I'm excited (and somewhat nervous) to announce that I'm taking the plunge and signing up for National Novel Writing Month. Here's a description, from the NaNoWriMo web site, of what I've committed to doing in November: |
National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.
Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.
Now most people who know me, know that I've been talking about writing a novel forever. Well, it's finally time that I put fingers to keyboard and start pumping out the words. The goal, as stated above, is to generate quantity, not quality. Anyone who knows anything about my writing habits knows that this will be an extraordinary challenge for me not to revise as I go along. But, as the rules say, that's what December is for.
Please wish me good luck on this endeavor, and I promise not to be too cranky as the month wears on and I'm trying to crank out this first draft.
I coined a new term today that follows in the fine tradition of Douglas Adams & John Lloyd's wonderful 1983 book, The Meaning of Liff, and Rich Hall's Sniglets.
fauxpert
noun: a person who can fake expert-like knowledge on a topic in everyday conversation.
Example: "Despite not being able to point to either city on a map, Ian was such a convincing fauxpert that Jessie is now going to Binghamton instead of Brussels for vacation.
I've spent the last several days purging and packing the contents of my apartment. I'm exhausted. Today's fourth straight day of packing and moving boxes into storage has inspired me to write a haiku:
Moving really sucks.
Moving really really sucks.
Did I say it sucks?
Here's a set of haikus I wrote in honor of Madonna's pathetic attempt to demonstrate her relevance to pop music by kissing Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears at the recent MTV Video Music Awards show:
Lucky star burned out,
Irrelevance spurs action,
Still, looks good in black.
In yesterday's entry I referenced two of my preferred online dictionaries. I thought it might be helpful to post a list of some of my favorite online English dictionaries.
When I'm sitting in a restaurant trying to eat a meal, the one thing I enjoy is the occasional opportunity to eavesdrop on couples on their first or second date. Tonight I was seated next to a couple that was on such a date and it took everything in my power to not pass my quesadilla through my nose when I heard some of the pathetic stories being bantered between these two love-weary souls.
Here's a haiku I wrote in their honor:
Two divorced people,
Share emotional baggage,
Hell of a first date.
As I've mentioned previously in this blog, I'm taking a Beginning Spanish class at The Cambridge Center for Adult Education this summer. Initially I signed up for it to serve as a distraction from work. Now that I've left that job, I'm taking my Spanish studies much more seriously including using it in my journaling exercises.
Here's my first haiku written in Spanish (Mi primer haiku español):
¿Cuál es su nombre?
Llámeme carne muerta,
Me llamo bonehead.
This is a draft of a chapter of a novel that I started writing in 1991. It's based on a true story. Feedback welcome.
The Incident at Cowles' Pasture
"S-s-s-s-shhhh!"
"What!"
"I heard something!"
Katherine loves to eat,
vegamite spread on pickles,
roaches won't touch her hair.
The period ends,
having served a life sentence,
he's reached a full-stop.
You drink sangria?
Tapas served with rabbit stew
Reformed Catholic girl.
I'm tracing her face,
bamboo shoots served with ginger,
old pollen scatters.
Palpable tension,
former allies diverging,
lines bloom from hatred.
I recently watch Helen of Troy on the USA network. It was pretty atrocious. Here's a couple of haikus I've written to describe the experience:
To Helen I pledged,
Four hours I have now lost,
Vow: Never again!
Washed up on Troy's shores,
Melodramatic drivel,
USA's folly.
First phone call: I burst!
"Thoughtful and articulate"
Flatter me she does.
Company sadist,
Five hours, no agenda,
Dilbert's just too close.
Three soured kisses,
seven pathetic passes,
two shying glances.
Here's a few haikus that I wrote today while dining out. I was feeling pretty obsessed with food preparation hygiene having just finished reading Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain:
Bandana-wrapped head,
nappy hair barely contained,
He makes your salads.
Fajitas sizzle,
salt-soaked sweat spices your meal,
chef's nails add fiber.
I've recently returned to work after being out on disability for two months and was horrified to find the state of the Doc team I work with. Here's a haiku I wrote to describe it:
They stumble around,
spirits drained from their bodies,
deNovis writers.
While in Buffalo in August 2001, visiting with a friend, we went for a walk across the University at Buffalo, Amherst campus. We were in a creative mood, so we found a table and started writing some haikus. This group is from our visit later in the evening when we went for dessert at Nina's Custard Stand and wrote a few more.
Sailboats at twilight
Masts stand tall, main sail bellows
Wind from east-southeast
Bun in utero
Sonogram flipping the bird
Grandma calls Alan
While in Buffalo in August 2001, visiting with a friend, we went for a walk across the University at Buffalo, Amherst campus. We were in a creative mood, so we found a table and started writing some haikus. Later we went for dessert at Nina's Custard Stand and wrote a few more.
Driving the 90,
Road so straight I fell asleep.
Catching bugs, split them!
Dead man in the pool,
Decomposed and sinking fast.
Wonder what's for lunch?
