Posts tagged ‘aspiring novelist’

Apr 19

How Long Does It Take To Write A Novel? by Onil Lad

I’ve stopped beating myself up over how long it is taking to finish my novel. It’s counterproductive and, anyway, there have been so many obstacles in the way. Just when I build up a head of steam, I get super busy at work, or I get roped into training for a marathon or some new challenge pops its head up.

Word counting is off the agenda as well. I’ve tried to write a novel in a month or fifty thousand words in fifty days. The one time I forced myself to write regardless of what came out, I ended up with a mess. The time was wasted, there was next to nothing that could be salvaged and it took me a long time to pick up the pieces and start again.

With a short story it’s easier to keep the motivation going, as I always have a work in progress that is nearing completion or something sent off and awaiting feedback. I feel like I am in the mix; there isn’t enough downtime for the doubts to set in and one failure doesn’t make me want to give up altogether.

Writing a novel can take six months, a year or, in my case, longer. The thought of throwing in the towel grows greater as the years roll by. If I was to call it quits now, I don’t think that I‘d have the heart to start again.

When I’ve spent so much time on one project, I want my story down on the page, but there’s less chance of that happening if I try to force it out. Also, I’m conscious of the fact that I need to get this one right and include all the things I ever wanted to say.

So, I’m not rushing it. I’ve gone back to the beginning and started re-writing my early chapters. I know that it is only a first draft and a fair chunk of it will have to be cut at some stage but, as I rewrite, I keep refining my manuscript.

To keep my motivation up I’m considering sending the first few chapters out for review. I’d like to make my first fifty to a hundred pages as good as possible instead of waiting for a complete first draft. As I go back and work on my earlier sections the middle chapters are becoming clearer and are ready for some serious work.

I recently came across an interview with multiple Hugo award winning author Vernor Vinge: When asked why the time between books is so long, he claimed that he has had writers block since 1960 and he finds it hard to write first drafts. He says “Once I have an initial draft, I can work much more efficiently.”

This gives me hope. On the other hand, I’ve also read a discussion on the Authonomy community board where one writer has been trying to write fantasy for over thirty years without finishing one project. Gulp.

***

Onil Lad’s bio page

Writing Novels in Australia
www.writingnovelsinaustralia.com

Mar 29

Clint Greagen - Melbourne fiction writer

2 Comments

On What To Do After You Submit Your Novel Manuscript, by Clint Greagen

My novel manuscript Waxy-Flexy is currently in the hands (or on the desk, or maybe under the dirty clothes beside the bed) of my agent. It has been there for three months now and I’m not sure if a page has actually been turned or if it has been read twice through and is simply awaiting her comment. I’m keeping it real. I’m just this guy from Reservoir.

She has a list of high profile international authors who dress nice and speak many languages, so I’m respecting my place in the pecking order and not bothering her too much. (Yes, this article is my way of inquiring about my novel indirectly.)

The time has passed quickly and you may be surprised to hear that I haven’t been thinking about the novel much at all. I haven’t been checking my email every day or wondering if she likes it or considering the possible outcomes because, as Liam Neeson says in Taken, I have developed “a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career.”

What is my career in this context? It’s the career of the unpublished novelist. I’ve written five novel manuscripts. One of those was accepted for publication but was returned when the publisher shifted the focus of their business to non-fiction. I hope you have a much better strike rate than that but there is always waiting involved in the novel writing business. And lots of it.

I’m in a giving mood. I want you to benefit from the skills I’ve developed in the ten years I’ve been writing.

