Act natural

( Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2002 12:51 pm )

>New novel title: You Shall Know Our Word Count

How is the snovel, you ask me? Well, it is doing A-OK fine, I am the Queen of the Word Count, and I even have plot ideas for every day this week. It's tremendous. I feel a little guilty because my plot devices are a little drastic (death, pregnancy), especially coming all at once, in the middle of the book, for no apparent reason. Normally, when I write (short) stories, I tend to make them very low on action. You know, like, characters talk about how much they love grocery stores or they go for a drive because they're so bored (so bored because they're trapped in my ho-hum narrative universe). I call this AlmostRealism, because it's true to my particular life experience. You know, because in real life nothing astounding and amazing usually happens, except for the little wonders of everyday living, such as learning that Juney's new boyfriend plays the trombone, thus restoring my faith in people in general and well-meaning dorks in particular. So anyway, I'm killing off the beautiful "Timothy" on Friday, and I think there's going to be some sex before that, maybe on Thursday. Oh boy!

I also have strong feelings about giving my characters normal names, because you never meet people named, like, Sage and Juniper and Winter and Chatham in real life (unless you're a hippie or go to a WASPy boarding school). You do meet a lot of Mikes though. In my next book, all the characters will be named Mike and Jen.

I've had a very active dreamlife lately, and almost always it's about somebody from my hometown, like my parents or my high school friends. I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving. I want to try and be oot and aboot every night that I'm at home, and already Adam has told me that he wants me to go to a frat party. It's kind of funny. I've never been to a frat party, since I am indeed not the frattie kind of girl, nor did I attend a school where there were frats, only boys who behaved like frat boys without the benefit of greek letters on the outside of their house. But anyway, Adam has been really keen on me going to one of these. So that's one night accounted for, Thanksgiving is another, and I definitely must see Annette sometime, and Justine. And I have to go see The Hours with my mom. Plus, I'll have my car at home, so I will be able to drive around--wow. I haven't missed driving since I've been here, since I've always only walked in Philly, but I used to love the drive between my parents' house and PCU. I could do that with my eyes closed still, I believe.

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