How to write a novel

[andrewducker]

I am led to believe that this process also applies to PhDs

Via neil-gaiman, who got it from Nic Alderton, who also explains How to write a Great Novel

Comments

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

overwhelmingly guilty of pitfalls 3 and 4

the story is still as fresh in my head as it was 5 years ago. If not considerably bigger and fresher.

[yalovetz]

I fall at the first hurdle every time!

[helen-keeble.livejournal.com]

That is frighteningly accurate!

[zornhau.livejournal.com]

5. Trying to write the story the way an inkjet printer creates a picture, perfect line by line the first time.

[del-c.livejournal.com]

What recently-published novels are only eighty thousand words?

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Very true (and yes, it does indeed apply to PhDs, too).

[marrog.livejournal.com]

Erin and I do 3 over and over and over again. We get about 75k in and just go "Oh, we know how it ends now" and don't bother to actually write it. Hence our... I would say about eight nearly-complete novels? There are way more projects than that but most are only about halfway in.

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

Hello, number 4. We still on for tonight? Good stuff :)

[thaxor.livejournal.com]

5. If you can read this, see 4. above.

[andrewhickey.livejournal.com]

5 - Writing the story down in about 3,000 words instead.

(Seriously, every single time I get a great plot idea, it turns into a short story. Even the longest piece of fiction I ever wrote, which was about 12,000 words long, felt unnecessarily padded.)