27 January 2004

Novels that Turn Out Not to be Novels

Strange things happen when you're lying in bed waiting for it to be 2 am so you can get up and drive your parents to the airport for their flight to Mexico. As always happens when I know I really ought to fall asleep, I started getting ideas about writing projects. And then I suddenly realized that the reason I'm having such trouble with White Foxes, Full Moon--it's too episodic, I can't seem to find the right point of view, etc--is that it's not meant to be a novel. It is, in fact, meant to be some of the many interconnected stories in Vinland Stories.

This is not as dismaying a realization as it might be. In fact, it's rather a relief. For one, it means that I can combine two of my New Years' resolutions into one. "Finish writing White Foxes" is now a large part of "Finish writing Vinland Stories." And for two, I was wondering where the heck the rest of the stories from Vinland were going to come from. Now I know. Well, there will be more, but this takes care of a lot.

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