So yeah, I’m doing a lot of backstory work. Part of my deal with myself is to do at least one entry in the Codex a day, so that way the damn thing starts taking on a bit more substance, but in honest reflection I have to wonder if I’m letting that get in the way of other writerly stuff, like, you know, the novel itself.
On the one hand, the Codex lets my rational brain take part in the creation process: it links histories, it defines technologies, it aggregates information about various bits and then spits them out in digestible chunks, which is all for the good, naturally. I do tend to find that if I go all-out creative, doing solid writing and nothing else, I eventually sputter to a halt because part of my brain is being horribly neglected — so in that respect, the Codex is a great way to let the rational side involve itself in the creative process.
On the other hand, there’s a potentially significant logical problem that should be demanding my attention, and that’s the sneaking suspicion that the outline I’ve written for The Grey Lord is seriously flawed in parts, or at least underdeveloped. Not in huge parts, but in significant enough parts that it probably warrants a going-over with scalpel and forceps. And, this being the case, it’s quite possible that my current obsession with the Codex is a distraction from the elephant in the room.
I think what needs doing is for me to get an actual hard copy of the thing to review it in its current state. I’ve been trying to review it on the PC, but screen by screen evaluation just doesn’t seem to be my bag; either I get distracted by the bits I’ve already written and like, or I skip through the problematic stuff with a little too much ease. I need to see the thing on paper so I can scribble on it. Apologies to the trees (I wonder if there’s a good recycled bond paper I can do this sort of thing on?), but this sounds like a good first step.
February 27th, 2008 at 7:10 am - Edit
Is this what you were looking for?
http://www.thegreenoffice.com/component/option,com_virtuemart/page,shop.browse/category_id,21258/Itemid,10/?gclid=CPXe8MWq5JECFQ18GgodZyxleA
February 27th, 2008 at 10:43 pm - Edit
[...] apparently Shadee and I were thinking along similar lines today; she left a comment on a prior post regarding where to find good post-consumer bond paper — apparently The Green [...]
February 27th, 2008 at 10:43 pm - Edit
Yep! I summarized your link and the one I found on the post linked above. Thanks for doing the legwork for me on that, the Aspen 100 stuff looks like it might be cool.