(What is RSS?)Can’t say that I’m that much closer to finishing “Tran Zam”. I’ve mapped out how the rest of the story is to go, but it’s the actual writing part that I’ve been lethargic about. I fear that it may never be finished now…
If you’re not familar with constructing full-length novels, you probably imagine the writing process to be fairly similar to driving a car: you go from Start to Finish, taking the shortest route possible and always maintaining forward momentum.
That is not the case. In fact, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. When you’re writing a novel, you always end up adding things and cutting things and revising things and putting portions in new places while cutting and pasting other parts. You see, if writing a novel was like connecting Point A to Point B with a line, the line would be one of those crazy, out of control zig-zag lines that hits each corner of the page and loops in and around itself 94 times before crossing its own path several times and finally connecting to the end point.
For example, in the case of the novel I’m working on right now (“Tran Zam”), my first five chapters are all but invalid now because of changes I’ve made to the plot, to the characters and to the overall tone of the novel as I’ve progressed through the work. In other words, once I finish the final chapter, I’ll have to go back and re-write the entire first half of my book so that it is harmonious with the latter half. Which is basically a long-winded way to say that the first draft just never really works out.
The brain is fried. I’m sorry if this is incoherent.
This is, without a doubt, my biggest goal at the moment. I mean, I dropped out of college just to gamble on becoming a novelist! I’ve finished my first book, “The Savior’s Flame”, but I haven’t had any agents bite on it yet. In all honesty, it probably wasn’t the right book for me to write, seeing as fantasy isn’t really my forte. I was more or less writing what I thought would sell.
My second book, however, I believe is much more authentic. It’s called “Tran Zam” and it’s about these four guys who work at a fast food restaurant and start a rock and roll band called Tran Zam in order to “take over the world.” That’s the cheesy tagline but it’s obviously about much more than that. It’s definitely a period piece for me, because I couldn’t write this story at any other point in my life than right now. It’s really just about that period right after you get out of high school, and you feel like you have to earn your place in the world. My characters are disaffected youth who find salvation in rock and roll music. It’s the type of life I hope to one day live.
Like I said, definitely a period piece for me, and it’s pretty much my “all-or-nothing” bet. If I finish “Tran Zam” and it goes absolutely nowhere within a year, I’ll be going back to college. I know that probably doesn’t sound all that terrible, but to me that’s my dream going down the drain. I tried to juggle working full-time, going to school and writing a novel and it just doesn’t work. I’m going to hate it if I have to give up writing just to go to school and make a living. It’s all in my hands (or at least I like to think so.)
