click on photos to enlarge!"The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours. . . " Wordsworth
"A solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities." Maya Angelou
"It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature." Henry James
Recipe for a Novel
1) First get the germ of an idea.
No one really knows where these come from, so read a lot, wonder a lot, be interested in lots of seemingly unconnected or unimportant things and ideas. Travel outside the lines.
2) Explore, ruminate and forget about your germ of an idea.
3) Repeat #2.
4) Stumble on related information, then begin research out of fascination.
5) Synchronicity, serendipity, and fortunate coincidences concerning your idea/inspiration begin to find you regularly. This idea won't go away!
6) Get a notebook. Keep it near. Write down EVERYTHING that has any "spark" to it. don't worry, you can throw most of it out later, but it is important that you write it down.
7) Scenes and characters emerge and get written in the notebook as if you are under a spell.
8) Some sense of Beginning, Middle & End begins to emerge.
9) Forget about this project for a while. Let it marinate generously in time. Eventually it will compel you to continue - or not. If the latter, you have been cured!
10) Anxiety over the enormity of the task is followed by hopelessness and surrender.
11) Once you've given up, re infatuation will occur. A smaller part of yourself has dropped by the way side; now your subconscious, higher self, and accruing skills can continue the project unencumbered.
12) Once "finished" you will be disappointed upon reading your manuscript through. Is that all there is?!
13) You suddenly realize that what you have is a first draft! This is high-grade raw material.
14) You begin to polish, toss out, move around, aggregate you material.
15) Pause, polish, share it, listen.
16) Revise yet again, but know when to stop touching it.
17) Once you have something that is surprisingly good, that folks you respect seem to genuinely like, the REAL work begins! It's called publishing and promotion. Good Luck!
A L O H A! Cloudia
14 comments:
You make it sound so simple.
I am going to pass these wise words onto my son. He is a writer and would love to get a book published one day.
Hello Cloudia,
Pare everything down to their essentials, and appreciate the steps. That is what I expect, and receive, when I visit.
Happy Groundhog day from one who does not need to worry, to another in the same boat.
Tschüss,
Chris
Charles Bukowski, during a reading, related how he wrote poetry after a certain age.
He had a captive writing student in a cage whom he would only let out on occasion to beat with the buckle end of the belt. During the times when he was not being beat the writer was to write, nothing else. And once a week he'd throw a woman and a fifth of liquor into the cage to spur the fingers on the keyboard.
Buk may not be everyone's cup of cheap vodka, but it is sage advice, no matter if writing ten word poetry or a hundred thousand word manuscripts.
Little we see in Nature that is ours... even more true these dyas, is it not?
It is always such a joy to come visit you here and catch up with your words and pictures.
Love your novel sequencing! I'm at about #16 with my next book (non-fiction). Also, I mentioned you in my post today with a blog award. Stop by and have a peek.
cloudia, that's good advice :)
Very true. All of it.
Oh my, not much chance of my writing a novel!
Christine: Aloha!
Denise: Thanks; glad to help.
S Chris: Thanks for your kind words.
Walking Man: You are more delightfully dark than I ever imagined. Thanks for sharing it here!
Dave King: Aye; and together we watch the dying embers, my friend.
B Wench: and I love seeing YOUR icon and words here! Enjoy your blog too-
Deborah G: Glad to be of any assistance; and thanks for da mention on your ultra-cool blog!
Laughing Wolf: Thanks for laughing along with me!
Charles: Coming from a serious writer like yourself that is high praise and I cherish it!
Ake: But you HAVE produced a book about your progenitorsm have you not? and your short pieces are brilliant. Actually I think you'd produce something great.
I have one to add:
Lock all kids in a room with food and tv. Use noise canceling headphones so you can't hear them calling you.
Oh, but I do appreciate the other steps :-)
Sound advise - not only for novel writers :)
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