Dear Mr. Borgers
God knows this is why I'm afraid to go back and
re-read my work. I see all the things you mention below,
un-even writing etc. To answer your question the un-evenness
is probably something I wouldn't do now as I've learned to
keep it more "even". (Depending on the style of the
book.)
Dia obviously was done in a very clean style where Red
Jungle is quite different. I think when a book is in this
kind of hyper-clean style you see every little bump.
But there was a reason for the very pared down
"screenplay style" especially in the action scenes you
mention. I've found that when you have a complicated scene--
as the one in the Jeep where a girl becomes violently ill and
then does something over the top-- it's better to keep it
uncluttered with a lot of words. Just describe what you see.
When I work I watch the scene. Just like you watch a movie.
I'm there watching it unfold. This is the best, when you can
just watch it come at you.
I wish I was the boss, but the work usually is the one
pushing you around. You're its slave, unfortunately.
Kent
I'll get to your other question in a bit.
"E.Borgers" <
webeurop@yahoo.fr> wrote: Mr. Harrington,
In your novel, "Dia...", I was stuck by a few changes of
rhythm that happened by changing the type of writing, in the
development of the story. On a few parts, your writing became
(at least from my point of view) synthetic, close to a film
synopsis type of presentation that describes the editing of
certain scenes. One of these was during the catastrophe
happening to the young Chinese women trying to cross the
border. There was another during a fight of your central
character, Calhoun, IIRC. There were others, but I could not
check as I do not have the copy of your novel with me for the
moment. Was it because you were really thinking about a
possible future film script, or was it for another reason
?
I do not try to question or make suggestions for your
writing: in a novel, the author is the boss. However, I was
very surprised by these fractures in the style of writing
when I read the novel. I liked very much Dia, but had some
personal reservations about these fractures.
E.Borgers Hard-Boiled Mysteries http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6384
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 27 Sep 2005 EDT