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May. 22nd, 2003
FALL ON YOUR KNEES
May. 22nd, 2003 05:20 pmThis story is slowly consuming my brain. Not only that, but it keeps getting longer and longer. I'm about forty pages in, and have _just_ introduced Lord Fanny. It reminds me of that old Robin Williams sketch about the Garden of Eden:
"Stand back, honey! I don't know how much bigger this thing is going to get!"
For such a relentless plotter like myself, having a story spiral out of control is disconcerting. Worse than that, it's not even getting out of control. It's simply expanding within the framework of the plot, in such a sense that the framework requires it. Perhaps I merely underestimated the depth of the subject.
Magic.
Damned stuff is too easy to wrench out of control. For example, I have a rasta conjurer, an immortal invalid, tumour golems and bio-witchcraft, all of which have become necessary to the final plot. The inate 'weirdness' that magic demands keeps cranking up the backstory and intricacy involved.
On top of all of that, there are so many dynamics and themes that keep endlessly piling on top of each other. The duality of the Giles/Willow relationship, the shamanism of John and London, the sexual totamisism of Lord Fanny; all held in a web of magically suspect conceptual reality. To think, 'Heels Britannia' was all about dick jokes and alcohol.
Still, I haven't worked on a project quite as 'organic' as this one. RAZOR is mechanical. I know exactly where every piece fits and interconnects. There are no surprises in the scripting of the high-end poli-thrillers, even though it is intensely entertaining to conceive and write. As a story, it cannot have any elements to surprise me, because there is no room within the plot for it. A new direction or element would strain the carefully woven set up of the story, like trying to add a dollar coin into the gears of a clock.
This story, however, is more unpredictable. Even as I approach key points and plotted elements of the story, new twists appear to head to those points. I know the end, I know the fifteen steps to get there, but I no longer know exactly what will happen between each step.
Has this happened to anyone else? Had a story that became what you intended, but did so in a series of ways that you never imagined?
"Stand back, honey! I don't know how much bigger this thing is going to get!"
For such a relentless plotter like myself, having a story spiral out of control is disconcerting. Worse than that, it's not even getting out of control. It's simply expanding within the framework of the plot, in such a sense that the framework requires it. Perhaps I merely underestimated the depth of the subject.
Magic.
Damned stuff is too easy to wrench out of control. For example, I have a rasta conjurer, an immortal invalid, tumour golems and bio-witchcraft, all of which have become necessary to the final plot. The inate 'weirdness' that magic demands keeps cranking up the backstory and intricacy involved.
On top of all of that, there are so many dynamics and themes that keep endlessly piling on top of each other. The duality of the Giles/Willow relationship, the shamanism of John and London, the sexual totamisism of Lord Fanny; all held in a web of magically suspect conceptual reality. To think, 'Heels Britannia' was all about dick jokes and alcohol.
Still, I haven't worked on a project quite as 'organic' as this one. RAZOR is mechanical. I know exactly where every piece fits and interconnects. There are no surprises in the scripting of the high-end poli-thrillers, even though it is intensely entertaining to conceive and write. As a story, it cannot have any elements to surprise me, because there is no room within the plot for it. A new direction or element would strain the carefully woven set up of the story, like trying to add a dollar coin into the gears of a clock.
This story, however, is more unpredictable. Even as I approach key points and plotted elements of the story, new twists appear to head to those points. I know the end, I know the fifteen steps to get there, but I no longer know exactly what will happen between each step.
Has this happened to anyone else? Had a story that became what you intended, but did so in a series of ways that you never imagined?
FALL ON YOUR KNEES
May. 22nd, 2003 05:42 pmThis story is slowly consuming my brain. Not only that, but it keeps getting longer and longer. I'm about forty pages in, and have _just_ introduced Lord Fanny. It reminds me of that old Robin Williams sketch about the Garden of Eden:
"Stand back, honey! I don't know how much bigger this thing is going to get!"
For such a relentless plotter like myself, having a story spiral out of control is disconcerting. Worse than that, it's not even getting out of control. It's simply expanding within the framework of the plot, in such a sense that the framework requires it. Perhaps I merely underestimated the depth of the subject.
Magic.
Damned stuff is too easy to wrench out of control. For example, I have a rasta conjurer, an immortal invalid, tumour golems and bio-witchcraft, all of which have become necessary to the final plot. The inate 'weirdness' that magic demands keeps cranking up the backstory and intricacy involved.
On top of all of that, there are so many dynamics and themes that keep endlessly piling on top of each other. The duality of the Giles/Willow relationship, the shamanism of John and London, the sexual totamisism of Lord Fanny; all held in a web of magically suspect conceptual reality. To think, 'Heels Britannia' was all about dick jokes and alcohol.
Still, I haven't worked on a project quite as 'organic' as this one. RAZOR is mechanical. I know exactly where every piece fits and interconnects. There are no surprises in the scripting of the high-end poli-thrillers, even though it is intensely entertaining to conceive and write. As a story, it cannot have any elements to surprise me, because there is no room within the plot for it. A new direction or element would strain the carefully woven set up of the story, like trying to add a dollar coin into the gears of a clock.
This story, however, is more unpredictable. Even as I approach key points and plotted elements of the story, new twists appear to head to those points. I know the end, I know the fifteen steps to get there, but I no longer know exactly what will happen between each step.
Has this happened to anyone else? Had a story that became what you intended, but did so in a series of ways that you never imagined?
"Stand back, honey! I don't know how much bigger this thing is going to get!"
For such a relentless plotter like myself, having a story spiral out of control is disconcerting. Worse than that, it's not even getting out of control. It's simply expanding within the framework of the plot, in such a sense that the framework requires it. Perhaps I merely underestimated the depth of the subject.
Magic.
Damned stuff is too easy to wrench out of control. For example, I have a rasta conjurer, an immortal invalid, tumour golems and bio-witchcraft, all of which have become necessary to the final plot. The inate 'weirdness' that magic demands keeps cranking up the backstory and intricacy involved.
On top of all of that, there are so many dynamics and themes that keep endlessly piling on top of each other. The duality of the Giles/Willow relationship, the shamanism of John and London, the sexual totamisism of Lord Fanny; all held in a web of magically suspect conceptual reality. To think, 'Heels Britannia' was all about dick jokes and alcohol.
Still, I haven't worked on a project quite as 'organic' as this one. RAZOR is mechanical. I know exactly where every piece fits and interconnects. There are no surprises in the scripting of the high-end poli-thrillers, even though it is intensely entertaining to conceive and write. As a story, it cannot have any elements to surprise me, because there is no room within the plot for it. A new direction or element would strain the carefully woven set up of the story, like trying to add a dollar coin into the gears of a clock.
This story, however, is more unpredictable. Even as I approach key points and plotted elements of the story, new twists appear to head to those points. I know the end, I know the fifteen steps to get there, but I no longer know exactly what will happen between each step.
Has this happened to anyone else? Had a story that became what you intended, but did so in a series of ways that you never imagined?