Apr 15 2009
The Joys of Novel Writing
Tough. Torturous. Long. Time Consuming. Rewarding. Satisfying. Amazing.
That’s how I describe the process of writing a novel. I am an aspiring novelists, and over the past ten years I have chucked out about half a dozen completed manuscripts and another half dozen works in progress.
Writing a novel is hard work. If anyone tells you that’s easy - many non writer friends and family seem to think it is - they have never written a word.
Ok, so writing a terrible novel might be easy, hey I think I’ve written six that will never ever see the light of day. Writing a great novel, let alone a good one, is tough. It’s a challenge and it doesn’t happen over night.
Enjoying the process of writing, not just the end result, definitely helps get things started, keeps them going, and helps us finish. Some writers take a few months to finish writing a novel, others a few years. If you’re going to be spending that long on one piece of writing, having fun doing it will make the job much more easier and your story much more pleasurable to read.
Currently, I am working on rewriting a work in progress that needs some work. It’s my third edit and finally things are starting to come together. However some days I feel like nothing is happening. I’m nearing the end and this is usually when I start slowing down with my writing, life or holidays get in the way and my brain ceases. I’m working on overcoming this. How? Keep writing no matter what dribble comes out.
I’m giving myself a deadline of 30 April 2009 to complete this revision. Of course it won’t be ready for an audience by then but at least I have something to work towards. There’s still a lot of hard work ahead of me.
How is your novel writing going? Do you enjoy the process?
I love and hate the process. There are points where it is cake–you’re exhilarated with the idea flow, you feel creative, you are nearly eating, sleeping and breathing in the world with your characters. That part is great. However, there are also the times it seems that you have written yourself into a corner, you temporarily hate your characters, or your much beloved plot suddenly seems unconvincing. Then it’s really frustating.
You’re right. Writing is not easy.
Lately it seems like I start a novel one day and by the next I’m working on a different novel. Perhaps for one month I will start a new novel every day, that might be fun.
The hard part is finishing.
PS— I just named a newborn lamb ‘Katarzyna’. Love that name!
Nissa Annakindt
http://linalamont.blogspot.com/
Hi Nissa
That’s a great idea and a nice challenge. The plus side is you’d get lots of story ideas together.
Yes, I agree that finishing a novel is the hardest part. I always struggle with that, like this week finishing the draft of my work in progress was a challenge, but finally the draft is done.