While Janine and Amy contend with what will soon be known as the Tet Offensive, I thought it would be as good a time as any to reflect on a portion of the writing process thus far.
I always knew that I was an impatient writer. I would love to sit you down and tell you the whole story, from beginning to end. All the twists and turns and how everyone ends up. It's funny to do it this way. Not funny, ha ha. You know what I mean. Not only *how* they end up, but *who* they end up being will surprise you.
Because of this, writing the project became a spiritual practice. Rather than dealing with these people in one straight shot - 120 pages - I live with these people daily. In real life, people don't change because of plot points. Structure is only be seen in hindsight.
Which isn't to say that the story is structureless. It most definitely has a structure - plot points included. But the structure in a form like this has to be subtle.
Tet offficially begins the story. Much of what has already happened was groundwork. The play - in particular Janine's story - opened right at this point. But it seemed important to blog the prelude so people could latch onto the story. Plus, the Coalition for a Democratic Alternative ran a full page ad in the New York Times on January 14. I took it as a sign from God to begin blogging that day.
Comments