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Friday, October 29, 2004

More novel issues

I think the only way I'll be able to finish this 1700-words/day project I'm coming upon here is if I write a funny or satirical or in some way non-serious novel. Those ideas I had were solid, but unless I just totally rid myself of editorial impulses completely and write total crap with nothing to even hold it together, I will fail to get the novel done. And nobody wants that.

My wife likes 9) "The Problem" best, and she says it sounds like "Left Behind", which is basically exactly what it is. But it's too serious, man. I mean, I could make it funny, but that could be disastrous. But not as disastrous as not completing it. All your moms. I'll figure it out. Stop pressuring me.


posted by Mike Pape @ 7:32 AM  

3 Comments:

  • At 8:07 AM, Blogger Brian said…

    Okay, how about this--here's what I'm working with:
    1.Tropical Depression--the story of a young writer who banks hard on his first novel, makes tons of money, but then gets alienated by his friends, because the novel was autobiographical, and they all think he made them look terrible. To make matters worse, he's almost broke, spending the advance from his next book to live and has nothing to write about. So he moves to an island with a semi-poor tourism-based economy to live there and stretch his money and, hopefully, write something.

    2.Sevedra Lives: This one is much less detailed. A guy dies, and his best friend steals the body and hauls it cross-country in a van in accordance with his buddy's wishes, but against everyone elses. Craziness ensues. In fact, I think somehow the guy's not going to be dead. PS--I stole the basis for this from Gram Parsons, who it happened to.

    3.Everything was Beautiful: my attempted novel from last year. A couple of people who are friends from 'back in the day' try to carve out new lives in a shitty place (Michigan) and meet some new people, run a rec center for poor kids, reassemble short-wave radios, get dumped by girls and flip the hell out about it, go on cross country trips for reasons I don't understand yet and...well, yeah. It's full of great ideas, but the plot goes hardly anywhere. WHich can be good, but only if you're a good writer. Which I'm not.

    So, there you go. As for your ideas, I don't know. The viking one sounds awesome. But, then again, most of them do.

     

  • At 9:56 AM, Blogger jill said…

    brian, i like the third idea. i think that could be a really sweet book.

    mike, i like you. aw.

     

  • At 10:16 AM, Blogger Mike Pape said…

    I, too, like the 3rd idea. But that really happened to Gram Parsons? Was he the dead guy or the friend?

     

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