Planning Your Novel
Where do I start and what should I write about?
Where a writer begins to write is difficult to pin down. I think it's a process that begins probably when you're fairly young with reading and being interested in the miracle of literature. And how literature starts with nothing and that's sort of what you do as a writer, you start wth a blank page, you start with absolutely nothing. And then, after a process, you create a lot of characters in a given situation. So, it is probably a powerful feeling that you might have about an event that you've experienced or seen or observed and if it sticks with you day after day, month after month there's a suggestion that it is worth attending to as a writer.
How long does it take to write a novel?
It takes on average two years to write a novel. It can take twenty years and it can take one, but I don't know of many people who've managed to write anything good in less than one year.
Should I plan my novel before I start?
A novel can be planned. How much planning you do is debateable because when you start writing a novel you don't really have very much. You will find out more what of you are doing when you've written maybe 100 pages and you've gone into the characters to some extent. Then you can start looking at the planning. On the other hand, having some idea of where the book is going in terms of plot and story is probably useful, although some writers do actually start with very little.
How long should a novel be?
A novel tends to be anything over 75,000 words. I think that's the minimum. Anything less than that might get called a novella and that is another publishing experience. Seventy-five thousand words minimum, 100,000, 150,000 is quite common in a novel. That would probably be three to five hundred pages in a published book.
Does it help to set targets as you write?
It helps to set targets everyday, if you can, which would be a certain amount of words. It's important to write every day if it's at all possible, even if it's just for one hour because the novel is a big thing to keep in your head. To write five hundred words a day would be a reasonable target because if you stop writing for even a week it takes a day or two to go back to where you started.
How does a short story differ from a novel?
A short story tends to be about one thing. One event. And it's an epiphany. Something happens to one or two characters in the space of a short story. Just one thing that moves them on a little in terms of self-knowledge. You can't be digressive in a short story and it can be written in a whole day.
Why are writers driven to write?
What drives a writer? The desire for immortality at the top end of the scale, he wants to be remembered perhaps for something, but lots of point the time to reveal life's mysteries and it is a great pleasure to be able to engaged in the magic of creating something like any crazy wax that has infringe in the walls.
