21 February 2005
Time
This time next week the Labyrinth creative writing competition 9 will be closed. So, time is passing ...
I've spent some time this week on a map showing the major locations for the action in my novel Labyrinth. It's an odd feeling; a kind of intimacy with my characters that I last felt when writing ...
And then I had the page proofs.
In the old days - the early 80s - when I first worked in the publishing industry, I used to check proofs as part of my editorial duties. I became quite skilled in spotting spelling mistakes and typos - like 'form' instead of 'from'. But when you have to read your own book ...
Of course, I have done the job before. On Eskimo Kissing, the process was pretty painless, possibly because it was my first work of published fiction. On my second novel, Crucifix Lane, I was much more anxious.
It was hard to stop being a picky writer polishing sentences and do the proper proofreading job.
While I am writing, submerged in my stories, the waters of my fiction closed over my head, I long for objectivity. I find myself wishing I knew for sure which character was stopping the scene from flowing, from developing. I would like to see the wood for the trees!
Then, when proofreading, I feel uncomfortable with the distance, a sort of alienation ...
Nothing is easy in the Labyrinth.
