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A Novel Approach by Raymond King
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A Novel Approach |
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Education
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Okay, writing a novel is a big deal. It's going to take you at least a couple of months and probably a lot more. You've been told and told that you have to get ahead of the game by planning your piece. Start off with your great idea, set up your three acts, define your characters, your protagonist and antagonist, decide your locations, your style, there's just so much to do before you even start writing. By the time you get to your art the buzz has gone and you wonder why you even bothered. Okay, here's a secret, you don't have to do it that way. By all means, take your great idea and start putting words on paper right away. And very quickly you'll run out of steam. And that's where all the unfinished novels lying in drawers come from. Because, if you start off without a plan you're going to have nowhere to go once the rush is over. Now, some writers swear by setting everything in stone before they start writing, but I'm too human for that approach. I need to catch the tide and get words down as fast as possible. But I know that at some point I'm going to have to get down to the drudgery of pinning down each character's story arc, writing at least a thumbnail sketch for every character, research location and period. But knowing that allows me the freedom to let my imagination run free and I know the further I go, the more material I'm going to have to go back and re-edit once I've got my structure down, so I don't go too far. This was really necessary in the olden days when I worked with a portable typewriter and carbon copies. Editing meant retyping the whole opus, so you knew you had to get it right. Now, with 'Go to Page', 'Find' and 'Cut & paste' the writer has it easy because the word processing has taken a lot of the drudgery out of writing. Remember that the next time you curse the technology. Nowadays you can define how far you want to go before you take breath to go back and edit. And edit is what you must do, it is ultimately in editing that the art of writing exists. The formula is write, edit and polish. At that point you can relax, satisfied, or you can go back and edit again. But be aware that you're never going to be totally satisfied with what you've written. There's always going to be some lingering doubt about pace or style or whatever, but you just have to learn to accept it. So, those are your three options. Attack at speed and eventually run out of steam. Plan totally and run out of inspiration. Or attack gently and be prepared to go back and plan at some point. I think the best method seems obvious. The third uses your imagination while it shines brightest and still insists that the nuts and bolts are kept in mind. Of course you could be one of those supremely talented geniuses who can simply run your stream-of-consciousness novel straight onto the page. My congratulations, but one question, why are you reading this? essay contact
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