This question occurred to me thanks to something I posted on Instagram last week. How to fix swiss cheese, metaphorically, got the juices flowing. It also led me to keep writing. There’s a lot going on in life right now that’s difficult but not terribly interesting, so I’ll spare you the boredom and get into what you’re really here for.
Drawing from the Well
After last week’s post on consistency, I took my advice and got back to work. As a result, I saw, well, results! I’m plowing through the third arc in this book, although I haven’t filled any of the holes in yet. We’ll talk about it below. For now, over twenty pages last week!
Page 155/276
72,400/144,799 Words
Filling the Well
Where I did great on writing last week, reading did not see the same success. I finished The Vagrant which was good, but not good enough to keep going in the same series. Then, I found All These Monsters by Amy Tintera had returned to Hoopla. I got really excited (I love her stuff) and dove in. This book is great, visceral, and scary. I dig it a lot and can’t wait to see how it ends. That’s all, though. I’ve made progress in multiple books, but The Vagrant was the only one to finish. Soon, all that progress will pile up and I’ll leap forward.
56/105 for #ProjectBookworm2023
Not a whole lot else to speak of right now so let’s get into the chat.
Well Chat
As I said above, today’s post came out of some musing ramblings on Instagram last week. I commented that the part of the book I’m working on right now, the third arc, needs a lot of work because it’s basically Swiss cheese. This stream-of-consciousness, off-handed comment stuck in my brain, much like cheese sticks to a sandwich. Or the roof of your mouth. I started thinking, “I’m saying I have to…fix Swiss cheese. How do you fix Swiss cheese?”
The obvious answer is to put more cheese in it. It’s got holes because it’s incomplete, it’s missing something. So you’ve got to fill in those holes to make a complete slice. We’re after the fact, though. I can’t make more of the same cheese that I did while drafting. We’re in a different part of the process now. So whatever cheese goes in, it’s going to have a different color, flavor, and texture. It’s going to change the cheese around it just by existing.
This is not bad. More flavors makes the slice more interesting to consume. Instead of a flat, uniform flavor, you get a mélange of experiences. You put a little cheddar here and a little American there and OOH! I just remembered I like Provolone, so let’s put that in too. You get to keep generating ideas and feeding them into the mix.
That’s what I’ll work on soon. Right now, I’m still working through my notes from the Brown Edit, both the specifics and the overall. I’m even still adding to the overall as I find “Remember This” notes in the margins. I’ve got a few sparks for the interstitia I need to add, but that’s all. Soon, I’m going to look for flavors and textures I haven’t added yet, moments that are different and necessary to give this book the fabric it needs to become its best version. It’s going to take a lot of sitting and thinking about “This is the moment these characters are in. What would I do? How would I feel? How would I react if I were like them?” And then the ideas will come. Outside of the self-imposed pressure cooker of drafting, my mind will have the space to wander and wonder. That’s where I do my best work.
Whether they’re gouda or limburger, I’ll work them out and figure out where they fit. Then, through the rest of the editing passes, this collection of cheeses will melt and become one continuous piece. And it’s going to be delicious.
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG