the writings going good. so many times i thought "this is never going to work, this novel cant be written!!" but ive managed to work out all of the glitches that i can see. it's a multi layered work. i sort of worry that it has too MANY layers now. yet i think somehow they all work, that there's some harmony with them all working in tandem. it's a very psychological novel and that's difficult because the plot is informed by the characters psychology so you have to make sure that the action all conforms to their psychology/personality and you're not making them do things that are incongruous just to move the story along. every time i make my main character do or say something, i have to think about the entire rest of the novel to see if her actions in this moment fit in with her actions throughout the novel, and that's a bit exhausting. (surely theres an easier way??). im happy with where it's going though and happy because i know that this is the novel that i WANT to write, rather than just the best idea i could think up. i mean, if i write no other novel, so be it: i just want to write this one.
it sure isnt easy, though, that's true as hell. it's the hardest thing you will ever do and the least compensated. i think i may like the short story form better than the novel form, because, like the title that you voted for, i feel like a short story is like an objet d'art: finely crafted, with an innate harmony, superb economy, and no superfluous parts. something that you can turn about in your hands and examine from all sides. whereas a novel is so unwieldy its hard to see it in it's entirety, hard to see all the sides at once. still, the problem with writing a short story is that in order to sell it as a book you'd have to write many short stories, and that's harder than writing just one novel. do you have any plans for your short story?