So, You Want to Write a Novel!

Part I of IV

How serious are you about writing?

It sounds easy to do doesn't it? I mean, you have a great story to tell, and you're bursting to get it out. It's got everything going for it; humour, drama, excitement that will keep your readers on the edge of their chair, and great human interest.

Well, what are you waiting for?

Pardon? You haven't got time at the moment. You have a full-time job. You're tired when you get home. You have to do all your chores at weekends.

Those aren't reasons; they're excuses!

If you really wanted to write your novel, you would have found the time. Take some of the time that you watch TV at night and use this for writing. What about the commuting time to and from work? You could sit with a notebook and jot down ideas, while the scenery flashes by the train window. Or, if you commute by car, you could record your ideas and thoughts in a recorder. Or even improve your writing skills and listen to experts on writing skills via your car CD. Even taking ten minutes a day to write, will get you started.

Everyone at some stage in their lives, feels that they have a story to tell, and that they could write a novel, but most people never get further than thinking about it. Of course, in this modern world of ours, anyone can write a book. They can put together any bunch of words into a word processing program on a computer, in any logical or illogical sequence, print it out, slap on a cover and have it bound by any small printer. Presto! You have a book! And then they will call themselves an Author. The fact that it is incomprehensible garbage is irrelevant. It's still a book. Albeit a bad, unsaleable, junk book.

Writing a good book or novel requires something that most people are not prepared to put in - a lot of hard work! In this technological age, many wannabe authors want to be able to put a few ideas into a program, press a button so that the program does all the artificial intelligence work, and have the software then spill out a best-selling novel! Of course it doesn't happen like that in real life.

The truth of the matter is, that if you really are serious about writing a novel, you need to understand that there is a great deal of work involved. Your efforts will be ten percent inspiration and ninety percent perspiration. It takes a lot of hard work to learn the required writing skills, to do the basic research, to write, edit and rewrite the novel, and then to find a publisher who is even prepared to read your masterpiece.

You may have heard that 'Writing can't be learned. Writers are born!' Don't believe a word of it! It is utter nonsense! Writing is a skill and all skills can be learned. However, you do need to have a strong desire to become a successful writer. You will never make it if you are half-hearted about your writing.

Where to next?

In my next article I will talk about the difference between 'story' and 'plot' as well as the nature of 'plot'.