Wednesday 20 February 2019

Chapter 14 by Joan Lennon

Chapter 14.  I'm pretty sure every book has one.  Of course, it could be called something else, like chapter 10 or chapter 6 or chapter 27.  I mean, if it were ALWAYS chapter 14, you could just refuse to have one in your book - skip it and boldly go straight from chapter 13 to chapter 15.  But no, it moves about.  I've even known a version to occur in poetry, though there we're talking about a line or even a word, not a chapter.  But in the novel I'm currently writing, it's chapter 14.

It's the beast. 




(Dunkleosteus marsaisi - Wiki Commons)

I am really, really close to being finished* writing this book.  Draft after draft, I have grappled and manipulated and wooed my tiny socks off.  And chapter 14 has fought me/is still fighting me every step of the way.  I have science to cut back on, inconsistencies of tone to fix, tension to keep cranking and a character I'm particularly fond of to shoot.**  I WILL domesticate this beast of mine, but it may take some time.  Some MORE time.

That's my beast.  Anyone out there wrestling a beast or two of their own that they'd like to tell us about?  

Be brave - you can do it!



* It's hard to find images of "really, really close to being finished".  The best I could think of is "something really, really small".  So here a couple of pygmy marmosets from Edinburgh Zoo.






** (Well, not me personally, but there are some snipers and their intentions are not benign.)



Joan Lennon's website.
Joan Lennon's blog.
Walking Mountain.

4 comments:

Sue Purkiss said...

Courage, Joan - you'll win!

Susan Price said...

Oh, yeah, the Beast. I know exactly what you mean.

Pretty much the whole of my Sterkarm Tryst was a beast. The book I'm working on now is a savage beast -- short articles of 1500 words on immensely complex science subjects. I'm really enjoying the research -- but cramming it into short, readable articles -- well, beast-fighting is exhausting.

The only tip I can offer is to go and do something completely different for a day -- the zoo, the museum, seal-spotting -- to let the kinks in the brain relax. Me, I'm off tonight to try and win some cash at a pub quiz.

But as Sue says -- you'll win!

Anne Booth said...

Good luck! And I love the very very small sweet animals to illustrate a very relatable post!!

Joan Lennon said...

Thank you for encouragement! Onwards!