She sees that he is trying to escape. Trying to take what God has given us and twist it and undo it and put it backward. That his imagination, as she so disapprovingly refers to it, is a way of transporting himself out of any momentary melancholy. Of literally changing the world when he cannot bear it the way it is.
From Still She Haunts Me by Katie Roiphie
The nature of the new book I'm working on allows me to delve deeper into the imagination than any of my previous novels. The main character sees the world through a lens that is very different than the average person. How that world is reflected back on the page has limitless possibilities for me to go over the edge. So the question becomes, how far to push the prose?
This kind of self-editing process can drive writers crazy. It's what always causes me to start every novel over again after sixty pages of a draft. That's when I define my parameters and figure out the structure of the book. So back to the original question. At this point, I'm pushing as far as possible. Since the foundation is set and I know the borders within which the story is defined...I've decided to push the imagination to the limit. If in the end, it's too much, well that's what second drafts are for.
So true... so true. I totally empathize with this, Brian. Go with it.
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