I wrote a first chapter that is really a bit of a prologue, and I even made it through the second chapter without an immense amount of planning. Then I decided that I had to plan out a plot. Novel idea, there.
So, I started to outline what I wanted to happen in the book. That got very confusing very quickly. I don't think that I've ever used copy and paste so much in my life. I gave up on that after a day of deleting and moving around lines of text.
I moved on to the old-fashioned bulletin board and index cards. That worked a lot better, but I have discovered it is very time consuming to really structure a story properly-- or what I hope is "properly." I had to write out all those index cards, consider what I wanted to happen as I was doing it, and then arrange all those cards on a board. I am still not done with that last part. I had to go out and buy a bigger bulletin board since I had so many index cards.
Then there is the research that I have not started in the least. I have a book of steampunk short stories appropriately called Steampunk
that I have not opened. Additionally, I have three books on medieval Europe to read so that I can add a little more depth to my setting. I know that eventually I will have to read up on steam power and the early history of airplanes. I feel like I'll be doing more reading than writing for my book. But, that is why I have started this blog-- to make sure that I am writing most days, since I am spending so much time doing other things for the novel. This is all in addition to the writing books I am working my way through in order to learn about the craft. Frankly, I am really surprised that so much non-writing is involved in writing a book. For you writers out there, have any of you had similar experiences?
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI wish you luck on this journey of yours. I have just finished mine and on my way to embark on yet another one now. We'll be following you :)
I like your blog, but a point here. There should never more non-writing than writing in finishing a book. It's wise to remember this: "Planning to write is not writing. Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you're doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing."
ReplyDelete— E. L. Doctorow.
New writers are always tempted to outline, to plan, to research, to do this, that, and the other before writing. But only the writing matters, and you can't say, "I'll write later, when I get this done, read that, or research the other."
Things get out of control this way, and if the book does get written, it will probably take forever, and isn't likely to be very good.
Just write. First, last, and always. If you must, give yourself exactly two weeks to do everything that isn't actually writing. Not one day more. Then write first, do all the other things, including follow-up planning, plotting, researching, and reading, only as you need them, but never miss a day actually writing.