Write A Novel With Me?

Well, now that my short story is written I'd like to move on to something else for a while, something bigger and more unwieldy that my little 5,000-word short story.  Don't get me wrong-- the short story still needs lots of work, but 2011 is fast approaching and I have a burning desire to finish my novel now. I started writing it four years ago but in-between all the roller-coaster ups and downs, the short bouts of writing, and the many, many false starts, I'd like to finally finish the thing.  In fact, I've never felt the urge this strongly before. I think I might actually finish it this time!

Well, we'll see about that, won't we?  Obviously it's going to take a chunk of time to write a novel.  So much time that I might have to blog even less frequently than I do already.  The story has changed dramatically over the last four years and what was initially a simple tale of lost love and second chances has expanded into something much more complicated and (hopefully) compelling.  So my plan is to take the next twelve months to rewrite the novel and then rewrite it again.  Because the story has changed so much, the first rewrite will be almost like a first draft: swift and childlike.  The goal will be simple: to get the new version down on paper.  In the second draft I'll focus more on specific problem areas of the story and different elements of craft.  Again, I'll be turning to some of my favorite authors and writing mentors for examples, advice, and an occasional kick-in-the-pants along the way, and I'll be sharing everything I learn with you here, in a series of posts on this blog.

The one stipulation I've made for myself is this:  I'm only allowed to post something new when I finish writing three chapters.  That could take a week, or it could take a month.  No chapters, no blogging! We'll see how that goes.

Do you have a novel you'd like to finish? Or a novel you'd like to start?  I'd love it if you would join me in this mammoth writing endeavor.  Let's do this thing together, shall we? How about this: we write one chapter a week for as many weeks as it takes us to finish.  Then we'll come back here and sort it all out like we did for the short story.  What say you to that?

For the first exercise, there are so many directions, so many different aspects of craft we could choose to explore.  An exercise on beginnings would seem an obvious starting place.  (Maybe we'll tackle that next, just before we launch into chapter one of our novels (coming soon!)).  In the meantime there's a book I've been wanting to share with you, the book being one of the main reasons I'm so excited about finishing my novel now:  Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose-- "A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them."  USA Today calls it "A love letter to the pleasures of reading," but to my mind it's a a love letter to the pleasures of writing. The back cover copy reads: "Francine Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and tricks of the masters to discover why their work has endured."  I wouldn't be surprised if this book gives you the desire to make your own work endure as theirs has-- as well as the tools and insights to make that happen. That's something to shoot for, anyway.

In the first chapter Prose talks about "close reading"-- how she learned to write from reading the works of the masters:

     "I read closely, word by word, sentence by sentence, pondering each deceptively minor decision the writer [has] made.  And though it's impossible to recall every source of inspiration and instruction, I can remember the novels and stories that seemed to me revelations: wells of beauty and pleasure that were also text books, private lessons in the art of fiction."

• • •

        "I've always thought that a close-reading course should at least be a companion, if not an alternative, to the writing workshop.  Though it also doles out praise, the workshop most often focuses on what a writer has done wrong, what needs to be fixed, cut, or augmented.  Whereas reading a masterpiece can inspire us by showing us how a writer does something brilliantly.

        "Occasionally, while I was teaching a reading course and simultaneously working on a novel, and when I had reached an impasse in my own work, I began to notice that whatever story I taught that week somehow helped me get past the obstacle that had been in my way.  Once, for example, I was struggling with a party scene and happened to be teaching James Joyce's "The Dead," which taught me something bout how to orchestrate the voices of the party guests into a chorus from which the principal players step forward, in turn to take their solos."

I encourage you to read this wonderful book.  Then come back in a week or so for our first exercise in writing (and rewriting) our unwieldy novels...

Leslie


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Francine Prose: Reading Like a Writer