Sunday, November 13, 2005

The Novel and the Ocean

I recently went to the coast for a day, and went to a marina. I went to the ocean too, except I couldn't stay there long. It's so harsh, because it's always windy and cold, even during the summer. The Pacific Ocean, at least where I am doesn't make you want to swim in it, or even go near it. I imagined going out on a boat in the ocean, and it doesn't seem fun at all. I've also been to Florida and swam in that ocean and it's strange how different it is. The Florida ocean is warm and calm, and you can see through to the bottom. I didn't really want to go near the Oregon ocean, because it seems so much more dangerous.
I've also been working on the NaNo novel, which is difficult. I'm about 5000 words behind, so I have to write ten pages in the next two days. My story doesn't seem interesting enough, so I think over these next ten pages, I have to introduce a subplot. I want to keep the focus on the main character, though. I generally don't like it when there are a bunch of different characters and you get all their perspectives, so the reader knows things the characters don't. It seems more interesting to get the perspective of one character, because they don't know everything, and the events are skewed towards what they think. I think if you write a sweeping epic, it works to have a global view of lots of different characters, but not in a short novel. I've read books where the author will suddenly introduce a new character, and you're forced to read about them for a while, when I care more about the original character. That's something I don't really want to do in my novel.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Don't let me think that close access to my beloved Oregon coast is wasted on someone who fears it ;). Don't fear it. It's gorgeous and beautiful and I home some day to be able to afford to come back.