Today we start our novel.
What will we write about? There can be only one answer.
"There are eight million stories in the naked city, and they are all about the same thing--trouble. Your novel will be about trouble. We're not interested in reading about anything else." - John Dufresne, Is Life Like This? A Guide to Writing Your First Novel in Six Months
So, when should the trouble start? By the first plot point? Ten pages in? Five? Here's another tip from Dufresne (my most trusted advisor, the writer whose guides I turn to over and over again for writing wisdom, motivation, and more than occasional confidence boosts) :
By the end of the first scene "we ought to know what the trouble is, what our central character wants and why, and we should have an indication of what his struggle will be. And we should have a reason for caring about him. You have to make us want to read the next chapter, the next scene."
So here we go. Let's begin. Get out your laptop, your notebook, your napkin--choose your weapon--Let's write the first scene of our novels.
John Dufresne: The Lie That Tells A Truth
John Dufresne: Is Life Like This? A Guide to Writing Your First Novel in Six Months
I have really enjoyed the tour through your blog, and I am even more appreciative that it has been written by someone who is of a "mature" age. It sometimes/frequently seems that a lot of blogs/website advice on writing fiction are by and for people who are much much younger... I read one such blog comment that gave advice for writers who had "come late to writing [in their late 20's]. I will be journeying with you because I live rural, and would prefer a companion writer of similar experience & stage of life. I look forward to your future posts.
ReplyDeleteHi Nicole! Thanks for stopping by. I love hearing from other writers who took up the craft late in life. Sometimes I get a little down, bummed that I waited so long (too long) to start writing, and worried that I'll pass on before I finish this darn novel! But then I think about how twenty years from now I'll look back and realize how young and naive I was at 59.
ReplyDeleteI checked out your blog "COFFEE, A CAT, AND A CORNER DESK IN THE COUNTRY". What a find! I'm excited to go through your list of blog links and check those out too. Your lists of books and films as well...
I haven't been posting much on this blog lately, but I'd love to get back into it. Maybe knowing you're out there reading my posts will inspire me to post more often :-)
Best of luck with your writing!
Leslie
I too like to comfort myself with the thought that people in the 60's or 70's look upon people in the 50's with something akin to envy, wishful thoughts at least. I am embarrassed to say that I have not taken the time to visit my blog corner since the "cat" who shared my desk in our wee house in rural New Zealand, passed away. She was a very special, somewhat forthright cat that we had adopted from the street when she was just days old so she did not know what it was like to be a cat, apart from sleeping in the sun puddle on my desk. When she died the desk gathered dust and I turned to a laptop or phone for "eServices". I do have four cats now, two boys that are about 8 & 10 yrs respectively, and I adopted two tabby kittens mid-2012 in an attempt to blunt the grief for "the old lady", I was disappointed though because the kittens are hunters and fiercely independent, whereas my old feline friend loathed nature, preferring books, and all things sedentary...much like myself. I spent today pondering your challenge, and have now three paragraphs (not exactly the heady height of War and Peace but a start anyway), having read more of your Dufresne. Keep up the coaching posts, and when you flag a little, just remember there are some groupies relying on following in your footsteps.
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