Writing a Novel

Here is a snap of one of my Grandparents letters. I have been re-reading them for ideas for the story I am writing.  If you look close you'll see how they will write over lettering, they were always running out of space and had more to say.  I am up to 1909 now and there are 100 letters left to read. I know there are a lot of missing letters and many holes in the story so I get to make the rest up. It sounds easy but really it isn't.  I have been writing scenes I want to include but haven't really come up with the tone or voice of the story.  That may come in the second draft or third. I find doing Nanowrimo is just the beginning, it becomes more like an extended outline rather than the final story. There is a lot of telling which I will turn into showing in subsequent drafts.  The one thing that most people do not realize is that a novel just doesn't come out of you perfectly done.  There is a lot of rewriting and revising over and over before its really ready to be read by someone.

My daughter Sarah is working on one of her novels she wrote in 2008.  It took one month to do it initially, she rewrote it in six months and now is editing and revising and she has been working several months on it already.  Its all a process you get it to a point and then you have critique partners to help you see the flaws and then go work on it some more and repeat till you have gotten it as perfect as it can be.  Then you set out and start on the road to publishing which can even be longer.  Sounds like a lot of work doesn't it.  I think it is so worth it if you have a story you want to tell. I know someone who is on the 19th revision of their novel. Can you imagine the celebration she will have when its finally published.

So now that you know all that I am sure you will really appreciate the next book you read. Your realize it really was years in the making.

No art to share today, not even a journal page but perhaps I'll feel the need later in the week.