What To Do While Waiting To Hear News On About Your Novel Manuscript

Start writing something else as soon as you send out your submission. This should be a no-brainer for everyone reading this article. You should feel like writing all the time (burn baby burn!) Here’s some advice for those of you that suffer moments where the desire to write wanes – sit in front of your writing instrument, whether that be a note pad or a computer, and start writing. If you are a writer it’ll only take one forced sentence to kick into gear. In between novels I write articles and blog at www.reservoirdad.com. Feel free to head over there and tell me what you think.
Engage with other writers. Like-minded people are incredibly motivating. Reach out to as many people as you can. Network like crazy. Being a recluse is no excuse. There’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Goodreads, etc. Get into it. I’ve written dozens of articles for online and print magazines and made many influential contacts in the industry simply by networking. This, of course, has the benefit of building your ‘platform’ (a term I hate because it’s not about the writing it’s about the ‘celebrity’. But ahh well. It can be fun) which is something publishers are really into these days. Thanks to their ‘platform’ even footballers can become novelists now! So hop to it.
Read. Another no-brainer but, in my experience, reading fiction while I’m writing fiction is tough. I get consumed by longer term projects and, apart from non-fiction articles related to the novel I’m writing, I stop reading almost completely. So read as much as you can. There are so many avenues to reading now, with the internet and all, so have something with you at all times. The chance to read can come unexpectedly. Don’t let the moments pass you by.
Strut. It doesn’t matter if you have been published yet. You know if you’re a writer. So walk like a writer. When you’re asked about your profession respond that you’re a writer, shoulders square with a steady gaze. If you ever feel your confidence is failing you, YouTube “Staying Alive” (1983) – The Final Strut, and get back on track. Remember – as long as the words are hitting the page daily you’re a success.
Prepare yourself for more work. Effectively, that’s what the first four points are doing. When your novel comes back it will require much more work. Know that for certain. You’ll have to adjust your life to accommodate it and, even if you are privileged enough to get that final product in your hands one day, don’t think for a second that you’re finished. You’re just holding a snapshot of your dedication to the craft. Your effort started long before it and will finish long after, and with that effort comes the real reward.

***

Clint Greagen’s bio page

***

Writing Novels in Australia
www.writingnovelsinaustralia.com

Jul 13

Balancing Story Elements, by Russell Cornhill

One of the main problems for any writer of fiction is getting the balance right. What’s most important – plot or character? How much backstory should intrude? How important is the setting? Does the humour water down the drama? Does the story water down the satire? How important is the theme and when does it border on soap-boxing? (Is that a word?) Etc, etc.

The problem intensifies for spec-fiction writers where the world building is such an important facet. Even more so if you’re writing the first book in a ten book series linked by a background story/theme.

How much should all this intrude? The short answer, no doubt, is only as much as it needs to. Of course every reader will feel that need differently. Some will want vivid descriptions (not my forte) of the world and its inhabitants and will long to know the social mores of all the various races. Others will only want the story.

The problem of the background story is solved by making its set-up the focus of the first book – the gods have fowled up and the inhabitants of the world are left to deal with the consequences. What the gods were trying to do and why will obviously be the theme running through the series.

The main continent of the world resembles (only resembles) North America. I haven’t been there and I’m relying on research but there was a reason I chose that continent. On the other hand, the various races are based more on European mythology. Okay, I’m making it up and it’s a fantasy world. It just means the races will be familiar to most readers even if I happen to change them somewhat, well, quite a bit, probably.

There are basically five races in the first book though many others might be mentioned. As the goblins are the central characters I need to explore their social mores in some detail. Hopefully I’ve managed to do that without sounding like an anthropological magazine. The orcs were easy – smaller slightly different, versions of the goblins. With the fairies and trolls, I only told what I needed to. There might be more time to explore their cultures in future books if it becomes necessary.

The humans – well, they’re humans. Hang on, I still haven’t decided if they’re black, brown, white, pink with purple polka-dots, what religion they follow, if any.

Oh damn, back to the drawing board.

***

Russell Cornhill bio page

May 30

1 Comment

Internal Conflict and External Conflict in my Novel Manuscript, by Onil Lad

During the last month it became apparent that although my characters had internal issues and personal problems coming out of their ears, the external obstacles in their way were neither unique nor exciting. In effect, my unbalanced novel was aimlessly meandering through scenes that lacked coherence and direction. I’d just about written myself into a dead-end.

From the start, Steve Rossiter had pounded on about the virtues of creating a detailed outline. Maybe my “au natural” method would have produced results in a couple of years time, but I’d already wasted a year and the deadline for this endeavor was looming large on the horizon. So, I finally listened and decided to give it a go.

