I'm still struggling with the novel. I have a week to go after today, and I'm only at about 16 and a half thousand words.
A big part of the problem here is that, even after writing, I really don't have a story. I have a premise, and I have two people that I definitely want to be characters in the story, but I don't have an actual plot or actual characters, really.
I had hoped that in the process of writing, a plot would emerge, and to a small extent, I have events that the characters are looking forward to an preparing for. But exactly how things are going to shake out remains unresolved.
This is actually the main reason I held off on beginning to write this for about a decade and a half. I couldn't very well ask someone else to write it for me, I was the one who wanted to know what would happen, and what if another person were to answer this question in a way I didn't accept? But if I had a story to go with the "what if," I'd have written it by now.
My characters, on top of that, don't feel real to me yet. They come across as alternating between exposition spewers and cardboard cutouts. A substantial obstacle is that my main characters were real people, and so I feel constrained to make them behave the way they would have in real life. Indeed, that is part of the point of choosing them as my characters! Both Sigmund Freud and Rudolf Hapsburg would have been in their mid to late fifties in my time frame, so the actions of dashing youth are ruled out. I just discovered that one other person I wanted to make a major character was considerably older than Rudolf, and in our timeline was dead by the time my story takes place. I'm thinking about who I can replace him with. I'll probably need to make someone up, which would make characterization easier, at least.
In spite of all these considerations, I remain firmly of the opinion that there is something worthwhile in the premise, and further, with some research and some more writing experience, I'll have something readable in the end. One thought that occurs to me is perhaps to set the story earlier, back in the 19th century, or to begin it there and have Rudolf be under prolonged treatment, as so many analysands have been over the decades. This would vitiate the urgency of the events as I have them now, so I don't know if I'll end up writing it that way, but it's a valid change to consider.
I have a feeling that, much like Brahms started a string quintet that ended up a piano quintet, that the final version of this novel won't resemble what I've produced so far very closely.
I think after the month is over, I'll let this one sit for a while, and try my hand at another idea which doesn't involve the deployment of real historical figures. I may have better early results with completely fictional characters. Also, I'll set it in contemporary New York, so I can visualize my setting better and not have to worry as much about whether the words I put in my characters' mouths ring true.
Novelisting is hard!
A big part of the problem here is that, even after writing, I really don't have a story. I have a premise, and I have two people that I definitely want to be characters in the story, but I don't have an actual plot or actual characters, really.
I had hoped that in the process of writing, a plot would emerge, and to a small extent, I have events that the characters are looking forward to an preparing for. But exactly how things are going to shake out remains unresolved.
This is actually the main reason I held off on beginning to write this for about a decade and a half. I couldn't very well ask someone else to write it for me, I was the one who wanted to know what would happen, and what if another person were to answer this question in a way I didn't accept? But if I had a story to go with the "what if," I'd have written it by now.
My characters, on top of that, don't feel real to me yet. They come across as alternating between exposition spewers and cardboard cutouts. A substantial obstacle is that my main characters were real people, and so I feel constrained to make them behave the way they would have in real life. Indeed, that is part of the point of choosing them as my characters! Both Sigmund Freud and Rudolf Hapsburg would have been in their mid to late fifties in my time frame, so the actions of dashing youth are ruled out. I just discovered that one other person I wanted to make a major character was considerably older than Rudolf, and in our timeline was dead by the time my story takes place. I'm thinking about who I can replace him with. I'll probably need to make someone up, which would make characterization easier, at least.
In spite of all these considerations, I remain firmly of the opinion that there is something worthwhile in the premise, and further, with some research and some more writing experience, I'll have something readable in the end. One thought that occurs to me is perhaps to set the story earlier, back in the 19th century, or to begin it there and have Rudolf be under prolonged treatment, as so many analysands have been over the decades. This would vitiate the urgency of the events as I have them now, so I don't know if I'll end up writing it that way, but it's a valid change to consider.
I have a feeling that, much like Brahms started a string quintet that ended up a piano quintet, that the final version of this novel won't resemble what I've produced so far very closely.
I think after the month is over, I'll let this one sit for a while, and try my hand at another idea which doesn't involve the deployment of real historical figures. I may have better early results with completely fictional characters. Also, I'll set it in contemporary New York, so I can visualize my setting better and not have to worry as much about whether the words I put in my characters' mouths ring true.
Novelisting is hard!