The importance of found objects

Belopw is ann email I sent out to m 2007 newbies, descrining the miserable situation I was in at ... gosh ... just about this time last year!

I've included it because, first of all, I want to emphasise how typical it is to feel anguished at this stage. The email that I sent out in 07 was simply titled 'Ugh' because that was how I felt. You'll notice that I complain about endless recapping and rehashing stuff I already know, in the hope of finding something new in it. I am in exactly the same situation this year - Jack is trailing about, talking to people, waiting for someone to say something remarkable that opens up the nxt avenue.

Second, note the comment about the drunk in the field and the mysteriously absent wife. That was thrown in as a bit of filler to help me reach my word count one night. I didn't plan on it being important in any way, shape or form. It was just something I found and decided to chuck in for the Hell of it. But it did, in fact, turn out to be absolutely essential. The killing of Effie Burden cracked the case. So don't be afraid to explore random little avenues that you notice - you never know where they will lead, but it will PROBABLY (I promise nothing) be somewhere good.

Here's the original email from 07:

It had to happen. After three or four nights (why does it feel like November has already been going on for weeks?) where ideas had been bouncing out onto the page, I found myslef stuggling tonight.

The problem is that up until now I've been setting up - introducing the setting, characters and backstory. This can be done in a pretty random manner, which is what I thrive on. But now - after 16K - my detective has to start detecting stuff, making connections and uncovering clues, motives and DARK SECRETS. And winging that can be dicey.

So tonight I sent him to talk to the journalist who puts out the local paper. I figured that the journalist would be a good source of information. Perhaps some inspiration
would strike and I'd be able to run with it. Didn't happen tonight. So I spent 2,000 words recapping and recounting as the journalist and the 'tec discussed one of the murders (there have been three so far, all taking place before the narrative started). It didn't take long to write, but it was infuriating to find myself baffled. Tommorrow, they'll carry on talking. If they don't find something else out, I'll have to try something else.

If all else fails, I've got an ace up my sleeve - the other night I improvised a scene where the detective stumbles upon a drunk in the fields. They swapped some dialogue, and the drunk quoted ominous verses from the books of Job and Revelation. All pretty cliched. But when the tec helped the drunk back to his shack, I didn't get the sense that his woman - importantly, not his wife - was there. So I didn't write her in. I implied she was next door, ignoring her drunken lover. But it struck me after writing that there might be a much more sinister reason why she didn't come out.

So if the current killings don't inspire, maybe I'll introduce another one. Sounds silly? Yes, it is. But since thisI'm using nano to explore ideas, rather than flesh out a pre-plkanned plot, I can always cut out the other killings. Heck, I'm even thinking about cutting out my main character and replacing him with a local. But not until December.

Incidentally, the whole novel turned out to hinge on that one random encounter, and a second diversion I employed, where I sent Jack to a Wild Party at a backwoods speakeasy. There he met lots of people, alll of whom would try to do terrible things to him later on. It is a GOOD SIGN, I thin, that I'm sending Jack to another party now, in 2008.