I have taken the bull by the horns. I have grasped the nettle. I have struck while the iron was hot.
I have begun my novel.
Cue global sharp-intake-of-breath (followed by much coughing and expectoration of blood).
Yes, it might only be a tentative and measly 1000 words but the mighty project is at last begun. Amid much fear and trepidation (in Las Vegas and everywhere else) I threw myself into the first page sometime around dusk yesterday afternoon. Reports that Ian McKellen and Kate Winslet are already vying for the lead roles in the film adaptation are as yet unconfirmed.
On a serious note I finally decided to take the advice of my wife and just pitch in any old how: get it written and don’t worry about whether it’s any good or not until it’s finished. My mate Tris has also confirmed that this is by far the best approach: get the first draft written without attempting to rewrite any of it and then once the core of the novel is complete you’ll be in a better position to go back and tidy things up / change things.
Karen, Tris - I salute you both.
6 comments:
Yay, glad you started.... keep it up!:-)
For what it’s worth, my advice would be not to plan what happens to any of your major characters, though it’s a good idea to know roughly who they are. Don’t say to yourself, at such and such a point this catastrophe will befall this person and cause something else to happen. But, surprise yourself as you write, almost as though you were reading someone else’s work. Otherwise, for me at least, writing feels dead before it even hits the page.
Writing is a major slog as I’m sure you know. One of my bugbears is repetition of words and phrases within a paragraph, for example. So, I write and rewrite and rewrite again and still find I’m not happy with it! Sometimes you can get so close to what you’re writing that you’re not even sure if it makes any sense anymore. But I wish you the best of luck and, when you’re done, may I have first refusal on the screen rights!!
Yep good luck Steve! Glad you have plunged in. If it's anything like your blog I'm sure it will be witty, incisive and extremely well-written!
Can you give us a few clues as to what it will be about?
And can I have a cameo in the film adaptation please?
A big thank you to all my well wishers!
Old Cheeser, if it makes it that far you're welcome to a speaking part!
As to what it's about... it's about a possessed book...
Are you a fan of H. P. Lovecraft and the fictional book the Necronomicon? I had a go at a variation on this idea when I novelised the unpublished "Doctor Who" story "Revelation of the Daleks", set on the planet Necros and involving much black humour.
I renamed the book the Necrocomicon (discovered by the DJ character as played on TV by Alexei Sayle) a) to suggest the conflict between communism and capitalism on the planet and b) more humorously to suggest a comic on Necros!
To my everlasting shame I have never read any H.P. Lovecraft - though my wife has. I have huge gaps in my reading - my choice of books has always been excessively eclectic.
Your comment sounds like a good recommendation for old HP though!
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