The detailed outline I created focused every scene and chapter on 2 things:

1. Achieving the hero’s goal.

2. Achieving the goal of the novel.

The outline split the novel into 7 sequences of 3 to 6 chapters. Each chapter will be structured like a short story in order to keep the readers interest up and each sequence or group of chapters will end with a cliffhanger that leads into the next section of the story. I’ve tried to give each scene and chapter a goal for the main character and a goal to progress the novel.

Something like this:

Sequence 4 – The New Parker Mayne.

Parker Mayne’s Goal: To come to terms with his newly acquired dark side. To learn to use that pent up hatred to his advantage.

Goal for the Novel: To plunge Parker into the heart of a nightmare. To change him from a cynical loser to a cruel anti-hero. To feed the reader more details about the orphan-girl and to hint at the nature of his crime.

It’s meant that I’ve been able to keep my novel on track and ensure that every chapter has a point and that the story moves along as quickly as possible.

The detailed outline gave me a birds-eye view of the road ahead. With the overall picture in front of me, it was clear where the story needed pepping up. It was too depressing. For once I wanted to create something that delivered a magical and uplifting ending. I amended the outline to add in a few more upbeat chapters and changed the final sequence. I figured that my characters had been subjected to more than enough pain and suffering throughout the rest of the story. I chucked out half the chapters that I’d written before and changed the tone of the novel. The whole piece would be leaner and stronger.

The outline is now in place and I’m working towards filling out the details.

Trying to write almost every day has been a struggle. It has to get easier from now on, surely.

I don’t want to get carried away and claim that outlining is the next best thing unless it actually works. By the time the next blog comes around, I’ll have a better idea of where I stand with it.

I just wish that I could get it all written down quicker.

***

Onil Lad bio page

May 1

2 Comments

Writing Fiction For Emotional Engagement, by Sam Stephens

I believe even the greatest writer in the world can’t fully translate what is in their head onto paper. Something is always lost in between.

This is inevitable, when you think about it: the writer is living the world but the reader is simply reading about it. Sure, we do our best to draw the reader into our world but something is always lost and because of this we need to make sure that as writers we not only take the reader along for the ride but also point out not just the plot and the action, but also the fungus-infected sores along the way.

I found this out first hand a few years back: I had written a scene where a man was executed in front of a studio audience. I still remember the sick feeling in my stomach when I was writing it, and it affected me a lot more than I expected. But when I showed a few friends a funny thing happened: nothing. Nothing at all.

I was almost on my knees yelling, “How can you not be affected by this, you sickos!”

But I realised why it all seemed a little thin. It was such a hard scene for me to write that I skimmed over parts of the event. It’s not that I missed whole sections of the writing, it’s just that I didn’t paint the picture because I myself didn’t want to go there.

The problem with this is obvious: if we don’t go there ourselves, then the reader will never know that particular fungus-infected sore ever existed.

And this isn’t just for horror or dark thrillers – it’s for all genres. If you’re writing a romance, your heart breaks along with the protagonist’s heart, and you in turn have to break the reader’s heart.

It took awhile, but I finally dug into my boxed up little heart when I wrote “Daddy”. This was a short story about the pain, the love, the frustration, and the helplessness of fatherhood; the dark side that no one wants to talk about, but which every parent shares.

I wrote it for my own self-prescribed therapy. It took me a full day before I got the guts to tell my wife I actually wrote it, and then another day or so to show it to her. That story eventually won a short story competition, was published in Suspense Magazine and hit their top ten list for the year.

I still think it’s one of my best pieces of writing – not for its form, but simply because I cut a hole in my soul and let the contents pour out onto the page. Not just the rainbow coloured contents but the black sludge as well. I still think about that story when I’m writing, and I feel that urge to gloss over the painful bits. While the urge can even be subconscious, the reality is that unless we face the demons and embrace them, then our readers can never reach the heights that we feel when we write.

And for the curious amongst us, you can read “Daddy” here.

***

Sam Stephens bio page

Apr 24

Is It a Crime To Kill Setting? by Kathy Stewart

The manuscript I’m currently working on, Clear Island Murder, is set on the Gold Coast in Australia and features the murder and attempted murder of two local psychiatrists. My detectives, Scott Ryder and Kimberley Stanton, have to race against time to apprehend a potential serial killer before he strikes again.

Recently, I was both lucky and privileged to receive feedback on my manuscript from Random House crime novelist, Jaye Ford.

