Current view into my writer´s den
Writing a novel has become the journey of a lifetime. It is as if there always has been something lurking, sneaking around and occasionally showing off its teeth in my mind. Something scary, that wants to be written by me. Because I can´t help but love to write.
I have always written. Little pieces, a novella here, a poem there. A few chapter into a wannabee story about me, myself and I. And all the time, all those yellow post-it notes and little pieces of paper, all scribbled and doodled with leftovers of an overheard conversation, part of a famous quote, ideas and loosely spun words about the human dark side of the Moon.
I have always dreamed about the possibility to write a novel. Knowing that it is a tough task to commit your whole life to in a time of your life, where all the dreams are attainable. And now that dream is about to come true for me.
I´m also scared speechless. I think of other writers and I bend my head in awe. But I´ve been told to do something about that writing of mine, for I have my own voice, and I have something on my mind to share.
So I decided to write that novel, the psychological thriller, which I find inspiration for in the way people treat each other for good or worse. I have met a lot of different people throughout my life, and from that I know that the only limit to human behavior is fantasy. And sometimes reality bites back.
The next couple of months I will also be reading and watching a lot of psychological thrillers to truly get the inner feeling of what I´m working with. I also study the technical aspects of the genre, e.g. plot structure, keeping the tension throughout the novel, and the character cast.
But still it will be my novel. One thing is to get ideas and to learn new skills, another matter is to actually do the writing part of the job. I work with several ideas that need time to evolve to contain enough tension and frightening moments.
So in other words, I take the advice I can get, but I produce my own material. I´m no copy-and-paste kind of writer. I also make my own mistakes and learn from them thanks to my readers and my family and friends, who tell and show me the way forward.
Thank you for being in my life, for support and care.
Today, you will get a closer look into my plans for my novel. I have dedicated a little more than a year to write it, and I plan to keep a pretty tight schedule to fight my inclination to procrastination, There is also a life outside of writing a novel, and it is also wise for me to plan breaks and days off because of my physical and mental ailments.
Research and the basics
The months 1-5 October 2019-February 2020, I have dedicated to research and getting the basics done. My work agenda looks like this :
- American English grammar is a necessary tool
- Genre psychological thriller (reading and watching as much as possible)
- Characters, backstory, and theme
- All about outlining and plotting, where I will try out different outlining techniques, e.g. the three-act-structure, the snowflake method, and the hero´s journey
- ‘The story mountain/plot structure from exposition to rising action, climax, falling action and resolution
- Writing techniques (POV, stream of consciousness, and foreshadowing)
This month I´m working with character development, how to place backstory, both in dialog and in vivid descriptions, and themes for my characters and the novel.
In November my plans are further to work with the characters, this time through the setting, mood and tone, and in December I will be looking at the outlining process and the plot structure for my novel.
In January it is time for me to work intensely with the writing techniques that I need to learn more about to use it thoroughly and creatively in my novel. The whole month of February is dedicated to plotting and the first actions and voices of the characters.
It is a busy schedule, and I admit that I now work throughout the day and not only four to six hours a day. Writing has become a full time quest that I love more for every day. It heals, it feels just right.
The novel writing process
The months 6-15 March-December 2020, is planned to be my writing of this novel that I keep writing about, that can´t let me go without at least passing by with an hour or two after the morning coffee, that keeps getting stronger in voice.
I tame myself from writing specifically about my characters before that. I would rather let them come to me in their own pace than risking to take over the conversation that should be for them to speak in their distinctive voices.
This is the hard part, where there is no turning back. But I believe I can do it, if I work hard enough to attain my goal about a novel with approximately 80,000-100,000 words. Nine months of writing is circa 300-400 words a day.
How this will effect my goals with this blog, I´m yet to discover. But to write the double of what I write on a weekly basis seems to be reasonable enough. I have the time to write, I have the resources to write. And I have the drive to actually sit down and do it on a daily basis.
I want to transfer my progress in writing from the blog to the novel, to write in the same manner but with different objectives. I have achieved to write between 1,000 and 2,000 words a day by now through the use of word counting. It has trained me to write longer and better in more concentrated time periods.
