The last few days have been fairly productive. I wrote about 1500 words yesterday on a new "short" story and added about 750 words this morning. It's still early in the revision process of my YA novel (Chapter Three of twenty), but it's going well - can't complain.
After experimenting with my schedule, mornings seem to be the best time to work on new stuff. I'm one of those weird people that really doesn't mind getting up early, as long as I've gotten around six hours of sleep. (And as long as there's coffee.) Lately I've been getting up around 5:30, having breakfast/reading, then starting to write about 6:00, usually for a couple of hours. Again, new stuff first, then revising if I have time, using the evenings if I don't.
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Watched a French film (via Netflix) this weekend called Cache (Hidden). I liked it quite a bit, but Cindy didn't care for it. In the extras, director Michael Haneke talked about getting in and out of scenes. He likes to skip all (or most of) the introductory elements that usually begin scenes, the "Hello, how are you" elements, getting to the meat of each scene. Once you're in the scene, let the scene do what it needs to do and get out quickly. Move in quickly, move out quickly.
(The odd thing is that Haneke, due to the subject of the film, breaks his own rule, but he has a good reason. In the very first scene, it seems absolutely nothing happens. Just keep watching. The anthesis of the "Get In, Get Out" rule provides an interesting contrast.)
I haven't seen any of Haneke's other films, but the technique works very well in Cache*. There's a definite difference in telling a story in a visual medium like film and telling one in prose, but I understand what Haneke is saying. I'm sure there's a way I can trim down the unnecessary and mundane in my own work and I'm certainly going to look for ways to do it. I think part of that is realizing that your reading audience is smart. (Not that your film audience isn't.) You give them credit for knowing what's going on without spelling it out for them, but scenes have to have a logical progression, even if they're not linear, even if you have to read it a couple (or more) times. What's there has to work, it has to be comprehensible. Anyway, Haneke's comment is making me analyze my own writing to a greater degree, which is always a good thing.
Maybe one day I'll talk a little bit (or invite you to do so) about the similarities and differences of the process of developing works in the arts. It's something I think about quite a bit, having spent many years in the music world and now kicking around in the writing world. Like the cute little overlapping circles in your first algebra book, the arts have lots of things in common and it can be interesting to look at those similarities. And you never know when you'll find something you can use.
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* I'm not going to tell you anything about the plot and I encourage you not to read about it. I will say that I was on the edge of my seat for two hours and I think you will be too.
Today's Short Story = "Oh, Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad" - M.R. James
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