An ossuary in the closet

[ritaxis]

I read somewhere that Franz Kafka thought he was writing comedies and was dismayed that people didn't laugh when they read his books, and that Jaroslav Hasek thoughthe was writing tragedies and was dismayed when people did laugh.

I don't know if it's true.

But this thing I've been writing is supposed to be a romantic comedy, andit just gets less and less funny. And as for the romance: well, our guy's just having the pieces picked up by our other guy.

I'm about five hundred words shy of the length I thought I would stop it at, and I've found myself in a whole that would take ten times that to get out of. If I want it to end the way I want it to, in an upbeat crescendo. I may have to tear the last chapter down and redo it.

But this chapter has produced one of my favorite lines so far: "Some people have a skeleton or two in their closets, Skip, but you've got a whole ossuary."

He does, too. But I may decide to throw out the last horrible revelation as being too dark for the tone of the rest of the book. I don't know.

I told the people who were reading it as I wrote it that they know what happens in the last chapter, and I didn't really have to write it, now, did I? But I was being disingenuous. They really don't.

And now I'm a little less sure I do, either.

On another front, when I told the latest painter I couldn't afford $6900 and I was probably going to do it myself (read: "hire my friend the window washer") he started backing and filling and saying not to give up. But he also says he has a lot of work right now and can't do it right away. I don't know what the deal is. I wasn't bargaining.

But I'm really going to ask Paul.

And the termite people never called again.

But the tree people are coming to look at the almond trees on Monday.

Insert usual whinge about missing the nice fellow and how hard it is to do anything without him.

And it's really cold, even for "normal summer pattern weather."

Comments

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I hate having to have work done on the house. I am not good at organising things and chasing people up. It's a grown up skill that I somehow never acquired.

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

For me, it just exacerbates my tendency to pile crap up around the edges of every room.

[frogs_of_war]

Isn't it horrible when what you wrote isn't what you thought you had.

I also have a story where I knew exactly the scene I wanted to end with. I worked to keep the tension up as I passed the POV back and forth. The two main character both wanted and feared their first meeting in years, now that they knew exactly who the other was. But when I got to that scene (which I wrote twice) I realized that I had only finished the first act of the story and I have now idea what happens next.