Monday, October 30, 2006

MCI, and MCII (its evil twin)

A windy night, cold, and I feel like I'm waiting around for a train, killing time--there's work to be done, things to read, school duties to fulfill, but all I can think about is the story I'm going to begin writing on Wednesday. It will be finished on a Thursday, thirty days later. It is a story about a man named Jim, a woman named Freya, and an absent mouse.

Right now it's hardly anything. In a month it will be something.

Tonight's my night to see a few old friends before I essentially disappear for a month, take a vacation from my normal life.

I will be spending just about every free moment outside of necessary obligations--work, school, sleeping, eating--at a coffee shop on Colfax, with Jordan, with my head inside this story.

So this is partly my way of saying "Farewell," just a little bit, for a month. I also wanted to post something I wrote out a month or so ago as per recommendation in the Baty book: my two Magna Cartas of novel writing, which are basically early drafts of what I hope will become my "Philosophy of Writing" or something like that later in life as I pursue this thing as a career. I'll be interested to see if I stick to most (any) of this by November's end. Baty recommends framing these and keeping them nearby; since the coffee shop probably wouldn't like me tacking anything up on their walls, it's going here instead, where I'll always have access to it.

MCI: What, To Me, Makes a Good Novel
1. first-person/unreliable narrators
2. a balance of humor and tension
3. determined but slightly passive narrators
4. music
5. the omission of graphic sex scenes
6. the omission of graphic death scenes unless absolutely crucial
7. charming and memorable characters
8. a female character you wish you knew in "real life"
9. travel and a change of scenery
10. good dialog
11. smart, almost self-referential writing
12. italics
13. short chapters
14. non-linear narrative
15. scenes in the rain
16. scenes to do with an airport
17. characters that fight for something
18. quests/journeys
19. a clear image of living quarters
20. clever subplots that weave in and out and come together at the end
21. characters who are lonely
22. city/urban settings
23. mini-stories and characters sketches (even if not crucial to the plot)
24. the moments building up to or coming out of graphic sex/violence scenes
25. a female with quirky, memorable qualities whom you can see and hear

An altogether pretty random list, but there it is: apparently what, to me, makes a good novel.

Now for

MCII: Things That Bore or Depress Me in Novels
1. morally perfect characters (especially main characters)
2. overdramatic romance plots
3. Victorian settings
4. an author preaching through his characters
5. novels that lean completely on one "gimmick" or trick/surprise ending
6. morals or lessons forced upon the readers
7. insanely happy or insanely sad/grim endings
8. authors using one proven successful style, voice, or tone through all their works
9. completely humorless prose
10. long chapters with no gaps or breaks
11. completely comedic novels
12. passive, omniscient narration 100% of the time
13. no sense of the writer's own voice (not opinions--voice)
14. wordy, poetic dialog
15. long descriptions of setting
16. too many characters
17. aliens, or any over-the-top sci-fi elements
18. self-aggrandizing narrators
19. non-sympathetic characters
20. flat characters (at least an abundance of them)
21. long descriptions of overly technical elements
22. always-optimistic narrators or protagonists

With only one full day left between myself and my story,

P.

2 Comments:

Blogger Eric said...

Italics, eh? A teacher I had said that italics were unnecessary in writing -- that if you were a good writer, you wouldn't have to use them.

Or maybe that was a teacher you had.

Anyway, I felt strongly enough against the idea that I might've adopted that for my own history.

Point is, good luck with this thing, man. I'm a fan of your work, and look forward to reading something.

4:30 AM  
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