Writing a novel – a writer’s journal
No Comments »26th February, 2009; Category: Fiction, Journal Writing, Master of Arts course, Novels, Writing a novel
I am writing a novel.
I need to clarify that statement: I have been thinking about writing a novel. The time for thinking is over. I urgently need to start some serious planning and writing. The pressure is really on, because I have to present the first chapter – or a part of a chapter – at a seminar next week.
Let me back-track a little. Regular readers of this blog will know that I am half way through my Master of Arts in Creative Writing course. So far I’ve been very successful, completing all the assignments and gaining distinctions (or higher) for every one of them. It was hard work, but the writing has been very satisfying. My skills have developed way beyond what I had hoped for, and I’ve produced many pleasing pieces of writing.
I have one unit of study to complete. It’s called Editing and Publishing for Writers, a very practical course aimed at both editing one’s writing and preparing work for publication. The balance of my studies this year will focus on my thesis paper. This will be a 40,000 word novel.
What should I write about?
This is a question that has plagued writers ever since the first stylus was picked up to scratch on a clay tablet in ancient Sumaria. I wasn’t there at the time, so I’m not sure what they wrote about. In varying degrees of perplexity, many writers have always struggled to come up story ideas.
It makes it so much easier if you know the plot line before you start writing. You know – beginning, middle and ending – that sort of thing. Not to forget twists and turns, problems to overcome, births, deaths, marriages, murders and the inevitable taxes.
It also helps to know your characters. Boy or girl, adults, animals, creatures, monsters or aliens: they’ve all been used before and will presumably be used many times more for many years to come.
Finally, it is essential that you are quite clear in your head where and when the story is set. Will it be in a city or a rural setting? Will it be a place near you or far away, perhaps in another country or even another world? Will the story be set in the present time, the distant past or even the future?
Decisions, decisions, decisions
The writer has to make so many decisions when starting to write a short story or novel. These choices are essential in the planning stages and they need to be reviewed constantly while the work is in progress. That is what I will be doing during the coming months.
I will get by with little help from my readers:
This blog will become a journey through the writing of my novel. I plan to write frequently about the process and the decisions I make. I invite reader’s comments as we go; in fact, you can all help me in the process. I will need all the help I can get.
What I am reading
I’m a little slow about writing about this book.
I bought it about last October but kept it unread for a treat over the Christmas – New Year holidays. It has been a while since I bought a new novel to read just for pleasure. It’s something every writer should be doing regularly. Enough of my failings.
This is what I read: A Guide to the Birds of East Africa:a novel by Australian author Nicholas Drayson.
A first glance at the title and one could be forgiven for thinking it is only about birds. Well, it isn’t. Not entirely. At heart it is a romance, a mystery, an adventure and a rollicking good read. And you incidentally learn about the birds of East Africa as a bonus.
Mr. Malik is a quiet, reserved and thoroughly likable gentleman with a secret passion. Not even the members of his club know that he is totally in love with the leader of the Tuesday morning bird walk of the East African Ornithological Society, Rose Mbikwa. Rose’s politician husband had died in mysterious circumstance many years previously.
Mr. Malik has a problem; he desires to invite Rose to the annual Hunt Ball but flashy Harry Khan arrives in town in time to spoil his plans. Mr. Malik and Harry have a distant and not so happy past from their school days. When Harry indicates that he was going to invite Rose to the ball, mild Mr. Malik blurts out his feelings for her. So a club wager was set – whoever could see the most birds in a week would have the right to ask Rose to the ball.
The chase is on and the adventure begins. Intrigue, mystery, excitement (yes – birders do get excited) misunderstanding and a heinous crime all add spice to the chase.
A thoroughly good read.
Highly recommended.
Reference:
Drayson, N, 2008, A Guide to the Birds of east Africa: a novel. London, Viking.
A Guide to the Birds of East Africa: a novel
Writing fiction
4 Comments »31st January, 2009; Category: Fiction
“Fiction writing is great. You can make up almost anything.”
Ivana Trump, upon finishing her first novel.
Say that again, please?
Yes, well … I think that’s what fiction is, something made up in the writer’s imagination.
