E: 9/9/02

Work Diary, 9/9/02

I've almost finished "Lord of the Rings." I planted myself on the patio
this weekend and, while the cockatiel screeched in his cage (the
perfect backdrop for such a story?you know that I mean if you've ever
had a cockatiel and read this book), got through the last major battle.
And what a battle it was?

I fully expected one of the four major hobbits to die; how Tolkien
managed to keep them all alive was pretty brilliant. I didn't like
Tolkien's plot device of getting rid of the Steward to be replaced by
the king, Aragorn/Strider/Son of Ithuldur/Ithian/Ithacas/Whatever.
Tolkien must surely have enjoyed the Russian novelists, who believed
any given character deserved six different names at least.

I have to admit, I'm going to miss getting lost in Middle-Earth.
Tolkien is verbose (the story was written in the 50's, long before an
author would have had to consider the fruit-flyish attentions span of
his or her readers), and he's certainly a lover of detail. I think I
learned a trick or two about writing while reading the story,
particularly in the area of plot development.

The whole experience also makes me wonder if there's other fantasy (and
even Sci-Fi) out there that I would enjoy, though it doesn't make me
want to go prowling those sections of my local bookstore. Actually,
perhaps that's too hasty on my part. Just from reading ABCtales.com,
I've had a renewed interest in poetry (reading the stuff, that is. My
last attempt at writing poetry was met with blank stares and a polite
cough. You could almost hear crickets chirping by the time I'd
finished).

So, I'm blabbing (or processing, whichever sounds more impressive). I
think, too, that I'm a little jealous of Tolkien. "Lord of the Rings"
is such an accomplishment. Now that I've started my own book, I'm
wondering how I will ever finish. Where's the desire, the craft, the
plot? How did the old bastard do it?