Jaye is a former journalist turned best-selling author and her first novel, Beyond Fear, was the highest selling debut crime novel in Australia in 2011. Her second novel, Scared Yet?, was released on 1 March this year.

Overall, the feedback I received from Jaye was positive, and that’s a good thing because with 40,000 words already under my belt I would hate to have to start again! Had it been negative, though, I would have.

Jaye’s main advice was to make more of the rich setting provided by the Gold Coast. Strangely enough, from previous feedback I’ve had on my writing, setting and creating atmosphere are two of my strengths, but while writing this novel I’ve pared that right back and concentrated instead on dialogue and action to keep the pace moving.

It seems I have achieved the fast pace but I might need to go back and add more detailed setting to bring the Gold Coast to life for my readers.

So, the challenge is going to be to bring out the Gold Coast’s tropical weather, its heat and humidity followed by torrential downpours that split the heavens and cool moods and tempers, without bogging the whole story down in a soggy mess of sweat.

Fortunately, I have a lot to play with.

The Gold Coast is renowned for its sun and surf, its islands and endless waterways flanked by the mansions of the wealthy, its glitzy nightclubs and hotels, its cabaret and casino.

Alongside its glamour is the seedy side where drugs and crime are rife, and who knows what human predators could skulk amongst the mangroves?

But it also has the lush green of a hinterland filled with the shrill of cicadas, plunging waterfalls, the smell of eucalyptus oil, and the ear-splitting cry of the whip bird.

So, if I can follow Jaye’s advice accurately, I hope that by the time you’ve finished reading my book you’ll want to wipe the sweat from your upper lip and ease the shirt from your back, long to plunge into a sparkling pool or take a dip in a cooling ocean alongside beaches of golden sand.

I think you get the picture.

My thanks to Jaye Ford for such constructive and insightful advice.

***

Kathy Stewart’s bio page

Apr 22

3 Comments

Editing and Rewriting: The Dreaded Middle, by Rebecca Raisin

My mum says I don’t listen. She says she can tell because I get a vacant look in my eyes and I say OK, a lot. And one thing I’ve learnt over the years is, mum’s are always right. She’s probably been telling me my whole life, but seeing as though I don’t listen – I can’t say for sure. In regards to writing, I find it very difficult to take criticism. It’s not because I think my writing is perfect, I know I have a long way to go and a lot to learn, it’s more self preservation. Hence, I switch off if I hear something I don’t like, to protect myself, in case I start to believe I can’t do it. Or I’m not good enough. Or I’m kidding myself…you get the picture.

I’ve been editing Mexican Kimono for about six weeks now. So enmeshed in this crazy fast paced world am I, that I often find myself talking like my main character Samantha long after I’ve turned the computer off. I know the story inside and out, I know the characters and all their foibles, I know where they live and what they love. I know them better than I know myself, it seems. I love Mexican Kimono, and I’m proud of it, but I knew there was something missing, something not quite right, but just couldn’t work it out. This kind of dilemma happens to many writer’s when you’re too close to the piece. It’s my baby though, and I’m protective of it.

Steve read my recently rewritten outline, and instantly summed up the problem for me. The dreaded middle. Lost focus. More conflict and resolution. Argh! Instantly, to protect my brittle confidence, I told myself perhaps if he read the whole manuscript he might think differently, but I wrote down his suggestions, as we discussed movies within the same genre as my novel. He suggested I watch these movies, and see how the story develops through the middle with the character trying to resolve their issues and failing until closer to the end, where they potentially solve the problem, and learn something too.

I wrote down all Steve’s advice and signed off our Skype chat somewhat resigned. I’d always thought the beginning of a story and the end of the story were the hard parts, but by doing this course I’ve heard it time and time again about the dreaded middle (as I now refer to it). Later that night reading a book I have been so caught up in, I noticed the same thing happening. It had me racing to bed early so I could get back to it, but somehow through the middle, it began to lose its way. It was like an Oprah light bulb moment.

Steve was spot on with his advice, and just because THE DREADED MIDDLE needs work, DOESN’T MEAN HE’S SAYING I CAN’T WRITE! I often have to speak to myself in capitals, just to make sure I’m really listening. The big lesson was; don’t become a victim to a pointless or ambling middle!

