The Process of Writing

Since today is the day I started writing the first novel I anticipate finishing, I thought it might also be a good day to finally post something on a blog I opened almost a year ago. This entry will be purely unedited, as I anticipate the majority of my posts will be. I've decided to reflect on the process of writing a novel. This particular process is something I would venture to claim I am rather familiar with. I have dabbled in creative writing since a very young age - given the works that emerged from those years are things I hope my parents did not bother saving. I vaguely remember a few of them. One in particular involved a girl who could turn into a dragon which I attempted after reading Eye of the Oracle by Bryan Davis (a good book that I would highly recommend to anyone who asked). I wrote exactly one wide-ruled page of loose leaf paper, proudly presented my "story" to my mother, and forgot about it for years. When it came to me again, I did not consider the idea something worth pursuing. However, almost all of the "novels" I endeavor to complete now originally arose from ideas that came to me sometime in my junior high years.

I have never finished a novel. Have I ever tried to finish a novel? Yes. Did I ever have a real chance of finishing a novel? No. At least not in the mindset that I had been working with. My fatal flaw in novelling was the inability to kill my "inner editor" long enough to put down a solid draft of my book. The two novels I am actively writing at the moment are both at the stage I like to call "Fourth Draft" but neither of them have been anywhere near finished. Although they are both outlined thoroughly from beginning to end, I manage to find some flaw within the first half (or occasionally the first quarter or even the first chapter) that seems un-fixable in its current state and begin again to avoid this seeming catastrophe. However, in order to get anywhere near a finished novel, I'm beginning to realize that I need to write the novel. This may seem rather straightforward, but the act of writing without giving in to the "need" to edit mistakes is quite alarming. This is not to say that misspelled word should be glanced over, or the comma you realize shouldn't be there must remain. I have encountered both of these nuisances within the writing of this blog post which (as I stated earlier) is intended to be an unedited work. The absence of an "inner editor" also does not kill one's ability to rephrase a sentence if they suddenly come upon a brilliant way to reword it. (This also happened above; the sentence beginning "I have encountered" began moments ago with the words "both of these mistakes.") The inner editor is vanquished when, upon finishing a section, the author agrees to look upon it no more until the novel is complete.

I believe I have two more points before I publish this, my first ever blog article. The first of these is simple: the more you read, the better you write. Many of the greatest ideas are inspired by other literature. Clearly, one must beware of plagiarism, but inspiration is fundamentally different from theft. To be inspired by another author's work is natural. To use direct points of their idea to create a dangerously similar story line is something else entirely. My final point is simple. Do not endeavor to write a novel alone. This is not to say you should not be the only author. Your writing should be your own, and the writing process should be independent. However, a cheer squad can never hurt. As I undertake to write a novel this month, I have made it clear to anyone who knows me well that I will be doing so. Three of my friends are also writing novels, and my brother requires a summary (or excerpt) of my day's writing as proof that I did complete my quota. He insists I will receive an earfull of "unhappy wordage" if I fail to do so on any given day. (I am not convinced this would be as terrifying as he ensues, but I'd rather not find out.) Well many people in my life are rather oblivious to my endeavor, or not directly invested, I will walk my day to day life for the next twenty nine days knowing that when December 1 rolls around, I will be an author.