Novel 101

I'm going to try something new here. In my last post, I chatted about starting a new novel. And it occurred to me that it might be interesting to "track"the process every week. Not just word count but explore what I'm doing and why. It's also a distinct possibility that it will turn into sausage. You know, the whole idea of everybody likes it but no one wants to see how it's made. Time (and your comments!) will tell, I guess.

See, with All the Numbers, I had the whole story arc in mind before I even started writing it. I knew Ellen so well because she was quite alot like me. I stole people from my own life to use as characters. So, even though the first draft was only about 1/3 of what it would eventually become, I had all the bones.

I thought I knew how to write a book. Ha.

Then I sat down to write Unexpected Grace. I had a general idea. Told as almost two narratives, through two different voices, one worked from the start, the other was much tougher for me to discover. I finally realized why--with one, I felt like I was bubbling up out of her soul. The other one, I knew what happened to her, but I was always outside of her. That one didn't work. It wasn't until I'd crawled inside of not only her world, but her skin, that her story became compelling.

So, with each book I'm learning.

With Spinning (the working title for my WIP), as I mentioned in my last post, one of the characters nagged at me until I started writing her story down. But before I dove in any more, I've spent the last few days thinking not only about Rosie, but her mom, and Jim and Maggie. I've thought about how I want to tell their stories. I've identified the focal point, the pivotal event that sets their stories in motion. This week, I'm going to try to write out a very loose outline or synopsis. I find that if I know what I'm writing toward, it's much easier for me to get in the zone. The characters seem to let me in more if they know I'm listening.

So, that's my plan for the book. We'll see.