Wednesday, April 23, 2008
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It would be so much easier if I could just lock the lunatic in the attic
Bah! I've spent the last four hours trying to puzzle through some of the larger plot points that are giving me trouble. You know, like the whole, needing to have a crazy wife locked up in the attic thing. But yeah, this is the 21st century, and we don't lock crazy people in the attic, nor do we view them as deranged criminals, which was a fascination of gothic era literature, but frankly today, is pretty offensive. I mean, we as a society still have a facination with crazy people, but more, we are intrigued by criminals, and murder, and the whole CSI revolution of detailed gore.
I'm trying to tie into more key cultural motivations of the time behind the story (horror, the supernatural, insanity) which I can then look at similar impulses today (true crime fascination, social/genetic conditions that lead to mental disorders) to create my modern story. Don't get me wrong, my novel will still have a crazy wife, but I intend to have the treatement of the pyschosis be much more up to date and sympathetic. The villians of my story will have to be people more surrounding her, thus trapping her and Rochester both as victims of circumstance. Tonight I was thinking out my villans a little more, and a nice sordid family past (kind of like House of Seven Gables in this respect).
Eeeesh, I want to put too many things in this novel. Seriously. I have so many different plots I'd like to interweave, the damn thing would be 600 pages long. I need to limit myself to some cohesive themes and focus on what the hell I'm trying to say with the novel, beyond the entertaining yarn. I have some ideas, but the problem is, my own worldview is so up in the air right now, I don't know how to form one for the novel. For example, what do I believe about good and evil? Right and wrong? What constitutes moral duty? Is there such a thing? Self-sacrifice and forgiveness? And damn I think I'm gonna have to take the narration out of first person and make it third, to detach myself. That way, I can give my Jane a cohesive worldview, but it can be a little less personal, one I wouldn't necessarily follow, but one which would make sense given her background.
In the meantime, while all this is swirling around in the back of my mind and I'm making occasional furious sidenotes, I still keep writing, writing, writing. On Saturday, I went to Ihop at midnight, and stayed till 4 in the morning writing. I've never done that before, and it was freaking awesome. I'm over the 50 thousand word mark. Though, if the damn thing does end up being 600 pages, that means I'm only a fourth of the way through, plus slashing the thing to pieces again in editing.
Basically, what I think I want the novel to be about is how there is so much ugliness, brutatliy, and violence in the world, but I still believe (or want to) that there can be pockets in which beauty and love can be sustained.
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Comments (13)
All these swirling thoughts in your head sound exhausting. I think it must be the sign of a brilliant mind.
I love reading about you talking about your writing. (Please, whatever you do, don't make me say that three times fast. *grin*)
I'm wondering, too, about Rochester's crazy wife. Is she schziophrenic? Obsessive-compulsive to the Nth degree? It might be easier if you pick an actual disorder and go with it. She could be manic depressive, but refuse to take medication. Then, she might have a live-in nurse of some sort. Hell, depending on the house, she could have a whole wing to herself that is closed because it's in need of "repair."
And what happens if you don't quite make her crazy--but mean? What if she had gone off and left Rochester years ago, instead of getting locked away? They were never technically married, except with the issue of commonlaw. She could work at a place called The Attic. But doing that might change your entire story. I'm just spitting stuff out. Sounding board, and all that.
:)
I wouldn't worry about worldview. As you said, do what the characters would do. That's the most truthful way to write. When you're done, you can figure out what worldview you're showing, and that's cool, because you learn about yourself and your subconscious feelings on the matter, since characters are extensions of yourself.
ryc: Yes, I'm ridiculously excited about The Host and, of course, Breaking Dawn. The other day I was bored in class and so worked out exactly how many days until they'll be released. I'm a bit apprehensive about the Twilight movie, though. For starters, I don't think Robert Pattinson particularly good-looking for a human, let alone a mind-bogglingly gorgeous vampire. Earlier this week I was watching some clips from the filming and the Cullens just all looking too....human. I guess I'm just a bit skeptical of the whole endeavor. Do you have any thoughts?
Don't stop writing just because it doesn't flow quite right. Even if you end up chopping things out later, let it write itself. Have you considered putting the wife in a private sanitarium - one of those upper East coast exclusive hush-hush kind?
that's freaking awesome... one question... all these ideas you have, are you noting them somewhere... cuz while you might not be able to get them into this one... but they might work elsewhere I know that even though I really don't write much, I'm constantly writing down ideas that pop into my head I think will make a good story... really I need to start reading more, and then maybe I might be inspired to write again...
ttfn...
What if instead of the crazy wife being locked up in the attic, she's locked up in her own mental illness? You could give her agoraphobia so she never goes out of the house, or OCD so that she has a hard time getting out of the house, or you could just make her a prisoner in her own psychoses.
The concept of the attic is a facinating one that's been used across so many genres... This 'place' where we hide away that (or those) which we don't want seen, that we don't want to admit to or publically share. And such 'attics' don't even need to be physical stuctures... They can be psychological, chemical, metaphorical.
As for their being "...pockets in which beauty and love can be sustained", as old and pessimistic as I've become, I'd like to think the same thing. And in your case, reinforcement of said belief is merely a child's hug away.
What about a crazy person's sense of moral duty?
:)
You're on fire, lady!
Did you start Bride?
I'm officially out of creativity and energy. Both. Simultaneously. I can barely hold my eyes open, much less think of anything decent to say. Just have to get through this summer. It seems so long. I don't know why I'm zapped after a week off. I guess it wasn't exactly the week off that I expected. Any way, we need to have a low-key hangout evening sometime soon until the juices start flowing agian.
Go go go!!! You rock, you really do. Such progress!
I love studying/grading/reading at a breakfast place in the wee hours. Assuming I'm actually getting stuff done it just is cool and makes sense.
The hell?! First, you're happy, now you're productive AND happy?!
That's it! Everyone knows bloggers (Xangans?) who are all artsy-fartsy have to have gallons and gallons o' angst. It's our caffeine...it's what makes us...
Meh, screw it--it sounded funny in my head, but that's just the blood pressure medicine talking. It sounds like a great idea, and I can see how it can easily run into the thousands of pages. It's tempting to just have her locked in the attic, even though it's set in modern times.