Re-read this because I was growing nervous that some of the ideas and directions of my own project might be very close to the moves made herein and I wanted to refresh my memory of the novel to make sure that there wasn't some unconscious plagiarism or derivativeness going on. A'course, this was also a good excuse to go back and read the first thing that I came across - and still one of my favourites - by an author who I really took to heart over the course of last year (original impressions here). Anyway, it all came back to me once I began reading and I was quickly able to convince myself that those fears were unfounded, allowing me to settle in and enjoy the ride while also picking up some pointers about the craft involved in writing a reasonably literary first-person narrative. (The book's still great, though I had to hurry through the last 40 pages or so after realising how overdue it was.)
* * *
Also, some things that I've learned or realised about the process of writing a novel:
- It's a slow, tortuous process, involving lots of self-doubt and walls hit (mostly though not exclusively figurative ones).
- Perspective is one of the first things to go.
- It's important to aim high (but if there's a way of tempering lofty aspirations with more realistic goals, I haven't yet found it).
- It quickly becomes annoying to be asked what your novel is about.
- On the other hand, talking about the thing with other people can be very helpful (and, well, it's usually the people you'd expect to be helpful who are, in fact, helpful).
- Writing in the first person is a real pain.
Anyway, said writing has basically been completely stalled over the last couple of weeks or so...
