Videlicet, the novel proceeds apace. I’m so very close to wrapping this up. That carries with it the normal sense of triumph that comes with completing any lengthy work, a work that takes multi-months, or “polymonths” to complete. I could say that I began this novel in March, when I started this draft, but it is more accurate to say that I began it in January, when the idea occurred to me and I wrote out the notes; but it would be more accurate still to say that I began it in 2006, when I wrote one-third of an egregious first draft, now scrapped, but nonetheless providing the raw genetic material that would become this draft; and it would be most accurate of all to say I began it in a Waffle House in 2005, tossing around ideas with Joel, and this came up: “Maybe, like, there’s a street urchin thief-type character, and a guy who owns a zeppelin, and they have adventures and stuff.”

The idea has gone through a nonillion iterations since then; I have taken the skeleton of the “street urchin with a heart of gold” cliché and mangled it, forcing it into unnatural positions until, I hope, one can no longer recognize its original state. I have taken the skin of the “band of adventurers and misfits” cliché and crafted it into a variety of household items and fashionable summer garments until that, too, is unrecognizable. I hope. Most stories begin with archetypes; the goal is to move on from those.

So, to digress, this story has been in the pressure cooker of my brain for a long time, and I will be delighted, nay, relieved to have it geyser soupily forth. I expect to report my success within six days. Possibly sooner. Then I can get on with this shambling, makeshift charade that humans call “life”.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 at 12:10 pm and is filed under Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.