NaNoWriMo 2012 - Day 5

[ladyseishou]

Day 5 - 25 days remaining


Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good.

— Voltaire







Today's word count is 8,335 Nano Writer! And something to keep in mind: every word counts - even the ones that might seem too big or too small or just not quite right. Remember that you're writing a rough draft this month - it's not suppose to be perfect - but it needs to be written!

Questions? Comments? Funny or weird typos to share? It's all go odd ;-) So keep writing!

Comments

[paceisthetrick]

The story centers on the protagonist's coming to terms with his life. It's a bit of a mid-life crisis, if you will. He recalls a little boy with whom he had a "friendship" in his childhood (the boy was a patient in the violent ward, now Quimby). The dismantling of the asylum following the fire (real event, 1991) triggers the incident (moving the files to the state archive) that enables the protagonist to learn the truth -- that the boy was sane and subjected to experiments. It's essentially an indictment of the psychiatric profession.

Here's an excerpt of why the grounds matter so much:

He climbed Hospital Drive, glancing but not seeing the sights left and right. He drove past the cottages and massive trees, past Hale and the remnants of the archway that had once been the entrance to the great asylum. Cars lined the road from Belmont to the Clocktower and he wondered why troublemakers were accommodated in this manner. The next thing you knew the city would be supplying busses to bring them in en masse. He really had to wonder about the goals of democratic society at times like these. He sighed. But his thoughts were interrupted by the presence of orange and white barriers on Clocktower Drive, blocking his entrance.

and

On a whim he turned to travel northeast towards the lake. He skirted the commotion on the other side, taking the overgrown path past the maintenance buildings that were tucked behind Sargent Hall, connected to the greater structure only by a series of tunnels used for heating and transport. He meant to travel across to Innovation Drive, down to where the old cottages stood. From there it was an easy skip to Belmont. Then he would be home again, safe and sound on that terrible terrible day.
Again his thoughts flickered between past and present. Even the names of the streets would change in the new order. Innovation Drive. How very novel it must all have seemed back then. How excited they must have been to be on the brink of discovery. They were like gods, standing in judgment over the lesser members of society. Too well did he understand the importance of that position, had known it from his earliest childhood years. He had felt it in the way he was addressed as a child, as if he were a little lord, had seen it in the creases on his father’s brow, deepening with strain over the decades as the asylums came under fire for their practices.

and

The room was exactly as he remembered – wood paneled walls with pencil marks still visible. They used to laugh about it, shining their flashlights up onto the arcane numbers – marks the carpenters had forgotten to erase before they applied the varnish. Honestly the workers were so hopeless. But no one expected much of the laboring class. They had no education back then. His father’s predecessor had spoken of educating the attendants to improve the quality of care but once again economic reality buried that ideal. Willie’s was the first generation that attended school alongside “proper folks” and actually stood a chance of bettering itself. That was innovative – the concept of bringing the poor up to a better standard. Everything done then was done for the greater good. Noblesse oblige in America. He wondered fleetingly when those ideals had perished. Sometime around Viet Nam probably. The leveling of America.

In short, for him to walk the grounds being demolished and have it trigger memories of childhood, I need to know the grounds COLD.

[ladyseishou]

Love the level of detail in your excerpts!

And it's really wonderful that the actual asylum has been so inspirational for your writing. But as far as re-writing your novel so that the narrative reflects the real facts as you have uncovered them to date, how uncomfortable would you be with a preface that stated "a fictional work as inspired by..." Or in other words, how important to you is it that your story faithfully adhere one hundred percent to the facts that might be only known to a very limited audience for your novel?

[paceisthetrick]

I've wondered about that very thing. (Today I have ploughed through 1500 words with HUGE gaping holes that will require additional research).

I am most influenced by historical fiction and I would be lying through my teeth if I said I didn't want to be the next Caleb Carr. :) When I read The Alienist (or Findley's Pilgrim or Grecian's The Yard) what I loved most was the historical accuracy. I think that is just from my training as an historian.

I originally started the story as fanfiction -- I was going to have a vampire coming out of the horrors of Ellis Island in 1911 discover the work of Jung and Freud and become a professor at Clark University. The asylum was chosen simply because of its proximity to Clark.

And then I saw the building.

Is it possible to fall in love with an inanimate object? :D I took one look at the building and was smitten. Then I fell in with a group of urban explorers who had been breaking into the buildings for decades. They had worked on Shutter Island (as experts as well as extras -- they KNEW the layout and how to get the cameramen where they needed to be for shots) and a whole new adventure began. I amassed a large collection of photos and videos from when the structure still stood and was put in touch with a number of psychiatrists who actually worked there.

So, I think it is my love for the physical structure that comes across in my character. I've put the awe and passion in him -- albeit supressed by years of being part of the establishment. The story is him recovering that sense of wonder -- the years of childhood when Worcester was a world unto itself. Witnessing its demolition unleashes those feelings.

Does that make any sense??????

PS I cried when they the wrecking ball hit the clocktower. :(((

[ladyseishou]

It sounds very much to me that your setting has become an important character in your story. It may even become the centerpiece of your theme. And as such is an important element to your plot (if nothing else it has become something that motivates your protagonist).

But... don't become enslaved by the details while writing your first draft. It's not cheating to use a "marker" of some kind that you can search for later to add to your list of "things you need answers for" (I use "xxx" as in "He knew komi for the Chinese games was xxx" and "komi" is a real word used by Go pros but that's another story ;-) Yeah, I know that "xxx" will be counted as a word but I also know that it's something that I'll be adding later (as opposed to writing something like "xxxx xxx and xxx").

So keep writing! Make notes for yourself to be added to your next draft. The important thing is to get the story down on paper so-to-speak and sweat the details later!

[paceisthetrick]

Thanks for the advice! I am working now. :)

[iosonochesono]

OT: I like the note idea. I was thinking about getting those page markers so I can mark places where I know I need to go back in and edit details, along with post-it pages to stick on print-outs that I've been reading away from the computer to try and catch errors I don't tend to notice on the computer.

[ladyseishou]

If it helps your writing process then reading through print-outs is not a bad idea especially if it helps you plan the next scene but please don't let it steal away writing time or interrupt the forward momentum of your story...