Narcissism and the Single Novelist
III. Provocative
The intrepid Beverley Stone.
III. Provocative
The intrepid Beverley Stone.I have the attention span of a small rodent. Focusing on one thing for any length of time makes me fidgety. I am sure that, back in the day when I would have had 18 children to protect from wolves or to keep from falling over wharves, this would have been a benefit. But as a writer, not so much.
I have trouble staying in one character’s head for a very long time. It gets claustrophobic in there, with all the little fragment of thoughts, so I have to jump out and into another head. Because of this, I can’t write in chapters, but little fragments of single point-of-view that strung together make a whole (or will make a whole, when I am done).
Take for example, the New Story, still very much in draft. The first crack at it was written from alternating first person points-of view between the two narrators. In draft two, I have stuck the stories together into two chucks – same story told from two different perspectives.
I may take it all apart again at some point, if I can only get myself focused enough to concentrate on the story.
Want more on Bev? Visit her website at www.beverleystone.com
2 comments:
Do small rodents have short attention spans? I don't think so. When I go to the park with my dog, I watch squirrels gather nuts and seedpods and whatnot. They seem intensely focused, even obsessed. And isn't that hole in the wall between the back porch and the pantry ample proof that mice are determined little buggers?
I think you need to be more like a rodent, not less. Be like the mouse: Chew and paw your way through the baseboard until you get to the nourishment on the other side of the wall. And be like the squirrel: Go out in the field and start grabbing some nuts.
Small rodent attention span (SRAS)must run in the family? It's the attention to what's behind the wall.
A cousin
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