My Out-of-Body Experience
As he pressed his beat-up Ford down an uneven stretch of asphalt, Rob Shields had death on his mind. His own.
That’s the first two sentences of the first chapter of Darlington Woods. I’ve just started reading over the “first pages” looking for any typos that survived the first umpteen readings and making minor changes to word choice and such. This is also my last opportunity to catch any glaring contradictions in the plot or characters before the work goes to the proofreader then printer and is etched in stone for all of eternity (well, not quite).
It’s a surreal feeling, reading over your words after not having done so for a couple months. Almost an out-of-body experience. Oh, don’t worry. I’m not getting all new age on you (the title made you wonder, though, didn’t it?). I haven’t watched myself write from the perspective of floating near the ceiling . . . yet. Kidding.
Seriously, there are times when I have no recollection of writing certain sections of the book, the words are totally foreign to me.
No, I’m not claiming divine inspiration. No, I wasn’t on drugs when I conceived it. But I may have been half-asleep. I wrote most of Darlington Woods in the evenings, right before turning in for the night. And more than once (actually, just about every time) I was falling asleep while writing. I’d sit in bed with the laptop, write, nod off, write, nod off, and that’s how it went.
So it’s quite possible portions of the story were written while I was in Slumberville. Interesting. And a bit scary.
Scary because it’s just what my next offering, Darkness Follows, is about. A man continuously awakens to strange and unlikely writings penned by his own hand. These writings at first haunt, then control him. (Note: The first chapter of Darkness Follows will be available at the end of Darlington Woods.)
Now, my writings have haunted me from time to time but have yet to control me. I’m a particular kind of person, but I’m not obsessive (though Jen may disagree at times).
Have you ever written something, set it aside, then reread it only to think, “I wrote that?”
Posted on January 20, 2010, in Writing Life and tagged Darlington Woods, first pages, proofreading. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
MIKE DELLOSSO 
Was worried about you there for a minute…… 🙂 – sounds like a great line to start out your book with – and I love the title and description of Darkness Follows.
I have written some stuff when I was doing great spiritually, and “living on the mountain” pertaning to a struggle I have, and recently read over what I wrote a few years ago and was amazed – and did think “Did I actually write that?” – Not that I think it is marvelous writing like some great author such as – say Mike Dellosso would write – 😉 – but it seems like God really was in what I wrote and influenced it to the point that it didn’t seem like I wrote it.
Unfortunately, that was just a few short articles I wrote for a website – now if He’d let me write a whole book…..
Don’t knock the divine inspiration – it’s possible God helped you write and you may have been in “slumberville”, and He took over for you 🙂
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Thanks for the comment, Mark. It’s interesting to read over things we’ve written in the past when we were in a different “state of mind.” I know from time to time I’ll go back and read over stuff I wrote while going through cancer and am amazed at the words I was able to put together. I get inspired all over again just reading it. Definately a God thing!
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Like the synopsis of your upcoming book. Sounds really intriguing.
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Sure, I do that all the time. I think its because some writers go “in the zone” when they’re writing, kind of another mental level – maybe a higher level in some cases, or maybe just auto pilot as the words take on their own momentum – and when they exit that zone they don’t necessarily connect later with all that they wrote.
Both the books you mention here sound interesting. 🙂
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