Writing Log 130512

Me in front of the USN Hornet CVS 12 now a museum at Alameda, which I've based my descriptions of what it is like to be aboard a naval vessel in my novel Bad Dog.  Don't make up what you can steal from what is real.

Another hard week for me as I slowly dragged words from out the darkness that is my inner psyche screaming into the light. Part of the dynamic is my desire to not write a pastiche of something I have never experienced.

In this case a description of what one has to go through Marine Corps Officer Cadet School, as the last thing I want to do is make myself look like a fool.

So I've been stealing from my research resources and make them my character's experience. Note the word steal, not plagiarize. The difference is the the former makes it mine, whereas the latter just uses stuff without understanding it.

Anyway that is hard work and writing slowed down as a result.

I spent time restructuring three chapters into two new chapters, followed by shuffling the sequence of the first eight chapters.  In between doing this I wrote a the first draft of a review for a magazine article.

So by the end of last week I had only managed to advance my novel by 3,646 words, bringing the running total up to 23,582 and I feel a bit lost in the story.

My second novel is proving to be a harder story to bring into the world than the first.  I'm therefore treating this as a learning curve and riding the wave as best I can.

Been re-reading One Bullet Away and comparing it with Generation Kill by Evan Wright, which tells the Iraq invasion part of Fick's story from the perspective of an embedded reporter.

Fascinating reading.