That is what I love about writing fiction; you can make up interesting characters, imagine beautiful (or dangerous or horrible) settings, create compelling plots and generally let your creative juices loose, flowing in interesting directions.
I love it when characters take over the story and you have no idea where they will take the reader – and you as the writer.
I love it when the plot I have in mind or on my outline page suddenly twists away, taking unexpected lane ways, leading me on a merry – or dangerous – chase through a land unknown.
I am delighted when unplanned, unexpected and delicious endings pop out on to the page.
The foundation of fiction
Despite the imagination being the driving force behind all fiction, I believe it is important to realise that all fiction also has one foot in reality. Every story, even wild, out-of-this-world fantasy and SF, has to have an internal logic based on reality. If something is too illogical, the reader will switch off or stop reading.
Sure, some stories need a certain suspension of belief (eg a talking animal, and ogre who falls in love or an alien who speaks English), but once that is achieved successfully, the writer can blaze ahead.
The characters must also ring true to themselves, the setting must be based on places the readers can imagine and the plot must be feasible. I find more and more that I draw on real places, real people and real events for writing fiction. Many of my stories are based on true events; my imagination draws on those events and asks, “What if..” Using this technique my imagination can run off in all kinds of directions.
An example: some time ago my brother told me of a skeleton he found on a sandhill on his farm. All we know from the investigating detective is that the man was shot in the head twice and that he was not an Aborigine. I used the discovery of this unfortunate man and came up with a 4000 word crime and murder mystery story. My lecturer gave me a high distinction and she is a hard but fair assessor.
Let your imagination soar, and good writing.
Review: “The Well” by Elizabeth Jolley
Novel: The Well by Australian Author Elizabeth Jolley
I came to this novel with eager anticipation. I had read some short biographical articles about the life and work of Elizabeth Jolley and seem to recall seeing her interviewed on television some years ago. I knew of her reputation as a writer and the long period of apprenticeship she served before being regularly published and acknowledged as a skilful writer. Getting recognition so late in life gives some of us writers renewed hope! I can only ever recall reading a few of her short stories before attempting this novel.
I read this novel in just a few sittings over three days. Despite the fog in my brain, the coughing, wheezing, sneezing and other nasty symptoms not worthy of mention here, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The exciting first chapter gives us the mystery on which the whole story unfolds. I found it an interesting technique to have this chapter first, followed by the background story leading up to that fatal moment when Katherine hits the man on the track with the ute. Including the accident in just the first few pages hooks the reader into reading on to discover what happened next. Mind you, it takes the entire novel to find out, but that is clever writing.
I found that the brooding mood of the first half of the novel totally compelling reading. It was like observing two lives thoroughly absorbed in one another. I could almost not imagine Hester and Katherine without each other. They each depend heavily on the other for support. Each of them would hardly exist without the other. Into this almost blissful, isolated and protected environment, Jolley introduces three wedges, each of which, in turn, destroys the almost symbiotic relationship between the two main characters.
The first is Hester’s friendship with Hilde when she was much younger. This overshadows her relationship with Katherine, always bringing comparisons between them. I had the impression that Hester couldn’t decide which she loved the most.
The second wedge occurs when Katherine receives a letter from her former school friend Joanna. This friendship brings a new threat to Hester who fears that it will come between her and Katherine. She fears the influence of Joanna on Katherine. She desperately clings to Katherine, all the time fearing that she will one day marry and leave Hester.
This threat is further accentuated by the man killed in the accident on the track. They bundle him into the well, but then Katherine imagines he is talking to her, promising to marry her when she gets him out of the well. This is the third wedge driven between them. Hester’s closeted and cosseted existence was threatened by his appearance. It matters not whether he was dead or alive; his appearance had stirred feelings within Katherine that threatened Hester.
In the latter half of the story both main characters slide into a desperate and dark world of confusion, change, threats and accusations. Jolley skilfully destroys the safe world of the first half of the story and each of the characters begins a downward spiral fed almost entirely by their imaginations.
Reference:
Jolley, Elizabeth, 2007, The Well. Penguin, Camberwell.