Renewed, I finally understand so much more about myself and my novel. It’s such a huge learning curve, and I obviously need to learn much more about taking advice, learning to appreciate critique, and realising it will improve me as a writer, and perhaps as a person. You never know I may even start listening a little more to my mum.

***

Rebecca Raisin bio page

Apr 21

1 Comment

Point of View and Creating Suspense in Your Writing, by Jeff Nelson

Jack opened the bedroom door, walking into the room beyond. The fugitive, hidden behind the door, stepped out and shot him in the back.

Poor Jack. While the reader is likely to be surprised at his potential demise, where is the suspense that will capture the reader and draw them into the story? Particularly if the story is all about Jack and told from his point of view (POV).

Try using a different character POV – say that of the fugitive. I’ll call him Harry.

Harry nervously waited behind the door, his hands sweating, his heart pounding, as he could hear the cop’s footsteps approaching on the other side. He couldn’t let them take him, not again, he was prepared to kill rather than spend time in a cell again.

Jack opened the bedroom door ….

Better? The reader is now wondering what Harry will do, whether Jack will get a bullet or somehow avoids one. This is an example where the reader and current POV character (Harry) know more than another character (Jack). Harry knows the cop is on the other side of the door, but Jack doesn’t know Harry is.

Consider another POV this time from a third character, Steve a fellow police officer of Jack’s.

Steve lay on the rooftop, his binoculars trained on the apartment building opposite. Through a window he could see Jack in the apartment’s sitting room moving towards the bedroom door. Suddenly he saw a shadow move in the next window; someone was in the adjoining bedroom. Steve trained the binoculars on the bedroom window. It was the fugitive and he held a gun. The man had obviously heard Jack approaching and was waiting for him on the other side of the door. Frantically Steve reached for his mic.

Jack opened the bedroom door ….

Now the suspense is created by the reader wondering if Steve will be able to contact Jack via his mike and warn him before he steps into the room. Steve knows that the fugitive is there but Jack doesn’t.

I had an interesting conversation with Steve Rossiter of the Australia Literature Review recently on ways of adding different character point of views into a story to create and build suspense. Those conversations lead me to adjust and see clearer where my novel had to progress too.

We went through a number of ways that POV can be added:

1] Where the reader knows more than the current POV character.

For example the story will have already said earlier that the fugitive is hiding in the bedroom, so as we see Jack (in his POV) going for the door, the reader knows, but Jack doesn’t that the fugitive is inside the bedroom.

2] Where the reader and current POV character know more than another character.

Examples of this are the two given above using the different POV’s of Harry and Steve.

3] Where the reader and another character know more than the current POV character.

Here we could have the story telling how a tenant in the building where the fugitive is hiding sees him run into the apartment but doesn’t inform Jack as he hates Cops.

4] Where the current POV character knows more than the reader.

This is where the POV character knows or is planning something that hasn’t been revealed in the story yet. For example we could have Jack wearing a bullet proof vest, Jack knows he’s wearing it, but the reader doesn’t. It will come out later that he was wearing one.

…and finally

5] Where another character knows more than the reader.

I hope this helps in your writing.

***

Jeff Nelson bio page

Apr 20

World Building, by Russell Cornhill

I remember reading somewhere that all writers of fiction have to do some form of world building – whether it’s the cold of a North Atlantic ocean, the muddy, blood-soaked trenches of World War One, the glitzy night club realm of a drug baron, the castles and hovels of medieval knights or a totally alien planet with giant desert worms. How do we do it – research and imagination, plotting and pure seat-of-the-pantsing, or a combination of all? It doesn’t matter. What is important are the two factors I’ll call the fun and the work.

The fun, like any description, is in the detail because world building is a giant description or, in a sense, character building. It’s the details that will draw the reader in and make the world more real – the blood-red sap that oozes from the slash in the cactus-like plant, seeping around the needle-sharp thorns until it drips on to the sand, sizzling and billowing back as a smoky gas that burns the nasal passages and gags in the throat.

Okay, a bit too much there. Still, it’s the details that count and as the writer you need to choose the details that are important for the reader to understand the world. Sometimes that’s easy, sometimes the ideas are so firmly imbedded in your head you need someone to tap you on the shoulder and say ‘Ah, I didn’t quite get what you meant …’ Bugger! Back to the drawing board.

