The Sunday Circle is the weekly check-in where I ask the creative-types who follow this blog to weigh in about their goals, inspirations, and challenges for the coming week. The logic behind it can be found here. Want to be involved? It’s easy – just answer three questions in the comments or on your own blog (with a link in the comments here, so that everyone can find them).
After that, throw some thoughts around about other people’s projects, ask questions if you’re so inclined. Be supportive above all.
Then show up again next Sunday when the circle updates next, letting us know how you did on your weekly project and what you’ve got coming down the pipe in the coming week (if you’d like to part of the circle, without subscribing to the rest of the blog, you can sign-up for reminders via email here).
MY CHECK-IN
What am I working on this week?
Starting in on sequence four of Float this week, which will take the rough draft up to the midpoint of the story. Aiming for five scenes every week seems to be the sweet spot, in terms of keeping momentum going, so I can make a reasonable prediction that I’ll hit the end of this draft by close of November.
I’m also off to teach a library workshop next Saturday and trying to clear another short story out of the redraft folder. If I time it right, I’ll finish that backlog about the same time as the Float draft.
Also, for those who are curious: resolving the weekend writing trigger problem from last week seems to be getting up and doing a quick lap of the block.
What’s inspiring me this week?
I went on a tear of really good fiction and films this week, but the real surprise in terms of things that got me thinking about narrative was Tim Burton’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. I’m not generally a fan of Burton’s work, outside of a handful of films, but I’d forgotten how exquisitely he captures the strangeness of suburbia and that’s used to really good effect here.
The story is also packed to the gills with visuals and story elements that I loved, but it’s one of those films that is just very nearly as good as you want it to be instead of nailing things. Mostly, the problem is the final act, which is annoying flat and loses all the tension. I’ve spent the last twenty-four hours trying to puzzle out why that is, and I expect it’s largely one of those things where the finale makes a bunch of choices that break your suspension of disbelief and makes for a bunch of really unsatisfying choices. .
What part of my project an I avoiding?
I really need to sit down and look over the notes for the workshop that I’m teaching next weekend, then figure out how it’s going to affect my writing hours this week. There’s also a blog post about writing hours that I’ve written, but haven’t yet gotten around to typing up, that really should get posted in the coming week.
