Romantic
Ryan Baron North
Horror
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I've made it to draft III of a book I've been working on that I call Strix. I've been working on the damn thing for much longer than I care to admit. Granted, what it is now does not resemble what it looked like back when I started out to write a vampire book. I had an idea back then, but I did not understand it. I was not old enough to realize what exactly I was trying to say. Many years later, I've found my voice—I think. Coming to the third draft, you start to question yourself. With so many hours of work under your belt, you start to ask if you are good enough—if the book will be good enough. To top it off, I've been working non-stop. I've put more consistent time into this novel than I have ever put into anything, and I'm terrified that my whirlwind of productivity will give way to burn out. Anyway, the reason I bring up voice, and the understanding of what I'm trying to say, is because the third draft, for me, is about themes. Over the next few months, I won't be writing like in Draft II where it's all about scene structure, plot progression, and story-arch. Draft III is about deciding what sentences have earned the right to stay, finding what words invoke the atmosphere I am trying to create, and discovering what details are keeping my characters from being truly dynamic. To look at it for myself, I'm going to lay out a few of the key themes of Strix:
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I just spent the past 3 hours watching After Life by Ricky Gervais—absolutely beautiful. I spent every episode in tears. I know I shouldn’t have, being a male in America and all—men shouldn’t cry, because being angry is far more masculine. I suppose I should have stormed out of the room instead. I’m rambling.
For those who haven’t seen it, it’s about a man, Tony, who had a wonderful life with his wife before she tragically lost her battle with breast cancer, and over the course of the season we watch Tony, after failing to kill himself, take out his pain on the world around him, and himself. Sounds like a fun little binge, right? Well, my bulldog and I watched it in one go, and it was like watching myself. I divorced some time ago, and I grieved for a long time…sometimes I still do. |