The novel has entered it's latter stages. After completing Chapter 13 I wrote a chapter that centered on the main protagonist, a Wizard named Taint. When I'd finished it I realized that it was too soon to introduce this chapter, and that I did not have the characters positioned where they needed to be when that chapter occurred. So I pushed that chapter aside and started another one. I'm still not sure if there will be additional chapters before Taint gets center stage, because I am struggling with that new chapter, chapter 14.
I had the house to myself today. I didn't want to write, not really. I got busy with the daily chores. Procrastinating further, I then scrounged up some more chores to do. I still didn't feel any inspiration. Feeling a bit defeated, I checked our movie library for some mindless entertainment. After turning down the movies I usually reach for when I don't want to think too hard, I came across "Finding Forrester." I remember getting this movie months ago, but now I couldn't remember what prompted me to get it or what it was about. The DVD was still wrapped in cellophane. I watched it.
"Finding Forrester" is about a number of things, but what interested me was that it was mostly about writers. The two main characters are a teenage boy with a gift for writing, and an aging recluse who wrote a single, famous book, and then never wrote another. It's an enjoyable movie and I recommend it. I was looking for some inspiration, and this movie provided it. Sure, the little sayings that are sprinkled throughout the movie are homilies, but when you can't make the words come, I'll grasp at any straw that's offered.
There is the always popular: "The only way to learn how to write it to write."
Then there was the tip: "If you can't think of anything to write, pick something and copy it word for word until your own words start to intrude."
This was very appropriate for me personally: "You must write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head."
The corollary to the above: "The first key to writing is... to write, not to think! "
I've been thinking too much and spending too much time on re-writing things already written instead of pressing onward with the new. So, please excuse me, but that unfinished Chapter 14 is waiting for me.
