The Elegant Variation: EAT YOUR HEART OUT, MR. EARBRASS

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July 26, 2006

EAT YOUR HEART OUT, MR. EARBRASS

Finished.

Yes, I've been finished before. But that was just the first, disheveled crossing of the finish line. This is the cleaned-up finished, the finished that I'll actually be showing a small circle of readers. And before long, I'll be finished again, and on goes the game.

But this one feels awfully good. It's not very green of me but I'm a sucker for the sheer heft of the thing. As a screenwriter, my life's output has been measured in inch-thick stacks, so this behemoth is a testimony to staying power.

If you've noticed a slight drop-off in attention to things around here, now you know why. I've got a long list of things to work on while this draft is in the hands of others, including the final conclusion of the John Banville Interview, a slew of new interviews I'm awfully excited about, a bunch of new reviews, the long-promised Believer/n+1 faceoff, a refresh of the Recommended sidebar and even a return of the LATBR Thumbnail.

For now, though, I am off to Chicago to meet my oldest friend for dinner tomorrow night and celebrate in some style. So that's it for postings this week but watch this space in the weeks ahead as things threaten to get interesting again ...

Thanks to all of you who have wished this project well and urged it along.

Posted at 04:46 PM in Personal | Permalink

Comments

Congrats, congrats, congrats!

Excited for you...

Posted by: Justine | July 26, 2006 at 04:57 PM

I think the first question that comes to mind is,
Are we looking at a "the Shining" kind of stack of paper?

Posted by: Paul | July 26, 2006 at 06:48 PM

A thick ms like that has a beauty all its own. You should be very proud. Congrats!

Posted by: AC | July 26, 2006 at 08:36 PM

Huzzah! Huzzah! As always, if you need a critical reader, I'm here.

Posted by: ed | July 26, 2006 at 10:52 PM

Way to go Mark! Now all you need is to find some interested publisher ...

Posted by: Dan Wickett | July 27, 2006 at 05:41 AM

Dude! Congratulations! That counts for at least a dozen criteriums!

Posted by: Gwenda | July 27, 2006 at 05:52 AM

Congratulations, Mark. You've earned at least some celebratory style points. The book looks beautiful.

Posted by: Dave Worsley | July 27, 2006 at 05:53 AM

Congratulations, Mark! Good on you...

Posted by: Shauna McKenna | July 27, 2006 at 07:14 AM

Congrats, Mark.
I know what it feels like. I'm on my first cover-to-cover edit/revision/re-write of my completed first novel. I'm a long-reader of TEV and can't wait for the completed Banville interview (he's been one of my favorites long before we all knew anything about the 'internets').
Best

Posted by: Jim Harmon | July 27, 2006 at 09:13 AM

I'd be interested to learn how you selected your small circle of readers. I'm into similar business these days (halfway done with my own manuscript), and aside from my wife, no one has seen any of it. Picking whose eyes to use seems like it will be a tricky task.

And of course, as I should have said right off, congratulations.

Posted by: Michael O'Donnell | July 27, 2006 at 09:43 AM

Hooray! What a beautiful stack of paper.

Posted by: Carolyn | July 27, 2006 at 10:39 AM

Smart Water does not a celebration make, amigo. Congratulations on completing the alpine stage. Here's to a smooth cruise to the finish line.

Posted by: Jim Ruland | July 27, 2006 at 11:14 AM

BIG CONGRATULATIONS! CELEBRATE!

Posted by: Janet and Boz | July 27, 2006 at 11:43 AM

Congrats! It's such a great feeling to finish a draft. Good luck with it!

Posted by: Nicole | July 27, 2006 at 02:26 PM

By the way, what's the word count on that thing?

For those of us who might be nurturing a slight case of manuscript-envy...

Posted by: Justine | July 27, 2006 at 10:53 PM

Go You Good Thing (antique Australian exhortation.) I thought it couldn't be that far off...

Posted by: genevieve | July 28, 2006 at 04:36 AM

Long-timer lurker de-lurking for a moment to wish congratulations. I just finished my own novel, so I can relate to how good it must feel. So, congrats, congrats, and more congrats. It is a beautiful stack of paper, indeed!

(Like Justine, I'm curious about the word count, too. Manuscript-envy is definitely the right word.)

