A Second Novel

[unforth]

It's funny. As I was plowing through the Hogwarts story and the Changeling stuff, I kept saying that it wasn't like real writing, that the reason my daily word counts were so high was because it was SO much easier than actual writing, and people seemed to kind of doubt that.

Two days in to my second original actual novel, and I feel very vindicated. Starting on an actual page one, with only a vague sense of where things are going? Much harder. Infinitely harder, then writing up events I half remember, stories for which know the end. I don't know how many words I've written, either, because I've been really slaving over my notes, unlike last time. I'm determined not to have the muddle I had in my first novel. ;)

(here's my plot: "over the course of a very long war, both countries have used mercenaries to fight for them so much that this has become a serious problem. Mercenaries are bad." My device: "relate how mercenaries are bad and what will be done about them in a series of entwining stories where elements and characters from earlier stories grow involved in later stories." That's everything I know.)

Comments

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Those are valid points. I was more making a rhetorical point about you and the whole "but I'm not creative!" or "I don't know how to write!" BS I've heard in the past. ^_^

I find it interesting that you keep trying to tackle the plot device you've described, rather than going with something that would probably feel more natural (a first-person single-narrator story, frex). Nothing wrong with doing that, but when you couple it with the newness of the idea itself, then yes -- it's to be expected that you'll go slower.

Kind of like MNC went faster partly because I knew more of my major plot points in advance than I usually do.

But anyway, don't freak out just because you're going slower. Take some time, if you can, to chew on the story -- while you're showering or walking somewhere or otherwise not needing your brain -- because the more you chew on it, the better a grip you'll have on it, and then the writing will come more easily and cleanly.

[unforth.livejournal.com]

I think it's an interesting idea for a device, so I want to keep trying it. I had a flash of insight about the plot for a trashy romance that's been slowly working it's way through my head, though, such that now I not only have an idea, but also part of an explanation for it, which is nice - when that gets written it'll be first person single-narrator. ;) And both of the gaming stories have been that, and it is MUCH easier than juggling multiple perspectives and such....eh. The worst that happens is that I try and fail. ;)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

True. And there's nothing wrong with trying and failing -- so long as it doesn't put you off trying entirely. (Which it doesn't seem likely to do.)