List #6 – What advice would you give to someone about to write a novel?
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LISTS: LITERARY & LAUNDRY
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FROM Dorothy Allison, the author of two novels–Cavedweller and Bastard Out of Carolina:
1. Set aside time to write every day. Remember that two or three pages a day add up over time to more than you can imagine when you start.
2. Get a complete draft before you let yourself start worrying about whether it works or not.
3. Remember you will revise. You will write another book so what you don’t get right in this one, you can do in another one.
4. And, oh yes, a sense of humor about yourself and your work process helps a lot.
FROM Charles Baxter, the author of five novels–The Soul Thief, Saul and Patsy, The Feast of Love, Shadow Play, and First Light:
5. Love your characters and get them into some interesting trouble and then pay attention to the consequences so you can get that in. Anyone can get into trouble if the temptation is right.
6. Tell the truth.
7. Know something rare and valuable that no one else knows. Get that in too.
FROM Connie May Fowler, the author of six novels–Sugar Cage, River of Hidden Dreams, Before Women Had Wings, Remembering Blue, The Problem with Murmur Lee, and How Clarissa Burden Learned To Fly:
8. Understand how time works within the novel: time frame, tense, present moment, and how the past impinges on the present moment. Once you have a grasp on time, your structure emerges.
9. The Novel is an art form. It isn’t a thinly veiled confession. Treat it as art, ruthlessly so, and you will will develop a more complex vision.
10. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain if this is your mantra: revise, revise, revise.
11. Everything–word play, plot, metaphor, pacing, character development, the light in a fictional room–is a form of jazz.
FROM Thomas Christopher Greene, the author of three novels–Envious Moon, I’ll Never Be Long Gone, and Mirror Lake:
12. Know the arc of the story before you begin, especially the climax. Then you can write toward it.
13. Otherwise, don’t outline. Permit yourself to be surprised. And be careful not to self-edit too much at first; don’t be afraid to start over either. I write the first 100 pages three or four times and in three or four different ways. It’s like calibrating a lock: once you find the right narrative distance and voice, it all clicks and you can hear it.
14. Be thick-skinned. Your work must be separate from you. No matter how successful you are, some people will love what you do and some will hate it. Never take it personally.
FROM Pam Houston, the author of two novels–Sight Hound and Contents May Have Shifted:
15. You don’t have to put everything in.
16. You have to be willing not to know for a long time.
FROM Dani Shapiro, the author of five novels–Black & White, Family History, Picturing the Wreck, Fugitive Blue, and Playing with Fire:
17. Understand that embarking on a novel is an act of faith in the power and coherence of the unconscious mind. You may think you’re in control, but you’re not. Nor should you be. When you’re writing a first draft, allow yourself to be led by your characters and your story. The more you harness them and impose your will on the story, the less alive it will be.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Yeah!! Sending to my mother! She will love this! PERFECT!!
Beautifully stated, each voice distinct, almost a piece of flash fiction. Thanks for this.