Posted by: ChrisClark | July 28, 2006 at 07:07 AM

Listen, I don't wanna be the turd in the punch bowl here, but I'd like to know what your testosterone-to-epitestosterone numbers were during the writing of this book.

Posted by: Jimmy Beck | July 28, 2006 at 07:14 AM

Please encase that sucker in acrylic, I need a new large paperweight...

Congrats, mate!

Keith

Posted by: Keith | July 28, 2006 at 08:00 AM

Congrats, Mark. No other feeling like it. Best of luck.

Posted by: Christian Bauman | July 28, 2006 at 09:25 AM

Mark! Wow, that's how many years of your life in that stack of paper? Good for you! I'd love to read it when you decide to share it with the rest of us. Congrats! Congrats! Congrats!

Posted by: Angela | July 28, 2006 at 12:36 PM

Just back from my dinner in Chicago ... Thanks so much to all of you!! I appreciate the kind words all around.

To answer questions: 79,000 words (16 chapters); My circle of readers is a close group of writers who (a) have experience writing novels and (b) can be trusted to be totally honest; just under three years; and Jimmy, my T/E levels are off the charts all the time ...

Thanks again, everyone ... so nice to hear from you all!

Posted by: TEV | July 28, 2006 at 12:45 PM

Good for you, Mark. What an accomplishment. What a great story you have. I can't wait to read your finished work.

Posted by: Amy | July 28, 2006 at 11:28 PM

Congrats, Mark! This is such great news.

Posted by: Sarah | July 29, 2006 at 04:14 PM

Finished your tome, huh? Good job! So tell me, who gets the girl?

Peace,

Posted by: Jaime Paredes | August 11, 2006 at 06:54 AM

Finished your tome, huh? Good job! So tell me, who gets the girl?

Peace,

Posted by: Jaime Paredes | August 11, 2006 at 06:55 AM

Hi, just saw this! My, it looks fat! Good on you!

Posted by: kathryn | October 26, 2006 at 07:18 AM

The comments to this entry are closed.

MY NOVEL

HARRY, REVISED - Get all the details here.

TOUR DATES

WORTHY READINGS

TEV DEFINED

The Elegant Variation is "Fowler’s (1926, 1965) term for the inept writer’s overstrained efforts at freshness or vividness of expression. Prose guilty of elegant variation calls attention to itself and doesn’t permit its ideas to seem naturally clear. It typically seeks fancy new words for familiar things, and it scrambles for synonyms in order to avoid at all costs repeating a word, even though repetition might be the natural, normal thing to do: The audience had a certain bovine placidity, instead of The audience was as placid as cows. Elegant variation is often the rock, and a stereotype, a cliché, or a tired metaphor the hard place between which inexperienced or foolish writers come to grief. The familiar middle ground in treating these homely topics is almost always the safest. In untrained or unrestrained hands, a thesaurus can be dangerous."

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*Now in Paperback*

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SECOND LOOK

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The Elegant Variation

A Literary Weblog.
A Guardian Top 10 Literary Blog * A Forbes "Best of the Web" Pick * A Los Angeles Magazine Top Los Angeles Blog
"Really brave ... or really stupid" - NPR

July 26, 2006

EAT YOUR HEART OUT, MR. EARBRASS

Comments

MY NOVEL

WORTHY READINGS

TEV DEFINED

RECOMMENDED

THIS GUN FOR HIRE:
Reviews & Criticism

SECOND LOOK

Categories

The Elegant Variation

A Literary Weblog. A Guardian Top 10 Literary Blog * A Forbes "Best of the Web" Pick * A Los Angeles Magazine Top Los Angeles Blog "Really brave ... or really stupid" - NPR

July 26, 2006

EAT YOUR HEART OUT, MR. EARBRASS

Comments

MY NOVEL

WORTHY READINGS

TEV DEFINED

RECOMMENDED

THIS GUN FOR HIRE: Reviews & Criticism

SECOND LOOK

Categories

A Literary Weblog.
A Guardian Top 10 Literary Blog * A Forbes "Best of the Web" Pick * A Los Angeles Magazine Top Los Angeles Blog
"Really brave ... or really stupid" - NPR

THIS GUN FOR HIRE:
Reviews & Criticism