Writing Report – 24 February 2018

The culmination of my fourth week of writing and daily updates is upon me. Over the week I gave little nuggets of how I write and things I do that inspire me. I do not have anything like that today, but what I will say is that the best writing someone can ever do comes from the heart and has a basis in reality. So use real world events as the catalyst for your writing.

Progress Report: Saturday 24 February

Focus of Writing: Reality

Word Target: 2,500

Words Written: 2,509

Overview: Reality is my most serious novel and it is also one of the darkest as I know what the ending is and that what I write now will be looked back with different eyes once the end is read by a reader. I like to think of Reality as a perfect situation fuelled by a catalyst event the reader never learns much about.

Reality is a very mundane story at the start. Sure, it has all this sappy romantic stuff, but my idea goes into the territory of deception. The Main Dramatic Question of the novel (that isn’t the big twist) focuses on who instigated the accident that landed the protagonist in her position.

For the protagonist, Max Parker lives in constant fear of her mother and so is unable to live her life the way she wants to until the accident almost takes her life. From that moment, her kick-ass older sister assumes care of Max and pretty much encourages her to go against everything that their mother stands for. This leads Max to do things she would not dare try with her mother around – the main being engaging in lesbianism.

The secondary character, who serves as one of the antagonists, but in an affable, if wretched way, is Max Taylor. He (protagonist Max is female) was in the same accident as his female counterpart, but the reader finds out from his chapters that he is depraved and lustful, particularly when it involves the other Max. His actions are not made to endear him to the reader, but show how base humans can get in their actions.

The third character is Hailey Holbrook, and she serves as the primary love interest for Max Parker. Hailey is not afraid to speak her mind and I refer to her as the spitfire of the book. She does not care what others, save for Max Parker, think of her. Before the accident, her love went unrequited. She seized the chance when Max Parker allowed her to and she does not plan to look back, but she does have very subtle and sinister overtones of being a bad person.

For the style of Reality, though it focuses on three characters, the novel is written in first person from the view of each character. As such, there are some chapters that overlap and share the same information, but shed a new light on it. This is to show the reader that not all is as it seems and it is hard to trust any of them.

What I Did Today: Today was the second week of new work on Reality, and it focused on developing Hailey’s relationships with those around her, specifically her father, her father’s girlfriend, and Max Parker. A lot of what I wrote takes place in Hailey’s house, the morning after a long sought after copulation between Hailey and Max Parker. The second half of the chapter (which is most of what I wrote) deals with the fallout and where they go from this point.

 The Best Sample From Today: Reality might be my strangest novel based on what I normally write, but it does produce some of my more artistic work. The sample I chose for today best represents how Hailey sees Max Parker as a friend, lover, and how she feels having her so close.

I felt Max sit up. Her size was enough to shake the whole bed and it did feel weird to share a bed with her. Of course, she made the cold so much more bearable with the heat her body gave off. Max rested her head on my shoulder.

The first thing to note is Hailey talking about Max’s size. I wrote Max to be a tall character as it is something different and opens up a lot of dialogue and options for writing about her. The one thing to note is that this is what Hailey perceives to happen. Max’s point of view of this scene is one I do not intend to write, so there is a modicum of unreliable narration, which is what Reality thrives on.

How Productive I Felt I Was: I accomplished a lot of progress with the character of Hailey. She is intriguing and beguiling, but also a difficult character to write. Her mindset is quite a bit younger than that of mine, but I do base her on experiences told to me, so today was about encapsulating why she might be the way she is.

With less of a focus on time, I feel I met my writing goal for today in a perfect time. Every sentence had more thought behind it than last week, and I can say I am proud of the direction Reality is taking.

 What I Intend To Write Next Week: Next week has a focus on Hailey’s relationship with her father and his girlfriend from Max Parker’s point of view. It will provide a contrast to this week, which focused on the same theme from Hailey’s point of view. It will also provide greater insight into how Max views herself as a person both before and after the accident.