Spot Writing
03/04/09 20:14 Filed in: Writing
It's amazing how much writing you can do when you can
finally focus and when you know what you wish to
write. As many of you know, the past two weeks have
been extremely difficult ones for me and my family
and the challenges we have been facing have pushed
just about everything else out of my mind.
Now that things seem to be getting a little more settled (and now that I'm about 1500 km away from the scene), I am finding myself a little better able to focus on my writing. And that means, of course, Phillip Gold, The Silent Goodbye.
As per a friend's suggestion, I have been working on adding a subplot to the book, one that not only complements the main story line but also brings Gold's legal skills into the picture. I was surprised at how easy it was to slip the beginnings of this subplot into the first fifty pages I had already completed and then it was just a matter of working out the details of this legal subplot and figuring out how it will dovetail with the main plot at the end.
As so often happens, it was in the shower that my mind started putting things together. So now I've got a clear picture of where I'm going with the subplot (with both plots, actually) and I have a very good idea of how the climactic scene will play out. That has allowed me to start doing some "spot writing" — writing scenes from here and there in the novel, scenes of import, scenes that are already worked out in my mind, scenes that will have an impact on how the rest of the book is written.
The first such bit of spot writing I did was blasting out Gold's opening statement in the criminal trial in which he takes part. The legal subplot, not surprisingly, will involve a trial and Gold will show off his courtroom prowess along the way. So I took my lunch hour to write a draft of his opening statement to the jury. It was a fun piece to write but I think I'll have my sister (who was a trial lawyer) and my brother-in-law (who is a judge) read it over to make sure it's at least reasonably authentic.
The next scene I think I'll write will be the action-packed climax. It's clear in my mind what will happen and, once I have it in good shape, the climax will guide how the rest of the story is written.
I'm hopeful that I'll be able to keep up this newfound momentum.
Now that things seem to be getting a little more settled (and now that I'm about 1500 km away from the scene), I am finding myself a little better able to focus on my writing. And that means, of course, Phillip Gold, The Silent Goodbye.
As per a friend's suggestion, I have been working on adding a subplot to the book, one that not only complements the main story line but also brings Gold's legal skills into the picture. I was surprised at how easy it was to slip the beginnings of this subplot into the first fifty pages I had already completed and then it was just a matter of working out the details of this legal subplot and figuring out how it will dovetail with the main plot at the end.
As so often happens, it was in the shower that my mind started putting things together. So now I've got a clear picture of where I'm going with the subplot (with both plots, actually) and I have a very good idea of how the climactic scene will play out. That has allowed me to start doing some "spot writing" — writing scenes from here and there in the novel, scenes of import, scenes that are already worked out in my mind, scenes that will have an impact on how the rest of the book is written.
The first such bit of spot writing I did was blasting out Gold's opening statement in the criminal trial in which he takes part. The legal subplot, not surprisingly, will involve a trial and Gold will show off his courtroom prowess along the way. So I took my lunch hour to write a draft of his opening statement to the jury. It was a fun piece to write but I think I'll have my sister (who was a trial lawyer) and my brother-in-law (who is a judge) read it over to make sure it's at least reasonably authentic.
The next scene I think I'll write will be the action-packed climax. It's clear in my mind what will happen and, once I have it in good shape, the climax will guide how the rest of the story is written.
I'm hopeful that I'll be able to keep up this newfound momentum.