So, basically stick with the aspects that your plot or theme revolve around or that you need for your character building and leave the rest to the reader’s imagination. A good travel brocher only points out ‘appealing’ details – substitute interesting, alarming, exciting, terrifying, etc. After all, once the writer is finished, it becomes the reader’s world and the world will be slightly different for each reader. That won’t matter if the writer gets the framework right. To make those aspects real to the reader, no matter how alien the world, we can only use human senses and human emotions. That’s all I can use anyway.

So I have to devise a goblin culture that can seem real but doesn’t have to describe every aspect. One of the interesting points is avoiding the ‘they all look the same’ syndrome. The more alien the race, the more difficult that can become. I also have to build a physical world and I’ve chosen to mix known with unknown, that is, my Land (and flora and fauna) is based very, very, loosely on the North American continent. That makes some things easier but means I’m open to criticism if I get something wrong. That’s a worry because I get lots of things wrong.

Then I have the religion/magic system to get right. Ah, I wish I’d gone for more satire or outright spoof. It’s much easier when it’s all tongue-in-cheek.

Which brings me to the second part – the work.

Getting the world building to fit seamlessly into the story is part of the craft and that can be fun too. The part that isn’t that much fun is making sure everything is consistent.

Pray for good proof readers and good editors.

***

Russell Cornhill bio page

Apr 17

Time and Storytelling: Motivation, Time Management and Historical Setting, by Fiona McDonald

“The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things:
Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—
Of cabbages—and kings—
And why the sea is boiling hot—
And whether pigs have wings.”

This sounds awfully like procrastination if you ask me. I should be talking about the progress of my novel but I can only think about what the Walrus had to say.

Time is my enemy. Lack of time is my enemy. Lack of time and energy are my enemies.

What it really comes down to is a strange kind of mental lethargy. In other words, I’m stuck.

I don’t really believe in writer’s block. I think it is a fear of not knowing where to go next or the beginnings of that inner critic questioning what has already been written. ‘It’s not good enough,’ the little voice whispers. ‘It’s all been done before.’ Or ‘Why bother? No-one is ever going to read it.’

Niggles of self doubt work on an innate laziness and add up to absolutely nothing. Over the last week that seems to be what I have achieved and I cannot believe that Thursday, the day for novel assessments and chats, is nearly here again. What I am going to do, with enormous effort, is delete that annoyingly addictive game on Facebook on which I have wasted so much time, ignore the housework, turn down offers of lunch and coffee and start writing.

What I was supposed to be doing this last week was to be thinking about whether I would set my YA novel, about a girl who inherits a toyshop but is being menaced by baddies who want to rip out her heart, in our real world, an altered version of our world or in a fictional world.

The time that the story is being played out in is the late 19th century, in a bustling city like London. I feel it sits naturally in England although I suppose it could be America instead. I do not think I can fit it into an Australian setting at that time as I want there to be ancient catacombs and man-made waterways, Cathedrals and other very old European things.

It has been suggested that I think about a real, historical setting and add lots of detail that has been properly researched. I must say I find this idea very attractive. I do love research. However, I have been imagining a particular fictional world as the setting for this story with its own religion based on a female deity. I think I need to put this version aside for a while and explore the possibilities of a real world setting. I think it is too easy to fall in love with one particular idea and ignore the other options.

What would it have been like for a young, unmarried woman from a well off middle class family to be running a business at the end of the 19th century? What would have been some of the difficulties socially and economically? What would Agatha have worn? How would she have conducted herself with strangers, business acquaintances, friends, her workers?

Perhaps there could be a background of some political or social unrest. More work, more time needed but I think I need to pause in the writing here to take a look into the past and to see if I’m not missing an opportunity to make this book a whole lot richer.

Some of the books that have been lingering at the back of my mind are Philip Pullman’s Sally Lockhart series, Chris Wooding’s The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray and several Dickensian novels. As it is raining today and I’m on holidays I think I should retire to a cosy corner and settle down for a day of reading novels. Or does this sound like more procrastination?

***

Fiona McDonald bio page