Writing a novel for dummies

[Avatar]

The fact of the matter is I have difficulty with the basics. I'll begin writing and then review what I wrote and begin questioning whether it was a run on sentence or I've used the proper punctuation and suddenly I've lost my momentum.

Now that's something I never worry about. I've never looked for a run-on sentence in my life. I know when it sounds right, or when it sounds wrong, and that's all I worry about.

No, for me, I just lose interest once the basic idea is down. Or I don't have any direction for it to go in.

--A

[aTOMiC]

The fact of the matter is I have difficulty with the basics. I'll begin writing and then review what I wrote and begin questioning whether it was a run on sentence or I've used the proper punctuation and suddenly I've lost my momentum.

Now that's something I never worry about. I've never looked for a run-on sentence in my life. I know when it sounds right, or when it sounds wrong, and that's all I worry about.

No, for me, I just lose interest once the basic idea is down. Or I don't have any direction for it to go in.

--A

I wish I had what you have. I loafed through school (with the exception of my art classes) and skated by on the bare minimum to graduate. For whatever reason I hated school. Now I wish it had been otherwise.
In any case whatever writing I do feels like I'm aping whatever author I happen to be reading without really understanding the details.
Also I only seem to be interested in "the Chase".
Writing exposition makes me yawn uncontrollably.

[Avatar]

Hahaha, school has nothing to do with it. I'm the master of the bare minimum Tom, I guarantee it. I made it through my whole academic career by reading the textbook once or twice the night before the exam. I was just lucky I could do it and get away with it. My last year of high school, I didn't even have exercise books. The teachers had long since given up trying to educate me.

I really think it's from reading so much. I can't tell you why something is wrong, or even exactly what's wrong with it. I just know how it should sound in order to be right. It's not even something I think about.

But now that I do, I wonder if that's why I do so little re-writing. I tend to leave my first draft as a final draft quite a lot. Maybe a word or two here or there, but I usually revise as I write...on the fly as it were, and don't go back.

--A

[aliantha]

I largely do the same thing, Av -- revise on the fly. And I think you're right that it's due, at least in part, to reading like a maniac.

HLT -- no worries, I took it in the spirit you intended it.

TOM -- two things. 1) You're a good writer. I've enjoyed the stuff of yours that I've seen. And I don't remember grammar/spelling/punctuation being a problem. 2) Writing exposition doesn't have to be mind-numbing. You can work stuff in as a sentence here and there. Just tell me *why* Cpl. Joe is motivated to do what he's doing, while you're in the thick of it. Or in the run-up to the battle -- there's a lot of hurry-up-and-wait in real warfare. Some of Erikson's funniest bits, imho, are the conversations among his soldiers around some campfire. 3) I'll put in one more plug for NaNoWriMo. It's ideal for somebody who obsesses over whether his/her stuff is any good. You don't have time to do that in NaNo -- you have to forge ahead and keep writing.

Oh fine, that's three things. "Among our diverse weapons are..."

[peter]

Occasionally I have tried to write some of the great ideas (I think) I have had over the years (A grown up Billy Bunter story, a Van Helsing descendant story, even an art house piece with no story or meaning, just desighned to still the mind to a state of inactivity) but each time I get a few pages into it and then run out of steam/get bored and abandon it. Then some years later I come across the old sheets of paper and re-read them and realise what talentless crap they are. One of the great writers (I forget who) said "re-read the work you have done and every time you come across a passage that seems particularly fine strike it out".

In respect of your post HLT, there are of course many novels/films/comics etc that are 100% colaberative affairs, and so much the better for it so in essence the problem is merely one of finding the person who is inspired by your ideas, will sit and talk them out with you and then compose draughts that you in your turn will tweak and criticise untill a composit result that satisfies you both is achieved. You then find a publisher (or self-publish) and see what happens.

BUT..... here's the rub. Writing is not easy. Is it possible that your expectations in this respect are too high. For what it's worth, here's an idea. Get the novel'story down on paper. Maybe do a chapter plan first - it's up to you - but get it down and to hell with how it looks. Once this is achieved start the arduous process of pulling the grammer, synax etc into shape. Rewrite the bits you aren't happy with and then - do it all again. And again. And again. And again. Then leave it, read it - and do it again. And at some point, somewhere, way down the line - you will have written your story, yourself, the way you want it to be.

[Avatar]

Sounds like good advice to me. Write it first, then worry about it.

--A