The Tourist (8)
08/05/10
The process of finishing a first draft of my second novel The Tourist continues. I expect next week to repaint, as I call it, chapters 90 to 94 (See The Tourist (1) to The Tourist (7) of this blog for an explanation of my scheme.)
On Friday I rode and walked along the six block section of Main Street running north from Logan Avenue, to fill in the blanks of my knowledge of the buildings and the streets, as I had imagined them, circa the year 2006. The main character of the book, Bill Constant, ends up hiding out at the Bell Hotel after a series of large shocks to his peace of mind. In the recent past he had explored famous sections of Paris and London. In his later ‘knocked down’ condition, he is doing the same on Skid Row in Winnipeg, trying to figure something or other out.
When I started writing the book, I had personal experience of, and access to photos of the European places to be referred to in the new novel. It has only been in the last few weeks of writing that it has become apparent that Bill needs to spend some time among the ‘down and out’ to put his woes in perspective. My own photos of the old countries were good enough to guide my composition. However, I am happy to state that I have small personal knowledge (touch wood) of Skid Row, and no souvenir snaps! Hence my reconnaisance.
I toyed with the idea of asking my pal Darren Fast (www.solaltaphoto.com) o take some new shots on North Main. He had done a great job taking, assembling, and projecting the slides for our gang’s (Darren, Tony Buchner, and me) multi-media performance of my poem and song Soldier’s Cemetery at the last The Launch Pad Coffee House*. That went so well that it occurred to me that someone like Darren might be interested in putting together a portfolio of pictures to accompany the entire book! But I desisted, in light of; 1) Darren’s already full business and artistic calender, 2) the already stupid level of complexity of this project, and 3) the heart attack my publisher would suffer, My advisors, who are much saner than me, had already (I think) talked me out of trying to put a soundtrack to The Tourist, like I had done for my first effort, Except My Love For You.
Speaking of complexity, today being Saturday, I did not write. Instead, I started work on a bar graph of the book’s chapters, comparing chapter lengths by number of words, and ultimately color-coding the relationship between the recurring chapter structures (described in (1) to (7) hereof) and other characteristics. The initial visual impression was quite suggestive. I ultimately hope to co-ordinate the lengths, the structures, and the nature of all the chapters. Theoretically, on completion the book would combine the power of both poetry and prose.
Of the first 30 chapters so far analyzed, out of 23 ‘types’ used, 7 have already recurred at least once. If you think this is the mother of all delusional ‘biting off more than you can chew’ exercises - you are probably right. My agent is already in therapy.
* The 3rd Wednesday of each month, the next being May 19. Doors open 7:30PM, open mike (all talents) starts at 8:00PM, at Churchill Park United Church, 525 Beresford,
On Friday I rode and walked along the six block section of Main Street running north from Logan Avenue, to fill in the blanks of my knowledge of the buildings and the streets, as I had imagined them, circa the year 2006. The main character of the book, Bill Constant, ends up hiding out at the Bell Hotel after a series of large shocks to his peace of mind. In the recent past he had explored famous sections of Paris and London. In his later ‘knocked down’ condition, he is doing the same on Skid Row in Winnipeg, trying to figure something or other out.
When I started writing the book, I had personal experience of, and access to photos of the European places to be referred to in the new novel. It has only been in the last few weeks of writing that it has become apparent that Bill needs to spend some time among the ‘down and out’ to put his woes in perspective. My own photos of the old countries were good enough to guide my composition. However, I am happy to state that I have small personal knowledge (touch wood) of Skid Row, and no souvenir snaps! Hence my reconnaisance.
I toyed with the idea of asking my pal Darren Fast (www.solaltaphoto.com) o take some new shots on North Main. He had done a great job taking, assembling, and projecting the slides for our gang’s (Darren, Tony Buchner, and me) multi-media performance of my poem and song Soldier’s Cemetery at the last The Launch Pad Coffee House*. That went so well that it occurred to me that someone like Darren might be interested in putting together a portfolio of pictures to accompany the entire book! But I desisted, in light of; 1) Darren’s already full business and artistic calender, 2) the already stupid level of complexity of this project, and 3) the heart attack my publisher would suffer, My advisors, who are much saner than me, had already (I think) talked me out of trying to put a soundtrack to The Tourist, like I had done for my first effort, Except My Love For You.
Speaking of complexity, today being Saturday, I did not write. Instead, I started work on a bar graph of the book’s chapters, comparing chapter lengths by number of words, and ultimately color-coding the relationship between the recurring chapter structures (described in (1) to (7) hereof) and other characteristics. The initial visual impression was quite suggestive. I ultimately hope to co-ordinate the lengths, the structures, and the nature of all the chapters. Theoretically, on completion the book would combine the power of both poetry and prose.
Of the first 30 chapters so far analyzed, out of 23 ‘types’ used, 7 have already recurred at least once. If you think this is the mother of all delusional ‘biting off more than you can chew’ exercises - you are probably right. My agent is already in therapy.
* The 3rd Wednesday of each month, the next being May 19. Doors open 7:30PM, open mike (all talents) starts at 8:00PM, at Churchill Park United Church, 525 Beresford,
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