How to attain a suitable daily writing practice
I need to do my daily chores as well as writing, so they will be made in my planned breaks, fifteen minutes every hour and one hour for lunch. Two hours of daily reading and watching psychological thrillers is also attainable with all the modern resources for both offline and online entertainment.
I also need to re-arrange my working areas, so that I easily can ove around between the laptop and the setting consisting of multiple story boards, hand-written notes and typed character records.
Depending on what I end up choosing of plot structure, writing techniques, and point of views, I will begin testing my knowledge and write freely as the story evolves by itself during the month of February 2020. It is the plotting month, anyway, so I might as well do some test writing before the actual writing of the first draft.
I have planned with seven months, but it may be less or more. It all depends on my belief in my knowledge of how to play music with words.
The melody may be gloomy and difficult to live with, but it changes not my opinion that humans are not always the cleverest animals of this earth. We spend so much time brooding and bitching about other people that we tend to forget that we are not perfect ourselves, when all comes to all.
That kind of music is what I hope to bring forth in my novel.
Stream of consciousness Monday October 14th 2019
Today there are deliberately no pictures for this blog post. I´m learning to show the story I want to tell, so the view into my writer´s den is entirely up to you, dear reader, to figure out.
I sit in my living room with my husband next to me, and the little wise old dog chewing on a bone. The three philosophical cats are outside in their den. On a rain free day, with blues and old school rock in my ears, it is easy to daydream my way into my novel.
But I behave, for it has to be done with great care and determination. Ideas need time to evolve and thrive, and I need to build up a believable story with believable characters, setting and final outcome.
I know it is a gigantic task that I have put myself into. And I don´t expect the journey to be easy, nor painless. There will be darlings to kill along the way. Not necessarily physically, though, unless we speak of the editing part, where there needs to be a secure and robust attitude toward bad writing.
Bad writing to me is lazy. The least you can do is to try and do it as good as possible by using your knowledge of and experience with language, written as well as spoken and shown.
My greatest challenge will be the American English grammar. But I take a baby step at a time, and I learn from every writing session. Once a week. I study the grammar in American English to be close to the language in whatever I write.
Oh, I would like to write down my characters today. I can sense them with my whole body and soul. They´re still at a distance, however, so I hold my horses for now and take notes instead. I´m working with their different inner conflicts and getting to know them better to be able to believe in them enough to write about them.
I´m also getting closer to twist and turn the story like a roller coaster on the loose. How well do we know people, when the masks are off and it is time for a reality checkup ?
My inspiration comes from life-long experiences with many different kinds of people, both high and low, no one mentioned, no one forgotten. Not to mention the books and movies/series I have read and watched throughout my life …
… the list is long and awe-inspiring.
Change of music into something high-pitched and fast going. I have a busy schedule today. After this blog post, I´ll study the different types of characters that typically show up in a psychological thriller and how to write the genders.
Next Monday I´ll try to show you ten suitable journal prompts and strategies for writer´s block. I take up the subject, because it is the black cat on the road, if you don´t take your precautions before the shit hits the fan.
I have no award-winning tips, but I try to evolve my own creative ways out of this period of time, where there can be a long way from love to writing to actually do the writing.
It has been easy to write this blog post, because I write about something I know and love. May my ideas and points of view be inspirational to other writers and readers.
Change back of music into calming and strong songs of the human way of life. It is an ever-lasting interest of mine, this human way of messing things up when life could be so much easier without all these silent wars of people against other people, often due to petty and meaningless details about appearances.
Conflict and change are inevitably connected. Without conflict, we would not learn from our mistakes.
Some people never seem to learn. But I believe we all get to learn somehow and somewhere in life. If not anything else, then let it be up to Karma to decide.
Now, it is time to leave my novel for a while, to let it simmer and find its own pace. I have to learn so much more, before I feel fit for the drafting process in the year to come. But I will return with more insight into my novel-writing adventure, when we get closer to the point of no return.
“I have this feeling, it is going to be the roller coaster ride of my life”, the muse said.
The Northern Witch' s Blog 