Competing Narratives

 I'm starting a new novel. With as much experience that I have as a published author and as a creative writing instructor, it would seem that the words would flow like honey from my fingertips and onto the digital page. But no.

I realize that the first draft is exactly that, the first draft, a place to start from. And that the second draft of the manuscript is where the story is close to what you're trying to tell. And that you won't really know what to say in the first chapter until you've written the last.

Still, when I started this manuscript I was frustrated in that the narrative didn't congeal. The story ideas swirled about like puffs of smoke, defying my attempts to create solid components of prose. Part of the problem was that I didn't understand the main characters. They had names and descriptions but they all seemed like plot devices meant to advance the story, rather than the projections of actual people. Another obstacle was that of world building, even though the setting is Denver, Colorado, a place I've lived in for over twenty years. Again, it seemed like a fog enveloped everything. 

Another concern that mired my efforts at word count was that of style as I was intimidated by what I've recently read. Pretty much every book I've finished lately are superb examples of writing craft. Two in particular ring in my head: Wonder Valley by Ivy Pochoda and The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson. Though both books focus on very damaged and dangerous people, they are quite different in writing style and story structure. Pochoda's book is a layered narrative that ricochets from character to character and from scene to scene. Thompson's style is pulp, in the same first person throughout, brisk and matter-of-fact, sometimes lapsing into cliché. Even so, his characters pop off the page as vividly and with as much personality as those depicted by Pochoda. Another contrast is how Pochoda illustrates her social environment in long, eloquent sweeps while Thompson presents his world in quick, visceral jabs. Yes, I know that my style will show itself and I hope my story will be as compelling as either from these two masters.