pegkerr: (ice palace at night)
pegkerr ([personal profile] pegkerr) wrote2004-09-21 10:12 pm

Plan of action re: Ice Palace book

I brainstormed in my novel diary re: what I need to do to get the book moving again. I tried to identify what it is that is making me get stuck and think of a plan of action to address the problems.

Points of unease:

Opacity of Jack
Vagueness about how Rolf and Jack are allied
Feel that book doesn't have enough characters. All I really have are Solveig, Ingrid, Agnes, Jack and Rolf.
Lack of knowledge about architecture
Unease about proposed climax of the book. I haven't really sold it to myself; to me it smacks too much of the climax of my first book. Ugh. Like chewing used chewing gum.
Have not convinced myself that I have figured out satisfactorily What Happens To Rolf
I don't know what the fish are up to.
What does magic have to do with the story? The emotional arc?
Unsure about the dream opening sequence.

I thought about that if writing this book is metafiction, then this book is about self-doubt. How does the ice palace fit in?

Plan of action:

1) For the next week, try freewriting any way I can think of to get into Jack's mind:

Write from the P-O-V of someone in his apartment building
Someone who sees him on the bus (does he ride the bus?)
A coworker (not Solveig)
Someone who sees him at the neighborhood coffeeshop (does he drink coffee?)
What would a journalist say who interviews him about architecture?
Try applying the questions in the List Yourself book.

2) Once I have finished reading Tim Powers' Declare, start to try reading possible source books. Architecture, esp. in Twin Ciites. Any folklore (esp. Scandinavian) re: fish.

3) Think about how much time should be devoted to writing (per day? per week?), no excuses.

4) Reassess status of Jack at beginning of October.
kate_nepveu: sleeping cat carved in brown wood (Default)

[personal profile] kate_nepveu 2004-09-22 06:51 am (UTC)(link)
I think statutes coming to life is one of those archetypal images that just lives in the backbrain, or my backbrain at least; unless you also have a sentient sun and a bad-tempered car, I wouldn't worry about that too much.

[identity profile] rysmiel.livejournal.com 2004-09-22 07:17 am (UTC)(link)
I think statutes coming to life is one of those archetypal images

Though I normally would not stoop to pouncing on typos, this from you is hilarious.
kate_nepveu: sleeping cat carved in brown wood (Default)

[personal profile] kate_nepveu 2004-09-22 07:24 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, no, you're right, we definitely don't want statutes coming to life. Very scary. Even scarier than big stone or ice statues coming to life--I mean, the Internal Revenue Code could stun with a glance, and you don't even want to do know what the abortion restriction statutes might take it upon themselves to do.

I wonder if the "living constitution" theorists get tired of zombie jokes?

[identity profile] pegkerr.livejournal.com 2004-09-22 07:44 am (UTC)(link)
What's even funnier is that when I was typing my comment, I kept typing it "statutes," too. Repeatedly. Hilarious.
kate_nepveu: sleeping cat carved in brown wood (Default)

[personal profile] kate_nepveu 2004-09-22 08:09 am (UTC)(link)
That's a really bad one for me--not only are my fingers sure that's what I meant to type, because I type it all the time, it's completely invisible to me because the shape of the words are so similar.