I’ve just concluded an experiment. When I began “The Rothko Room”, my aim was to create two major story strands and unite them satisfactorily by means of a third. I began each story as though it were a separate tale and, although there were characters hinted at in one, they became realised only in the other. In this way, I felt that I might be able to construct an entire imagined, yet plausible whole. A common thread runs through each and at 30,000 words of one and 22,000 of the other, I am almost at the point where I can begin to draw the threads together in the final 20,000 or so.
I was a bit worried a couple weeks ago, when I lopped about 17,000 words out of the pair of them but I can now announce that the experiment has been a complete success.
So I’ve decided to abandon the idea altogether and concentrate only on one of the plotlines. Why? Because the stories come together “satisfactorily”, not “beautifully” or “elegantly” or “marvellously” but “satisfactorily”. The art does not, as they say, disguise the art. As I say, I’m pleased with the way each tale works and the way in which common threads have been sustained but it is too obviously a work of artifice – a conceit; a gimmick. I honestly believe I can make a very good story out of one, and another – perhaps even a sequel – out of the other. So today, I resolved to abandon one. Cast it adrift for many months and hope that it’s still alive when I return to it. It will be a difficult choice, since I hate both the bastards with equal venom.
You can catch up with this week's excerpt and perhaps you can guess whether is stayed or was cast into outer darkness.
I was a bit worried a couple weeks ago, when I lopped about 17,000 words out of the pair of them but I can now announce that the experiment has been a complete success.
So I’ve decided to abandon the idea altogether and concentrate only on one of the plotlines. Why? Because the stories come together “satisfactorily”, not “beautifully” or “elegantly” or “marvellously” but “satisfactorily”. The art does not, as they say, disguise the art. As I say, I’m pleased with the way each tale works and the way in which common threads have been sustained but it is too obviously a work of artifice – a conceit; a gimmick. I honestly believe I can make a very good story out of one, and another – perhaps even a sequel – out of the other. So today, I resolved to abandon one. Cast it adrift for many months and hope that it’s still alive when I return to it. It will be a difficult choice, since I hate both the bastards with equal venom.
You can catch up with this week's excerpt and perhaps you can guess whether is stayed or was cast into outer darkness.
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