Restraint and the Tureen
8/4/10 15:03![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darkemeraldsI'm very close to knocking down that giant plot-tree that was standing in the path between Part III and Part IV of Restraint. I have whittled and carved and cudgeled my brains, and I'm almost there.
Chapter 31 won't be posted on Saturday--sorry!--but it is well on its way. The two chapters following it are already complete, and the two after that are fully drafted; I say this to reassure the lovely people reading and enjoying Restraint that its WIP status is truly not much longer for this world.
The most wonderful of many wonderful things about writing a long piece like this has been whatkis and I refer to as "the tureen." It's a Joss term (wish I could source it for you) from some interview in which, as I recall, he was asked about how much intention lay behind the symbolism of BtVS, and he replied that a lot of it he just ladles up out of the soup tureen of his subconscious.
The Tureen is my most trustworthy writing guide. It has astonished me more times than I can count. It will suggest something--for instance, which prop the character needs to pick up as I attempt to break up endless swaths of dialogue with a tiny bit of action. The selection will be limited by the setting, and seem very minor, but then that prop will turn out to be deeply symbolic and important, and be the key to a major plot point that I haven't even thought of yet. I'll realize much, much later that every single thing about it was already there embedded in the initial inspiration for the story.
They're just symbols. There are only so many tropes and archetypes available, and it's not a miracle that my subconscious mind tosses them at me; nor is it astonishing that they connect to other ideas, events and symbols within the same story. It's just really, really fun when they do.
I find that the more I trust the Tureen for the really meaningful stuff at the heart of the story, the more deeply woven-together the story becomes, and the more conscious energy I have to spare for research, sentence structure, and the demanding mechanics of writing.
Chapter 31 won't be posted on Saturday--sorry!--but it is well on its way. The two chapters following it are already complete, and the two after that are fully drafted; I say this to reassure the lovely people reading and enjoying Restraint that its WIP status is truly not much longer for this world.
The most wonderful of many wonderful things about writing a long piece like this has been what
kis and I refer to as "the tureen." It's a Joss term (wish I could source it for you) from some interview in which, as I recall, he was asked about how much intention lay behind the symbolism of BtVS, and he replied that a lot of it he just ladles up out of the soup tureen of his subconscious.The Tureen is my most trustworthy writing guide. It has astonished me more times than I can count. It will suggest something--for instance, which prop the character needs to pick up as I attempt to break up endless swaths of dialogue with a tiny bit of action. The selection will be limited by the setting, and seem very minor, but then that prop will turn out to be deeply symbolic and important, and be the key to a major plot point that I haven't even thought of yet. I'll realize much, much later that every single thing about it was already there embedded in the initial inspiration for the story.
They're just symbols. There are only so many tropes and archetypes available, and it's not a miracle that my subconscious mind tosses them at me; nor is it astonishing that they connect to other ideas, events and symbols within the same story. It's just really, really fun when they do.
I find that the more I trust the Tureen for the really meaningful stuff at the heart of the story, the more deeply woven-together the story becomes, and the more conscious energy I have to spare for research, sentence structure, and the demanding mechanics of writing.
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(no subject)
9/4/10 00:12 (UTC)(no subject)
9/4/10 00:17 (UTC)You did see the part where I said chapter 31 WON'T be posted on Saturday, right? I don't want to mislead you.
(no subject)
9/4/10 00:36 (UTC)not...?
Ach, I don't care, I can't wait anymore!
(no subject)
9/4/10 04:43 (UTC)I'm sorry! I'm writing as fast as I can with this annoying job in the way. The podfic is fantastic. I recommend it.
(no subject)
9/4/10 07:00 (UTC)(no subject)
9/4/10 16:54 (UTC)But I'm here now. Sigh. FWIW, I did dream of the novel all night, so I feel sure my subconscious is cookin up a tureen-full for the weekend.
(no subject)
9/4/10 09:08 (UTC)I get the soup tureen effect, not so much in terms of writing, but when I'm finding ways of understanding - philosophical concepts, the way my own mind works, complicated things. My brain throws me a metaphor, often slightly comical, that is an obvious fit for one small part of what I'm grappling with. Then I discover that if I look around my visual metaphor in more detail, it contains everything I need to fully understand the original concept. It's like my subconscious understands and is impatiently waiting for me to catch up.
(no subject)
9/4/10 16:52 (UTC)karen_jk
12/4/10 00:16 (UTC)Re: karen_jk
12/4/10 02:35 (UTC)