How to Write a Novel? The Internet Knows the Answer

Happy Friday!

This has been kind of a crazy week.  I accepted the volunteer position of editor for a State Bar newsletter last Tuesday afternoon.  Boy, has it been a time sink! I am trying my best to get an issue ready for publishing by this afternoon (Friday) and I do not think it will get done.  By next Monday? Much more probable. So, why am I taking a time out to make this post?   Things are kind of on pause for the morning.  I cannot get any more work done until the rest of the submissions come in.  Plus, my morning appointment cancelled on me.

So let’s talk about research.  I am not referring to researching the subject matter of the book.  I am referring to research on actually writing a book.  As I said in the previous post, I do not have any training or experience with writing fiction.  Thank goodness this is the age of instant information gratification.  If it cannot be found with Google in fifteen seconds it does not exist.

There are some great resources out there for new writers.  Here are some of the best I found (in no particular order):

http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2010/06/28/how_to_write_a_book.html

  A quick read that can help you get the ball rolling.  To summarize: stop thinking about doing it and just do it.

http://www.peacecorpswriters.org/pages/depts/resources/resour_writers/100daysbook/bk100da.html

How to Write a Novel in 100 Days.  I really like this piece.  It is not as in depth as other articles.  It does not teach the more complicated aspects of storytelling.  What I like is that it acts as a general guide to the process and everything is broken down into short easy to understand steps.  I am seriously considering using their steps in my writing process.  It seems like a great way to manage my writing time in a way where I can hold myself accountable.   

http://www.novel-writing-help.com/how-to-write-a-novel.html

How to Write a Novel Step by Step.  This is probably my favorite resource.  It has tons and tons of great information on just about every aspect of writing a novel. I really like the way the website is laid out too.  It allows the reader to decide just how in depth he or she wishes to go.  It has an overview for those who just want a general summary of the process.  Want more?  Just start surfing the links and you will find yourself waist deep in writing styles, character creation and development, weaving a theme, plot structure, and even publishing.  Each of those areas will have sub-pages for them breaking the subjects down into even more detail.  If you have a question, it is probably covered here.

http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/blog/

Because this is a blog, it is not the easiest website to search for specific information, but I still believe it is worth your time to read through the posts.   There is some great advice here on issues and problems that often arise while writing.

Those are my sources for now.  I usually struggle to figure out when I have enough research to begin a project.  Not enough research and I will not have the tools to create my desired product.  If I do not stop researching, well that turns into a form of procrastination and I never get started.  With these sources however, I feel like I am ready.  The next two weeks at work are going to be pretty rough but I am going to do my best not to neglect this project or this blog.  Stay tuned to see where things go from here.

Introductions are in Order

Who are you? What is this place? Why should I care?

Those are a few of the questions I believe you, my imaginary audience, may have after you stumble across this blog.  Well, a first post seems like an appropriate enough place to introduce myself and introduce this blog.

Hi.  My name is Adam and this is my blog about writing.

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Did you want to know more? I guess I can do that. At the time of writing this I am an early to mid 30ish year old small business owner and lawyer who…

…stop…hey…come back! 

This blog is not about being a lawyer and I am not going write about statutes, precedent, and rules of evidence.  I have a separate blog for all of that stuff.  You can find a link to that blog and my business website on my profile page.  As a general rule I plan to leave the law practice part of my life out of this place, but I reserve the right to the occasional random tangent if it feels appropriate.

Getting back on point, I opened my own law practice immediately after law school, which is a pretty scary but exciting experience.  I am also a founding member of the board of directors for a local t-shirt and merchandise company called Yo Soy Life.

Wait…stop…I see you getting ready to close your browser.

I am not here to sell Yo Soy Life products to you every week.  I will say that I think we sell great merchandise and we are always adding more to our selection.  If you want to learn more, check out www.yosoylife.com.  That is the extent of the product pushing I plan to do, but I again reserve the right to the occasional post about Yo Soy Life if something interesting happens with that part of my life.

 In addition to the law office and Yo Soy Life I have a lot of random interests that suck up my time.  One of these interests is writing.  So far my writing is of the non-fiction variety.  In college I kept a personal blog that focused on politics and current events and I sometimes wrote for a college website and newsletter.  In law school I was an active member of moot court, a competition team that largely revolves around writing appellate briefs.  Post law school I write divorce and mediation related articles for my website, for the local community newspaper, and for a State Bar division newsletter.

I very much have a love/hate relationship with writing.  I love the idea of the creative process.  I love seeing a new project form from nothing.  I love seeing an idea form into something that stands on its own – something that is uniquely itself.  I also take a lot of satisfaction from seeing a project completed.  However, I tend to get frustrated with the process, especially if it refuses to come together organically.  Maybe this is just a lack of patience on my part. I am not sure. I also get distracted pretty easily, which can result in unrealized ideas and unfinished products.

Deep down I think I always wanted to tackle fiction.  Works of fiction can create entire worlds and shape lives of people in those worlds from their birth to their death.  I have the utmost respect for this process whether we are talking about novels, theater, television, movies, music, or just about any form of storytelling.

In a way it may be that respect that kept me from diving into writing fiction earlier.  I always considered myself an adequate writer, but nothing more than adequate.  I am not that kid who spent his teenage years writing short stories.  I never took a creative writing class in college and I had to take literature twice to pass it.  As much as I enjoyed fiction as a medium of expression, I did not have the ability to articulate the underlying themes and ideas found in literature.  I thought writing was not for me.  I guess you could say that my ability in writing did not live up to the level of quality I associated with writing fiction.  It was not until law school that I started to gain confidence in my ability to write.  My confidence grew in part from the fact that law school did teach me how to be a better writer and in part from encouragement I received from professors.

That finally brings us to my current project and this blog.  I decided that I am going to attempt to translate the ideas rolling around in my head into the written word.  Will the first thing I write be published and an instant hit? I doubt it and I do not really care.  This is for me because I want to do it, and this blog is going to help me.  This blog will catalogue my progress on my work.  It will cover my struggles and accomplishments on a weekly basis.  It will act as a sounding board, a reminder of my progress, and hopefully a motivator to keep pushing me forward.

That is the plan.  I just realized I did not explain why you should care.  I cannot answer that question.  I realize this blog is not an original idea.  There are many blogs out there that do this same exact thing.  My goal is not to create an entertainment oriented high volume blog.  I do not even intend to promote this page.  The purpose of this blog is very personal in nature:  to help me in my first dive into fiction writing.  However, if anyone does comes across this blog I do hope you genuinely enjoy reading it.  If you like what you read, feel free to come back regularly and share your input.  I will keep comments open and will gladly discuss whatever topics come up during this process.