Monday, January 24, 2005

Back in the Saddle

It's easier than I thought it would be. I sat down this morning, opened the file with my notes for the novel, and picked up where I left off a couple of months ago at page 156, with good old Fletcher about to visit David in prison for the second time. I remember these people! I know what they look like, I know what they want. I'm having a wonderful time. Is it possible that I can finish this revision by the end of February? God, I hope so.

The current Writer's Chronicle (February 2005) has a terrific article by Frederick Reiken: "The Author-Narrator-Character Merge: Why Many First-time Novelists Wind up with Flat, Uninteresting Protagonists." Exactly. That was the problem, and has been through the many versions of my novel. But abandonment isn't the answer; it's a good story. Turning Fletcher into a real person is what this new version is all about.

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