A Fairytale

I haven’t written in ages. It’ll come back at some point but right now it’s rotting on the sidelines, waiting to be picked up again. Writing is strange like that, it dictates its own flow more than I do.

I’m drafting a book. Very little has been written, but I have a title. I’m planning on working on the cover title with a tattoo artist I found in Madrid. I want the cover to feel like a classic so it will be cream, like the pages in my Rollbahn notebooks. Recently, when I was stoned and walking across the Williamsburg Bridge, I was able to visualize the structure of the book. It was a wild experience. Writing is so bizarre. I don’t understand how writers can confine themselves to a desk everyday for months and come out with a completed text. I spent a year just toying with the idea. It’s only now acquiring shape and structure.

I’m still surprisingly detail oriented though. I thought I was a big picture thinker, but the way I’m obsessing over the structure of the book, the minor angles, the shape of things, makes me feel like I’m more thorough than I give myself credit for. It’s going to take quite a bit of time to come to fruition. In the meanwhile I’ve nicknamed the project Death. It will be a fairytale.

But yeah, I saw the book. It was wild. It sort of resembles a tree, a strong spine in the center with quests bursting out of the sides. It’s going to be its own world, like when you play Zelda and you’re immersed in Link’s navigation of Hyrule. The story unravels in present day ordinary life though, so it’s less fantasy and more along the lines of magical realism (think Salman Rushdie). I’m not sure how to put the fucking thing together yet, just thinking about drafting it feels overwhelming.

Most of the work right now is structural anyways. Language, words, are the final piece of the puzzle. I want to build the symbolism, scenes, characters, the energy, the way the narrative plays out, and then start writing. My writing swings around a lot, so I want it to be a little more anchored. I still want it to sound like me though, I want it to feel soft and contemplative.