Three pages

So I didn't get the job. That doesn't mean I don't get to write all day. I still have a novel to work on. Of course, like most authors, I have days in which writing is so difficult, getting words to follow each other in a sentence like orderly soldiers marching off to fulfil some noble purpose is so painful, that I'd rather just leave the story unfinished than make the effort of will to break through that barrier and solve that problem.

That pretty much describes the last month of my authorial life.

But, little by little, that old itch comes back. The fact that my story sits in my computer, half-completed, nags at me, eats away at my sense of peace, for there can be no peace until what was started is finished.

So I spend three hours sitting in front of my computer and I crank out a sentence. The next day, I get two. Eventually I'm up to paragraphs, and then a full page. Yesterday it was two pages. Today it was three. Ninety percent of what I wrote is crap, of course, the inevitable coal of drafting that must later be refined into diamonds, but at least my story has now gotten that much closer to completion.

Up to the Challenge

The audition piece is almost done. I'm quite proud of it, actually. In addition to fulfiling all of the other criteria, I managed to be a little funny. I'd love to post what I wrote here, but I think it would be best to wait until I see how the next part of this process goes. Once I put the finishing touches on my audition, I email it to the company president, who will forward it to the cheif editor blind, that is, the editor will have no idea about who I am or what my background is--just the audition piece. If my writing gets a thumbs-up, then I go back for a little sit-down with the editor and a couple of other writers, make sure I'm a good fit. Then I get to write all day.

Be Careful What You Wish For . . .

I've done acting auditions before: you go in, act out your prepared monologues (one comic, one dramatic) and then at callbacks you do cold reads from the script. I've never done a writing audition. Until now.

This software place I applied to is working on a reading comprehension game for children in grades 3-8, or something like that. For my audition, I have to write three passages of 100-400 words, the multiple-choice questions the kids will answer, and the connecting dialogue the program will speak between questions, when the kids get the answers right. There's a basic format I'm supposed to follow, so the questions aren't the challenging part. The challenge is writing something age-appropriate, skill-appropriate, and, above all, FUNNY, in less than 500 words. These are the kinds of writing assignments I would have to complete from now until the end of July, assuming I land the gig. I've been working on my audition piece since I got home from the interview, around 3:30 or so. It's a challenge, and kind of scary, but then again, I like a challenge.

Having Too Much Fun

I thought I would wait to start this blog until I had a professional writing gig of some sort (and after my interview tomorrow, I might--more on that later), but I've been so consumed with writing my novel lately that I finally have to put voice to my enthusiasm and start posting about the process.

I was always planning on doing this, but today, while spending too much time browsing through Wikipedia.org, I came across links to Neil Gaiman's American Gods blog, which he started writing back in February 2001 as a way of sharing the process with his fans and other interested parties. He describes the genesis of the blog this way:

I thought the journal could count us down to publication, and see us through the US and the UK publication and tours for the book in June and July.

I first suggested we do something like this to my editor, the redoubtable Jennifer Hershey, about a year ago, while the book was still being written (a process that continued until about 3 weeks ago). She preferred to wait until the book was on the conveyor belt to actual publication, thus sparing the reading world lots of entries like "Feb 13th: wrote some stuff. It was crap." and "Feb 14th: wrote some brilliant stuff. This is going to be such a good novel. Honest it is." followed by "Feb 15th. no, it's crap" and so on. It was a bit like wrestling a bear. Some days I was on top. Most days, the bear was on top. So you missed watching an author staring in bafflement as the manuscript got longer and longer, and the deadlines flew about like dry leaves in a gale, and the book remained unfinished.

And then one day about three weeks ago it was done.

I don't yet have a publication date, or an editor to suggest that this blog wait until the book is on the certain road to publication, and I'm not even going to limit this blog to my novel efforts. I fully intend to write about, well, most things I write. Because I'm having too much fun doing this--even if I never have a publication date or an editor--not to write about the experience.

So here goes:

The act of creation is intoxicating. It's like playing God. It's like becoming the characters I'm writing about, falling completely into their minds, feeling what they feel. Yesterday, I finished killing--oops, Autarr, the main character, finished killing--your typical Grendel-type monster (this novel is a heroic fantasy, which should come as no surprise to anyone who knew me in high school, when that's pretty much all I read). I had him throwing his head back in exaltation, feet braced and arms spread wide. I couldn't help it: when I walked out into the living room to give Lisa an update, I planted my feet, spread my arms, threw back my head, and laughed (I figured a blood-curdling war-cry would disturb the neighbors--not to mention Lisa).

I can't remember where I found this quote about writing, but it has haunted me for years: "Characters must ACT, it is not enough for them to BE." The statment is intended as a reminder about effective characterization, of course, but I've also thought of it in terms of my self: Writers must WRITE, it is not enough for them to say "Someday I'm gonna write a book."

Now I'm writing.