So I'm revising a novel. Got a publication date, got a deadline. Got a full-time job besides and a regular tension headache from too much time hunched at keys.
Got a problem.
Double-blind is a hybrid. I want it marketed and read as "literary fiction," whatever the hell that is, but it's full of pulp. In some places it smells of the paranormal. It's a study of complicity refracted through one doctor's ethical collapse -- there's the literary fiction part, I guess -- and that collapse is shown through his MKUltra work. There's the pulp.
My dear doctor's final actions are taken when he's nearly seventy, straining credulity for some readers who have seen the ms. I guess my task now is to strengthen the litfic stuff to keep him a complex and developing character who can surf the pulp.
Complicating that is the destroyed reality of MKUltra. We don't have a clear picture of what went on in the name of Cold War research; the glimpses that have survived the shredder are terrifying. Ewen Cameron at the Allan in Montreal for a start.
Pulpy, yes, but with precedent. And somewhere in there, in writing this story, I still need to play.
Panties in a twist, as usual.
I'm losing sleep.
8 comments:
Let others label it - pr people, reviewers, whatever. That label will change in time. You don't need to worry about doing anything but the writing. That's what you'll be remembered for, right?
A novel is just a genre, that is, a fiction (see Nigel Fabb somewhere about this), so it's no different than any other lie told in the interest of truth. Check out that Italian who's got the two books out from Princeton Univ. Press just recently on The Novel to see what the world view of novels is.
If the pulp and the literary - this note is literary, what text isn't? - as you call it remain divided in your mind, then the revision will be tough and anxiety-producing. If you see them as organically one, then it'll be less worrisome, if still tough. But you'll get the chance to play.
Keep your eyes on the paper or screen - stay away from writing the dust jacket.
Meant as encouragement, not as a lecture.
Hilary,
thanks for that.
I see the problem as a marketing one, not a writing one. Now that (most of) my revisions are done, I'm much calmer about the whole thing. It is what it is.
Calmer, but now shaking. Understandable. Who knows but that someone may review both books at the same time? Is anyone getting the galleys?
Getting the galleys? To blurb, you mean?
To blurb, or to write an early review.
Maybe we could chat about this on e-mail. I'm mbh71@yahoo.com.
You have people doing blurbs, but perhaps there are others you know who could write reviews. That's all I meant. Canada's small. There must be someone you know who would consider writing a review.
Ohhhh. (I'm not very bright about these things.)
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