“What are you writing in the novel now,” Gary asked.
“Well, I don’t want to write chapter five, because it’s all in her head, so I’m going through and doing something else that is boring. I’m charting the days to make sure that the phases of the moon she describes are right.”
“What?”
I said, “So, like, one day she has to hunt for a new place to hide, and she has to do it when the moon is new, and it has to happen four days before Easter. So I have to check the Internet to see if the moon was new on that day.”
“Or it could just be … cloudy.”
Once again, Gary thinks of something I never would have.
4 responses to “Rewriting the Novel: Gary is Smarter Than I Am”
Go with Gary’s idea. The moon is always full before Easter.
I can’t wait to read the novel!
Julie – Well, first Sunday after the first full moon, but is that the Gregorian or the Roman calendar? But you know, I did establish that it rained recently, that’s why she has to find a new place to live (the last straw is she sees raccoon prints in the mud). So, rain = clouds. But it was so tidy, it seems a shame to waste it.
Whoa, writing a novel! Cool!
When reading a book, I don’t know if I am bothered by things like, could it be possible that the moon wasn’t shining that night, when the author wrote that it WAS shining. But when I read “A Gentleman in Moscow” I couldn’t stand it because the whole time I was thinking, Stalin would never ever allow an aristocrat to live in a hotel and do the things this guy did.
Common Household Mom – I know, but it seems dishonest to act like I can make the phases of the moon change to suit me on top of making up a person. And they do say creativity loves constraints.