So after a day and a half of meal prep, eating, and some clean up, in that period before you find someone to make another pot of coffee while you haul out too much dessert, I was talking with a family member who's a graphic artist. He asked what I was working on, and I told him about the 365 Story Project and how much time I'd spent last week trying to track the various story threads. We were talking about how complex this book of little stories about kids just living their lives on the same street was becoming.
He wondered if I was making this too difficult for myself. He suggested that I go back and look at the original book that inspired me and recall what it was that I loved so much about the book when I was young that I wanted to replicate. Did that book have threads? Maybe a child reading this book doesn't need threads.
He made some good points. I do have to keep in mind what it was I wanted to replicate. On the other hand, I want to keep the threads. While I don't think real threads or arcs appeared in the original, certainly the same children kept turning up. As a writer, I need the threads. The individual daily "bits" aren't stories all by themselves. The arcs are becoming the stories that weave in and out among the children's days. Without them, I'd really have to come up with 365 unrelated complete very, very short stories. I no longer believe that's going to happen.
In the course of the conversation, the word "segment" came up several times. I've been toying around with some climactic events at the end of the year. That could end up making this some kind of novel. Perhaps I will describe it as a "segmented novel." Now I'm beginning to think quite differently about this book.
Aren't holidays wonderful?
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