reading and writing
Aug. 9th, 2009 01:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ezekielsdaughterI started Geoff Ryman’s “Air” seriously last night, took a break at 2 am, woke at 6:30 am and just finished it now at 1 pm. Yes, I was enthralled. Yes, I am insanely jealous at what he accomplished. Ah, to have such skill!
The proper thing to do would be to immediately read it again and learn. Certainly, figure out how he manages the chapter in which the protagonist is confused, but quite accurately describes what is going on. As a reader, I didn’t understand, but read on. Now I can go back and it is crystal-clear. It’s what I wanted to do with my first chapter and many complained bitterly. I’ve rewritten the first chapter, but now it feels like it was written for a fourth grader. I want to know how to convince a reader to soldier on with the assurance that s/he will understand eventually.
I can also admire the turns that this novel took. Just when stress is removed from the primary character, he jerks the rug from beneath her. In one case, I was only half way into the book, so I knew that something was going to come up. But the something was completely unexpected. He also manages to handle the loss the protagonist’s POV near the end of the book. There are so many similarities to what I was trying to do.
I guess that I have to be responsible now. Clean up and do the usual Sunday things. I find it comforting that this book hasn’t made me throw up my hands in defeat. Even after going to bed, I tossed and turned and tried to consider what my next short story would be. I have to finish editing the novel, but I need the practice of working with a short story. I have to get my hands in new clay again.
The proper thing to do would be to immediately read it again and learn. Certainly, figure out how he manages the chapter in which the protagonist is confused, but quite accurately describes what is going on. As a reader, I didn’t understand, but read on. Now I can go back and it is crystal-clear. It’s what I wanted to do with my first chapter and many complained bitterly. I’ve rewritten the first chapter, but now it feels like it was written for a fourth grader. I want to know how to convince a reader to soldier on with the assurance that s/he will understand eventually.
I can also admire the turns that this novel took. Just when stress is removed from the primary character, he jerks the rug from beneath her. In one case, I was only half way into the book, so I knew that something was going to come up. But the something was completely unexpected. He also manages to handle the loss the protagonist’s POV near the end of the book. There are so many similarities to what I was trying to do.
I guess that I have to be responsible now. Clean up and do the usual Sunday things. I find it comforting that this book hasn’t made me throw up my hands in defeat. Even after going to bed, I tossed and turned and tried to consider what my next short story would be. I have to finish editing the novel, but I need the practice of working with a short story. I have to get my hands in new clay again.
