WRITING A NOVEL IN RETIREMENT: PART 2 WHERE TO START

After writing my novel, some friends and colleagues wanted to know how I approached the writing process. I’m not claiming to be an expert. But I can claim to have worked through pitfalls and found an approach that worked for me.

In the first blog, I talked about finding the mental freedom to write.

In this one, I’ll talk about the process of how I started, finding the inspiration, and building on ideas to create a novel.

The first thing to consider is what do you want to write. I can’t discuss poetry or children’s books as I have no competence. If you search online, I’m sure there are many sites offering advice.

I’ll mainly talk about writing a novel. If you want to write a book in a specific genre such as romance, fantasy, science fiction, or a memoir, there are sites that can help. But most of the points I make are relevant.

First, the inspiration, coming up with ideas that can build into an entire plot. For me, it was the death of my father and the journey to Mount Isa to identify his body. So it had two key elements; drama and a journey. You don’t need both, but it helps. Many novels involve some expedition and the inherent drama that the main characters need to face. The Hobbit is the classic one everyone knows. Often the characters go on a self-discovery path or understanding as they encounter emotional challenges.

I was asked why I didn’t write a book on walking the Caminos in Spain and France. I did start one, but I couldn’t find the drama in my story. Perhaps someone dealing with a spiritual pilgrimage or facing some tragedy could see the core to the journey and write it better than myself. Or you could stick to a factual guidebook to help others walk a Camino. Others write starting from the perspective of a tragedy or conflict in their lives. Such as a death, divorce, a battle with cancer, or perhaps they have some disability that adds to their Camino struggle. They can create something more than just writing about a walk. The inherent conflict, tragedy, or drama in their story adds a greater human perspective.

Another example; I’ve known people attempt to write a memoir about their time backpacking around Europe and Asia when young. But if it ends up being a description of places, fleeting romances, backpacker hotels with bedbugs and clubs and bars, without some intrinsic drama, It may lack interest.  Unless it can be written very humorously.

A third example; I’ve worked with many colleagues from India. I’ve often thought a fantastic memoir or novel could be written around their background in India and migrating to the US or Australia. Differences in surroundings, differences in wealth, differences in culture, conflicts in understanding, conflicts with family expectations to return or achieve, acceptance of these differences, and so forth. You can sense the drama that could be infused into the narrative.

I started my novel with the facts of a tragedy. The death of my father crossing a street. This involved a trip to the outback, which was also a foreign location for the main characters. From this, I wrote a novel, not a memoir. Like a book on walking the Caminos, I didn’t think I could write an exciting memoir, plus the constraints of that format wouldn’t have allowed me to express what I wanted to say. And, of course, the book is not about the death or the journey to Mount Isa per se. That in itself was insufficient to fill a book or discuss what is at the story’s heart. Through the drama for all the characters, I wanted the reader to go on an emotional journey. I’ll discuss this further in later blogs.

You don’t need an external journey in your story, but you do need drama. So to start, ask what’s the theater, what’s the conflict, what’s the tragedy, what’s the journey. Is the disaster on a large scale, the sinking of the Titanic, or is it more individual and personal, Beethoven going deaf as simple examples. Is the conflict on a large scale, war being the classic or more individualistic with a struggle within the character.

If you are writing a memoir, think about starting at a dramatic reference point.  Then weaving back and forward. Or, for a crime novel, the drama can be built around a heist, or murder, as simple examples.

To start your novel, the ideas don’t need to be unique or outlandish. There is nothing particularly unusual in a pedestrian accident, but you must find a way to make it memorable through the characters and their drama.  So you can start with a dramatic event in your life, something odd you’ve heard or read about, even something in a friend’s life if it’s not too revealing or just invent it.

There is obviously far more once you start to flesh out your ideas. Characters will be the next to develop. The theater can’t exist without them

Then perspective, narration, how and when the conflict or drama is revealed and unfolds will follow. Questions will arise around a heavy emphasis on setting, plot, or characters, plus much much more.

Excluding writing to a formula, I’ve read writers can take years to flesh out their ideas into something they believe will form a novel. They may be working on multiple outlines at the same time. With the pressures of work,  I didn’t have the mental freedom to write, so I thought about it for over a decade. But the timeframe doesn’t need to be that long. It can be approached far more methodically by writing down notes around your ideas. As an example for the second novel I’m writing, I formulated the concepts over a couple of months. I’d even begun to write bits and pieces while I continually kept thinking about the themes and what should be at the core of the story. This helped me get to a point where about seventy-five percent of it is planned, though not written. The writing is only at about fifteen percent.

Lastly, don’t get despondent if you think the concepts won’t stand up into an entire novel. You could write it as a short story, think of ways to expand on the ideas or come up with something different. Again I’ve read virtually all writers abandon concepts before finding the ones they need to write. I did start a completely different novel, even writing around twenty thousand words but didn’t like where it was heading, so I’ve shelved that one.

To sum up, think of the drama behind your ideas. Think about how this drama may play out through the characters. If your novel involves a journey, think about the drama and internal growth the characters may go through over the journey. Start by writing down notes. For me, father’s death, the trip to Mount Isa, the theme of stones tossed into the pond, the significance of the Coolabah tree as examples.

Next time I’ll expand on the process once you think the ideas can form a novel.

Feedback welcome, and I’ll update next week.

 

Regards Norm Beck

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