THE JAMES MASON COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB discussion

Do you know if you write a page a day that within one year you will have written a book? How many times have I heard that one? If that one book takes a year to write then the revision process would have to take many years, unless you’re a genius and don’t need to rewrite and edit. Truth is, writing a first draft is the easy part when writing a novel.

I can usually belt one out in a few months. But the revision; forgetta’bout it. That’s the time consuming stuff, though I am getting better at it as I get older (and hopefully wiser). I’m also getting better as a writer. Ideas come more easily after so many years of living in my creative mind and the process of getting them on paper is less time-consuming.

For my new novel, I’m finding the plot twists are coming naturally and I’ve had quite a few ‘aha!’ moments in the last few days. Here’s a little secret about starting a new novel. Don’t worry about the perfect first chapter or getting that perfect first line, it’s incredibly frustrating. Just start jotting down a story with the mind-set that you’re going to rewrite it later.

Through most of my books, I’ve completed about half of the novel when I usually go back and write new intro’s that incorporate the original intro’s, if that makes any sense. For instance, I thought I had the perfect intro for my latest, a shocking, get-right-into-the-action first chapter, when a few hours ago I came up with a much better start. But I only could have progressed to that point if I’d already had something written down, something I could improve on.

My old intro to my novel is now chapter two. But, that intro catapulted me into the story so I could build a base. As of this post, I’ve hit the 25,000 word mark and have a pile of notes about how the novel will progress. But since I don’t outline, I’m not sure what exactly will happen. The fun of this project is that anything can.


My blog: http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com

NEIL
Having self-published my first YA Paranormal/Time Travel/First Kiss romance novel entitled "I Kissed a Ghost" through CreateSpace, I've found the truth is writing/re-reading/rewriting a book is by far the easiest part of becoming an author. Once the book becomes available the real work starts, you'll now have to market/promote not only your book but yourself as well.

It takes me a long time to create the first draft, but I have almost no trouble with the revisions, so it probably comes out the same, time-wise. The marketing is the hardest part.

It's nice to know I"m not the only one who isn't sure how the novel will end. A writer is like a god, creating time, place and characters. But sometimes the characters act in an unanticipated way. That's the way it was with my novel. As the characters and action developed, they led to to the only logical ending.

Marketing and promoting take up a tremendous amount of my time. It's all a gamble to hit it big.