Writing is a weird thing. Especially when you're a discovery writer like myself, it can take time to know what you are even trying to get from the story, much less how to craft it in a way that makes it work.
I started this new novel with a "vibe" that I wanted to go for. Southern Gothic. Deep south. Hot, humid, dirty, damp, full of life yet dark with decay. I've been making progress in that department, and being six chapters into it I feel like I'm just now starting to discover what the story actually has to say. However, the devil is in the details, as they say.
This weekend, I found a Showtime docu-series called Murder in the Bayou, which tells the story of the "Jennings 8" or the "Jeff Davis 8" - eight women that were murdered over the course of four or five years in a small town in Louisiana - and I have to say, beyond it being an interesting show if you're into true crime things, it helped so much. When I watch things like that, beyond enjoying them myself as a mystery/thriller/murder/true crime aficionado, I treat them like research. While going through the story, I took notes on small things that really set the stage for the area. I think it's going to be a tremendous help in solidifying this novel in reality, even when the story itself is unabashedly fiction.
With each chapter, I get more and more excited about where it might go, or how it might turn out. I have a vague idea of the plot, but one thing about being a discovery writer in the sense that I mean, is that the plot is always up for alterations. New ideas come and go, some stick around, and some transform the entire soul of the story. I welcome every one of these and give each a fair chance to make an impression on me.
They say that if you want to write a novel, you should write the book you want to read. I can easily say that each book has been exactly that, the story I wanted to read at the time. That's how I started this entire writing journey in the first place, crafting a short story that eventually became Fall Winds Blow. Why not keep up the trend?
In other news, I bought a 1TB external drive over the weekend as well, and backed up all the writing things to it. They're already stored locally and on the cloud, but it felt like the proper thing to do if I'm going to treat this as seriously as I have been, which I plan to keep doing. Beyond that, I spent this weekend trying to sink into the southern feeling and brainstorm. I guess we'll see how it goes.
I don't have a ton of updates this week so I'll leave it here, but as the Cajuns say: Laissez les bons temps rouler. Let the good times roll.
-Dave
Comments