I'm afraid that I'm writing a "kitchen-sink" novel, in that I include everything but the kitchen sink and I just keep sticking new ideas in.
Basically I've been pouring most of my creative energies over the last year into one novel, which is sort of going well.
For me, writing is a case of finding an interesting idea (reading something in a magazine or a novel, or experiencing something new, or just having it strike me as a good topic) and then writing about it to the best of my ability. But because I'm concentrating on this one novel, any ideas I have are immediately shoehorned into the context of the story I'm writing.
For example: recently I read about the February 26 Incident (an attempted military coup in Japan in 1936) and thought "I could write an interesting short story about that." But then I thought "But if I change some of the details and take it out of historical context, I could stick it in The Novel and it might work pretty well." This leads me to think: is there anything I wouldn't twist around to stick in there? And if so, what is my novel actually about?
And even if I finish a short story, I'll look at it and think "Hey, if I change the names around and change a few details, this could work in my novel!". Which I'm beginning to think adds up to a choppy work. It seems to suggest to me that I'm doomed to write a novel about ideas with no proper overriding themes or plot. I think maybe the word is "unfocused".
Is this normal? Is this just natural behaviour when writing, to want to throw everything in? I'd appreciate thoughts on this...
Basically I've been pouring most of my creative energies over the last year into one novel, which is sort of going well.
For me, writing is a case of finding an interesting idea (reading something in a magazine or a novel, or experiencing something new, or just having it strike me as a good topic) and then writing about it to the best of my ability. But because I'm concentrating on this one novel, any ideas I have are immediately shoehorned into the context of the story I'm writing.
For example: recently I read about the February 26 Incident (an attempted military coup in Japan in 1936) and thought "I could write an interesting short story about that." But then I thought "But if I change some of the details and take it out of historical context, I could stick it in The Novel and it might work pretty well." This leads me to think: is there anything I wouldn't twist around to stick in there? And if so, what is my novel actually about?
And even if I finish a short story, I'll look at it and think "Hey, if I change the names around and change a few details, this could work in my novel!". Which I'm beginning to think adds up to a choppy work. It seems to suggest to me that I'm doomed to write a novel about ideas with no proper overriding themes or plot. I think maybe the word is "unfocused".
Is this normal? Is this just natural behaviour when writing, to want to throw everything in? I'd appreciate thoughts on this...
