Tuesday, October 19, 2010

A thousand little bridges.


Writing continues as my time here in the desert is coming to a close. It has been the wettest year for the last twenty years here. 75 mm of rain was all the land could capture last year. This year it is well over 600mm.



Rivers continues to flow down into our giant lake system. The lakes which are normally dry are covered in a thick layer of salt. Water makes its way quickly through the soft desert dirt into the system. These desolate salt pans explode into life with birds, flowers and even frogs.  I feel very lucky to have seen the desert at its best.

The work in progress is running its own course, albeit riddled with switchbacks and falling boulders. I have core sections of the story written. They stand like volcanic islands in the Pacific, shooting out of the ocean. From the top of one, you can see the others sitting in a chain. What I need now is a thousand little bridges to connect them all together. Also,  I see my subplot sit underneath them like a continental shelf. If only I could jolt it up.

My story is written from a third person/ omnipotent perspective.   I chose this style because I wanted to move between characters, particularly the lead, the love interest and the antagonist. What I have discovered, however, is that my work is dialogue driven.  Characters come into a space, they converse and then they move on and reflect.  This gives me the impression that the story is progressing really slowly. The dialogue acts more as a tightrope across the islands rather than a bridge. Also, the story is set in a small rural town and there seems to be a lot of getting into and out of cars and the drinking in bar. Characters can only drive around and drink so much before that in itself becomes a story!

What I need right now is a real model. Sadly, most of the books I’ve really enjoyed reading are first person narratives.  I didn´t think I could confidently pull this story off in that style.
I would value any recommendations of books written in the third person/omnipotent perspective. I also wouldn’t mind a couple of Golden Gates to connect my islands if you could spare them.




2 comments:

Al said...

It must be amazing to see desert country bloom. I have only ever seen arid and semi arid country during hard drought.

Al said...

I also meant to say I struggled writing 3rd person omnipotent too.