Last time I mentioned my novel-in-progress there was a question mark at the end of that post title. No more. I have been energized to put something out there, and I am following through. I have experienced a paradigm shift in the way I think about novel writing. A long-form work of fiction does not have to be the work of a lifetime. The Great American Novel is kind of a cheesy myth. People who really write novels do it in a few months. 3-6 months of writing a few hundred words a day, and bango! You got yerself a novel. If you have a couple of other jobs, and pets, and a wife, and civic organization memberships, and a garden and a worm bin and a home under construction, then it should still take no more than a year.
In the last four days I have sloshed the premise of my book around in my head, and it has started to congeal nicely. There are still quite a lot of blank spaces and unknowns to work out, but I am attacking it aggressively. I have already knocked out over 1400 words of the rough draft. Only 48,600 words to go, and I will go from "aspiring novelist" to "novelist seeking publication". And from there, hopefully, to "published, award-winning, multi-millionaire novelist and celebrity"! Okay, maybe not all of that last one.
1 comment:
I am requesting your autograph in advance.
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I actually have a lot of aquaintances who are "working" on novels, in some sense of the word. I guess with computers it's easier. Anyone who wants to be a writer now has an easier way to do it than having to sit down with several reams of paper, a leaky pen, and struggle to get everything all figured out before you put it down on paper... and then, oh noes! You spelled something wrong! Well, crumble up that page and start over! Thank god for spell check : )
Good luck! I hope to post about my own writing aspirations shortly - you seem to have your act together better than I do.
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