Since that last post I've written a lot more of that novel. The draft is currently just under 109,500 words and has a ways to go before I wrap it up, although I've tipped into the resolution section now. I don't think anyone actually reads this blog, but if you do and you are thinking "OMG, that many words, what the hell does he think he's playing at?" Rest assured I take the same view. My aim is to write it as it comes then to be very severe with revision.
I'm well aware that elements of it are repetitive and flabby, but I'm concentrating now on getting the first splat of words down so that the serious work of turning narrative into writing can begin.
And a little bit at the back of my mind is already contemplating returning to Vamps 2, of which a couple of chapters exist in draft from last year. One of the things the current project has given me is a certain confidence in putting together long-form fiction. I'm not saying it's any great shakes, but I am more aware now that I can do it. And that's progress, and it will carry forward into Vamps 2.
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In my last post I mused on publishing, something that is in and out of my head from time to time. I may well be repeating earlier posts here, but I can't summon the will to go back and check.
Anyway, I looked today at a number of articles comparing "traditional" publishing and "self" publishing. I didn't find any of them satisfactory. All were concerned with the act and supposed "status" of being a writer and the perceived rewards of that. The rewards were different--some wanted cold hard cash, some wanted critical acclaim and literary festival invitations, but all, despite the surface arguments, seemed to fetishise the label of "published writer" as though it was something remarkable, as though it were distinct from "plumber" or "cleaner" in a hierarchy of things to be.
But that isn't why I write. The best I can say is that I have characters and stories that appear in my head from time to time and I want to find out how the stories end, and the way to find that out is to write them and see where they want to go. There's more to it than that, of course, especially as themes emerge and characters become more distinct as people, and at some points the raw narrative has to be crafted into actual writing. But in the end I'm not interested in standing up shouting "look at me, I'm a writer!" The prevalence of such behaviour, especially on Twitter, is something that's going to lead me to cull the number of Twitter accounts I follow to remove that source of irritation.
And it follows that I remain ambivalent about getting my own stuff published. It's a bit like photography: someone once asked me what I was going to do with some of my photographs, which they liked, and the truth is they'll stay as negatives or on my hard drive because, for me, the joy is in taking them.
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