This morning I set my iTunes to Jethro Tull’s Thick as a Brick and set out to plot out the rest of this book I’ve been fiddling with.
First, let me say that Tull’s TaaB is a great writing background for me. It’s full of rich, intertwining musical riffs without too much in the way of obtrusive vocals to get in the way f my brain waves. It’s also got that overblown, understated British sense of humor all about it that lends itself to metaphysical audacity. Though my story is not humorous, I’m seriously thinking of using Gerald Bostock as one of my characters.
But on to the book. You remember the book, don’t you?
I’ve been in a long string of discovery writing–which is fun, and uncovers lots of interesting things I wouldn’t have thought about before. But it’s also very inefficient, and for someone like me, a little troubling. I have only a few brief moments to write each day it seems, and so I need to feel progress occurring in order to keep my sanity. I had begun to feel augured into the firmament of the story over the past week or two, and the breakout I had this weekend made me think that now was the time to get my act in gear and charge toward the finish line, wherever the heck that winds up being.
So I went back to Randy Ingermanson’s snowflake methodology and developed a top-down model of the plot. I don’t generally follow any single method, of course. I do things my own way. But I find his guidelines fit my brain fairly well.
So now I’ve got this picture in my head that’s firming up, and the world seems to be getting back into focus.
All good, I say. It’s all good.