It's really interesting the way this is going. I guess revisions aren't so terrible as I was making them out to be. I like discovering things I did that were right, and I am learning more about the way I write. I can't really plot out an entire novel before I write it, though it is a necessity to plot out the major events. The bits and pieces, "filler," ends up becoming the most important part, and I make it up as I go along-- kind of like sewing a basic garment together, then embroidering and embellishing on it, which is a real joy (in both cases). I guess a storyteller is an embellisher. Some people get on a kick about how they are liars as authors, loving to tell lies. I'm not sure what that's about. I don't have any trouble telling the truth, and when I tell people about things that happened to me I'm pretty bare bones. No one would ever guess that I write novels. The embellishments to my character's basic story are hardly lies. They're where the life is.
I found after a cursory analysis that Winter Light's major premise is fragmented into several subplots which all add back up to the premise. The subplots are necessary because there are many characters and relationships. Every character's relationship with every other is fascinating, and it's confusing because at times the story seems saga-like. It's hard to maintain a singular perspective and I'm still not totally sure what kind of story this really is. It's a gothic romance primarily, with a saga influence. All family relationships/conflicts support my premise, which somehow reminds me of The Last Unicorn.
The character I find myself repeating is King Haggard, of The Last Unicorn. He's the gothic romance patriarch, and Peter S. Beagle's sympathetic portrayal of him really impacted me. He has done something wrong, because inside him is a craving for beauty, a delicacy of spirit that most people, who never do anything wrong, are never enlightened enough to feel. He is one of those rare people who believes in and loves unicorns-- that he imprisons them for himself is wrong, and yet I feel infinitely sympathetic to this kindred spirit. Is it worse to imprison beauty and delight in it, or to be just another tiresome drone who never notices beauty?
The story's title comes from the lyrics, "Wandering through the winter light/ the wicked and the sane/ bear witness to salvation/ and life starts over again." The song is ghostly, not really about right or wrong but the no man's land which exists between them, where real life lies.
I found after a cursory analysis that Winter Light's major premise is fragmented into several subplots which all add back up to the premise. The subplots are necessary because there are many characters and relationships. Every character's relationship with every other is fascinating, and it's confusing because at times the story seems saga-like. It's hard to maintain a singular perspective and I'm still not totally sure what kind of story this really is. It's a gothic romance primarily, with a saga influence. All family relationships/conflicts support my premise, which somehow reminds me of The Last Unicorn.
The character I find myself repeating is King Haggard, of The Last Unicorn. He's the gothic romance patriarch, and Peter S. Beagle's sympathetic portrayal of him really impacted me. He has done something wrong, because inside him is a craving for beauty, a delicacy of spirit that most people, who never do anything wrong, are never enlightened enough to feel. He is one of those rare people who believes in and loves unicorns-- that he imprisons them for himself is wrong, and yet I feel infinitely sympathetic to this kindred spirit. Is it worse to imprison beauty and delight in it, or to be just another tiresome drone who never notices beauty?
The story's title comes from the lyrics, "Wandering through the winter light/ the wicked and the sane/ bear witness to salvation/ and life starts over again." The song is ghostly, not really about right or wrong but the no man's land which exists between them, where real life lies.