I've been hinting on and off about a new novel-length project, Flight of the Vajra, but I haven't actually talked about it in detail for a couple of reasons.
One, I'm always a little reluctant to reveal a lot of details about a project in progress, because things could change quite radically between now and the final draft, and I hate the idea of looking like I'm pulling a bait-and-switch. Earlier this week I read about how Dostoyevsky fed his original draft of Crime and Punishment to the flames after realizing his story deserved to be told anew in a better way. I was appalled at first, but then I realized a) it was his damn story, and b) look what we got because of his willingness to break from his own continuity.
Two, I don't want to get into the habit of substituting talking about my work with actually producing it. I have a deep-seated aversion to such things — I think it comes from having spent time with too many people who were themselves more talkers than doers, and I don't want to imitate their habits if I can help it.
So here's what I'm gedankening: Rather than blog about the book, I'll be talking on and off about themes related to the book, posted under a general topical heading (Flight of the Vajra). Some of the stuff I talk about there may make it into the final draft; some might not. At the very least you'll be guaranteed an interesting time.
As they say in advertising: Watch this space.
(Smartass voice from off-stage: "Why, what's it doing?")
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"As they say in advertising: Watch this space."
Will definitely do so (with a bowl of popcorn and breath!).
Nice point about Dostoyevsky. I also remember something similar happening to Stephen King--he actually tossed the draft of CARRIE into the trash, believing that the book was awful--until his wife Tabitha fished it out of the trash, read it, liked it, and encouraged King to complete the book and send it out.
The rest, as they say, is history.
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With Dostoyevsky, the burning of the ms. was all the more striking because it was a finished (and perhaps also polished) work. Bear in mind the original title was "The Drunkards", and the plan for the story was about "the effects of drinking on a family"! That was eventually turned into the subplot about Sonya's father. That doesn't keep me from wondering what the burned draft was like; it would have been to "C&P" what "Stephen Hero" was to "Portrait of the Artist...", I think.
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