Monday, June 10, 2019

Fallow



Fiction writing can be more absorbing than any other sort of writing I do.  I can begin a passage at five or six o'clock in the evening, not break to eat, not break to go to the bathroom, and suddenly find that it is a quarter to one in the morning.  It is a little freaky that way, like with the sensory deprivation chamber featured in the title sequence of the 1981 film, Altered States.

I'm feeling pretty good about things lately, so I wanted to write to say that, first of all, I'm changing the title of my long-suffering five-year novel from the Fifth Man to "Fallow."  Steadily, it has drifted in theme from my original concept and I don't believe that the title works any more.  Instead, I'm adopting a simple solution: since the whole novel takes place in the fictional kingdom of Fallow, that works as a title.  To fallow a field is to put it to rest ~ until it is ready to be used.  In several instances through the book, this pattern fits fairly well.  I'm comfortable with the new title.

I've just passed the 100,000 word mark, working now through my third draft.  I'm feeling very good about it, working every day, with plenty of time to work and with sufficient money in the bank that I'm not fretting about the lack of a job.  I've had some good luck and some quiet benefactors not connected to the blog, so I have time to work and to find a proper, stress-free frame of mind to work in.  The last threads of the novel are coming together, though I do fear that there's some continuity errors in the multiple changes that have been wrought year by year.  My hardest task has been to try to envision the whole book as a single gestalt ... but like a sheet of paper that has been crumpled and flattened, and crumpled again and flattened, my mind cannot quite rise above the corruption that's blown apart the original conception.

So it goes, as Vonnegut would say.  The project continues apace.  I'm so ready to finish getting my hands around the book's throat and throttling it into passivity I cannot begin to express the emotion.  I will be glad when the thing is at an end.

5 comments:

  1. Glad to hear you're still making progress and are in a better place in general.

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  2. Great to hear you've got the space, financially and emotionally, for some focused creative time.

    Having recently retired (albeit mostly for health reasons) I've found that focused time to be invaluable for my game development.

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  3. And here I thought I was the only person who's seen Altered States...

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  4. I remember when it opened in theatres, Fuzzy. Was a huge sensation; the special effects were judged incredible at the time and it seriously tapped into the post-60s consciousness that was cultural at the time. I was dragged to the film by a friend who was 7 years older than me; I was 17, the film coming out in 1981. I so identified with William Hurt's character; I still do. Maybe I'll write more about that.

    It is a very young William Hurt in the film, just as his career was breaking after his making Body Heat with a new Kathleen Turner. Blair Brown is Paul Simon's ex-wife, making a rare film appearance as she did most of her work on stage. Bob Balaban who is the hairy fellow asking questions in the title sequence above is the same who recently did Monuments Men, doing a scene with Bill Murray sharing a cigarette with a German soldier. Balaban has been around for ages, one of those "hey, it's that guy" that people recognize but never know his name. I've long followed his career; he picks good films to be in.

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