How They Scored

We spent six hours putting together one of the three bookshelves yesterday. We finished at 10:30, both exhausted and sore from squatting, kneeling, bending, and standing up. Today I would up with only about four hours in which to work; I went home so we could start another bookshelf, perhaps both of the remaining two, at 4:00. But Cris found a damaged piece on one, which meant we could only complete the other. Still, it only took us two and a half hours instead of six. So because of the bookshelves project, I wound up with only 3350 words for the weekend. I did, however, get over the hump of finally having all the characters present in Don's lodge. It only took me 39,000 words to get there. Today I wrote a farcical scene in which Greg wrecks a cabin and gets seemingly penalized for it. I introduced Don as a sort of Donald Trump character who likes ordering everyone else to do ridiculous things which, at least at first, they do without question. By the end I had set up a scene with ...

10:10 -- getting a bit of an early start, for once. Just read a little from the middle of "Sexus." It makes me aware I'm not doing much with these characters at the moment. I have to think more about their inner lives -- or, rather, I should say I have to allow them space to lead their inner lives. In general, I have to spend a great deal of time on characterization. The sex stories matter only if you know the person telling them. Anyway. I'll finish the chapter I was working on last Sunday when I had to stop, and then I'll try to get right into the next chapter, introducing the Bianca character.   2:30pm -- I did about 2100 words and I'm going home. Cris hasn't called me yet but I'll just go home anyway. Bob is having some kind of "debauchery" here and I'm at a good stopping place.

I wrote about 2800 words yesterday, a not-too-bad start to what is, essentially, the second part of the book -- the part where they will all be in one setting. I say not too bad because it reads all right the way it is, and yet I'm conscious that the second part of the book is that which must build to a climax and since I don't really have a sense of the shape of the narrative arc -- though I have mapped out some conflicts -- I can't say I have done well to start that arc at the beginning of chapter 6. All I did was introduce Seth a little more and have a sex story set against the background of an abortive prank where they're gathering fallen wood to make a sort of sculpture. Silly idea but... It's hard to judge. It seems more important to keep tearing onward. And today, Sunday, I have a shortened day. Cris expects me back at the house in less than four hours to work on some bookshelves. I just became aware I haven't had enough coffee so I'll make a few note...

Saturday morning -- once again, 11:15, though I have to say I managed to get to my desk before 11:00 at least. I spent the last 25 minutes nostalgically reviewing photos and news stories in my "Dear Prudence" -- I mean " Bangalored " -- folder. Having met with Elise a few days ago to talk about what the book needed before she felt comfortable putting it out there, it's been on my mind. But last night while I was falling asleep I got a halfway good idea for how to do the next chapter, which is chapter 6. After this weekend, there are 8 weekends before Thanksgiving. If I keep up a pace of 5000 words per week, that's another 40,000 words, which would bring me close to 75,000. But if I can average closer to 6000 words per week, that's a lot closer to 90,000 for a first draft -- and that would be much better. But since my current average per week for the first 7 weeks is 4738, I will need to push myself and also take as much time off work as I can. Since my n...

Today, to start with, I want to do a couple of things. First, I'm going to go through all my notes and make lists of all the possible sex scenes I have thought of so far. And second, I'm going to put in a few things about Hap's anxiety about his apartment. That always has to be uppermost in his mind -- that anxiety should drive the book, like Yossarian's anxiety about going on more bombing missions. List of characters along with stories for them to tell: Hap: This is the one most likely to be in a suburban setting, and why not. A little reminiscent of John Updike, complete with the anal sex. Also should have something about his wife, Kara -- or probably three stories with her. Meeting her, honeymoon Peak of sexual relationship Scene which carries the seeds of the destruction of their relationship Don: Sex with a co-ed at the conservative film festival on campus (!) He might talk about something that's happened there at the cabin. Maybe in the past he brought up stri...

A little after noon; I have been here reading for almost an hour. I am at the point of the book where all the men have arrived at Don's mountain lodge. In my last session I had such a good time writing about Greg that it's made me think I should go back and make the rest of the book, or at least parts of it, more antic and absurdist. But I don't think I'm going to try to do that now; I want to keep forging ahead. So I'm at a point where normally I would get very bogged down in a sort of slow-motion scene: They go upstairs to meet Don... They have drinks and talk and then have dinner... They have the first wide-ranging conversation. Instead of doing that, I ought to do something that confounds the reader's expectations. What if Don is somehow missing, and they have to kind of deal with that? He shows up the next morning and it's all meant to keep them off-balance and demonstrate that he's at the top of the pecking order. I still need to introduce a subplo...

That whole thing with Hap having to chose between Denny and Don -- I was thinking about the Denny part as a subplot. It's actually part of the main conflict. I need more subplots. I ought to have a subplot centering on Bart, who has a comic aspect. Let's see... I think I could take the "wi-fi for all" concept and give it to Bart instead of Denny... It's too optimistic for Denny. It also fits into Bart's community-oriented work: in addition to serving on the board of the non-profit arts center in Seattle, he's also doing this wi-fi for all thing. It's like what Meraki is trying to do, only in a non-profit community oriented way.   6:15 pm -- I wrote what might be all of chapter 5 -- all about Greg. I took the idea I'd had before about how he is starting an energy drink business and totally ran with it. Even though I didn't get a start until after 12, I had a great day -- 4350 words.

The subplot (or maybe it's the main plot) about Denny trying to get Hap to join his initiative rather than Don's company -- the important thing about it is that this alternate initiative has to represent something important for Denny. It has to represent a true alternative for him personally, a different road than he's taken before. And when he decides not to do it, it's not just him fucking with Hap and moving his money to Don, it's a huge personal defeat and turning point for Denny. I wrote above: What's Denny doing? Could he be doing some kind of nonprofit thing? I can steal the "wi-fi for all" idea -- it's not that unique an idea. Maybe Denny surprises the others by having an idea that competes with Don's for attention. However, don't forget Denny is a drug addict. He's probably not doing anything. Maybe the wi-fi people have him on their board or something. And ... Denny is half-heartedly trying to recruit Bart, but basically he do...

Yesterday I developed another pink eye infection. It meant I couldn't work at all. How frustrating it was to have a three-day holiday weekend and not be able to use one of the days. Today, the holiday, was not shaping up to be great either, because I was going to have to spend much of it at home due to the fact an electrician was coming to work at the house. But strangely, with all the disruptions, I actually did about 2500 words, writing the end (or almost to the end) of chapter 4 with Denny's story about Marinka. It felt good and weighty and very interesting without being too dirty; I only hinted at the outré stuff without actually going into it. I'm at almost 25,500 words. Tomorrow morning the guy is coming back, so I went tonight to work and got my computer so I can work at home tomorrow. The release is slipping a week so it shouldn't be a big deal.

Saturday -- again, as long as I allow myself to sleep as late as I need to (since it's the only day of the week I can do so) and perform a minimum of errands before getting to my office, I wind up sitting down to work between 11:00 and 11:30. Perhaps part of the issue is that the neighborhood is so pleasant early in the morning, and my office is do dreary. It's very dark during the morning and gets increasingly brighter, due to reflected light, during the day. An hour before sunset the room is brilliantly lit by sun reflecting off the walls of the airshaft, even though it never shines directly into the room. Then the sun goes behind a row of trees across the street and suddenly the room becomes twilit again. So when I begin work in the morning I'm bound to turn on lights. I imagine that during the winter the problem will be much worse, since the sun will not climb high enough even to reach into the airshaft and will set behind the buildings across the street earlier. Plus,...