or, How to Turn Some Happy Little Clouds into a Full-blown Story - Why Michael Ondaatje wrote The English Patient non-linearly, and how it might work for you...
I wrote my fourth (and best) novel in vignettes, completely out of order. It was a terrifying process at the time and one I've avoided returning to for some reason. This post has inspired me to give it a go again. Thank you!
I can see the terrifying part. If I had my druthers, I'd write from start to finish for sure. (But then, if I had my druthers, I'd write start to finish, in one draft, then watch it climb the Bestseller charts while I signed my movie contract... lol)
For me, it's a way to get the ideas down that come to me, when they come to me. Rather than write a little note, I write a little scene, slot it in roughly where I think it will land in relation to all the other little scenes, and go to the next. Until I have another solid stretch of being able to work on the novel, that's the way it will have to go for the moment!
Glad you've found inspiration in this post -- and thanks for letting us know!
Ha - as I say, it got to be a bit much for me too when I was younger. I enjoyed it more now. (Though I did think the descriptions of the winds went on a bit long.)
I don't know "why" but I have a better understanding now about why some people love that type of writing and some people can't stand it. I wrote about something similar in an older post here: https://www.towritewithwildabandon.com/p/bloomsday-prophesy
Basically, some people like lyrical, poetic prose, and some don't. I'm definitely in the "Yes" column. "The English Patient" seems to polarize people around that point -- the book and the movie!
Great post, Graham. I'm not much of a fiction writer, but I count myself in the nonlinear camp, and I've been at my campsite there for some time. For me, the model doesn't work like some sort of accretion, where pieces come together (sometimes magically). Rather, they slide around like pieces pulled from different jigsaw puzzles. Some are just beacons, little lights that show a way in other prose. So, loose-fitting. Sometimes useless, too. I've written things that have a lumbering mass of usused words that's bigger than the final product. Sometimes, like right now in a project I'm wrestling with, it's useful to take a (presumed whole) and slice it up‐-in order to impose a creative nonlinearity, I guess.
Good to see your writing wisdom appear in my email inbox!
Oh yes, there are the chunks that don't always make it in. But that's true for me for any writing that has a word count max. And for fiction -- ha, that's very well documented too. I've been known to keep writing a scene even when I know I've gone too far off track and it will never make it into the final. But sometimes it's interesting to see what sits at the deadend...
I love the puzzle imagery -- I don't think you meant slider puzzle, but that's immediately what jumped to mind. In any case, so interesting that there is evidence that all four non-linear writers do it in four different ways...
I wrote my fourth (and best) novel in vignettes, completely out of order. It was a terrifying process at the time and one I've avoided returning to for some reason. This post has inspired me to give it a go again. Thank you!
I can see the terrifying part. If I had my druthers, I'd write from start to finish for sure. (But then, if I had my druthers, I'd write start to finish, in one draft, then watch it climb the Bestseller charts while I signed my movie contract... lol)
For me, it's a way to get the ideas down that come to me, when they come to me. Rather than write a little note, I write a little scene, slot it in roughly where I think it will land in relation to all the other little scenes, and go to the next. Until I have another solid stretch of being able to work on the novel, that's the way it will have to go for the moment!
Glad you've found inspiration in this post -- and thanks for letting us know!
I’m reading The English Patient and hating the prose. OMG. why. why why why
Ha - as I say, it got to be a bit much for me too when I was younger. I enjoyed it more now. (Though I did think the descriptions of the winds went on a bit long.)
I don't know "why" but I have a better understanding now about why some people love that type of writing and some people can't stand it. I wrote about something similar in an older post here: https://www.towritewithwildabandon.com/p/bloomsday-prophesy
Basically, some people like lyrical, poetic prose, and some don't. I'm definitely in the "Yes" column. "The English Patient" seems to polarize people around that point -- the book and the movie!
Great post, Graham. I'm not much of a fiction writer, but I count myself in the nonlinear camp, and I've been at my campsite there for some time. For me, the model doesn't work like some sort of accretion, where pieces come together (sometimes magically). Rather, they slide around like pieces pulled from different jigsaw puzzles. Some are just beacons, little lights that show a way in other prose. So, loose-fitting. Sometimes useless, too. I've written things that have a lumbering mass of usused words that's bigger than the final product. Sometimes, like right now in a project I'm wrestling with, it's useful to take a (presumed whole) and slice it up‐-in order to impose a creative nonlinearity, I guess.
Good to see your writing wisdom appear in my email inbox!
Thanks Mark - glad you liked it!
Oh yes, there are the chunks that don't always make it in. But that's true for me for any writing that has a word count max. And for fiction -- ha, that's very well documented too. I've been known to keep writing a scene even when I know I've gone too far off track and it will never make it into the final. But sometimes it's interesting to see what sits at the deadend...
I love the puzzle imagery -- I don't think you meant slider puzzle, but that's immediately what jumped to mind. In any case, so interesting that there is evidence that all four non-linear writers do it in four different ways...
Thanks for adding your process!