Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Pulling teeth


Some writers won't talk about their works-in-progress.

I am not one of them.

It doesn't bother me a bit.

So - here's how my current work-in-progress is going:


Slow, slow, slow and painful.

I have a title:

On the Road to Mr. Mineo's

I have characters I really like: Stella and Gerald

I have a pretty good setting: the roof of a garage in Kramer, South Carolina.

But, um, story?

I'm groping in the dark.

And yesterday a bad thing happened.

I've always considered myself pretty good at chapter endings.

They are uber important.

Today, I couldn't figure out how to end a chapter.


I have never ever done this before (i.e., moved on to the next chapter without a killer ending for the previous one)

3 comments:

Kirby Larson said...

Someone once said that each book only teaches us how to write that particular book. So maybe this book is teaching you to trust your story telling self to fill in those blanks at a later time. Maybe the "something" is making room for something big and wonderful.

That's my bet!

Lennye said...

Your books are so well written I know Kirby is right...something wonderful is coming.

Currently I'm writing a dissertation and I find that I have to have closure on one section to move on to the next one. I need to be more like you and just move to the next thing.

Lisa Graff said...

Barbara, this made me laugh so hard! :) I know that "SOMETHING" feeling all too well, I'm afraid...