Novel Novel Writing

Those writers who are wiser and more experienced than I, have always told me of the hardships and difficulties involved in writing novels. Never being one that wishes to reinvents existing technology, I accepted their sage advice. I slogged my way through a couple of novels, where I sat before the computer and was creative. Over time the method produced results.

For years I have awakened in the middle of the night and I have spent endless hours worrying about inconsequential things. During one such sleepless period, I decided not to play that game any longer. I would devise a more pleasant way to spend my wakeful hours. I concocted the proposition that I went out to the back stoop to drink my morning coffee and discovered an alien spaceship sitting in my backyard. From then on, each time I awakened, I'd dredge up my storyline to occupy my overactive mind. Each night, I'd add to it. If things didn't fit quite right or a conflict developed, I'd go back to revisit the offending part to make adjustments. Night by night the story moved along.

Instead of resenting my wakeful moments, they became pleasureful interludes. When I was ready to go back to sleep, I did so. These episodes proved to be different than dreams. I have never been very successful in remembering dreams and if I do, they are rather confused, disjointed things. Since my spaceship deliberations took place in a wakeful state, I could remember them clearly the next day. When I awaken the each night, my mental cursor returns me to the place of the last consideration.

The exercise provided me with months of nocturnal pleasures. Ultimately, I arrived at a stage where the story seemed to be complete. The tale had been told. When I started the exercise, I had no further purpose in mind than to replace troublesome worries with more pleasant thoughts.

As I reviewed the results of those mental gymnastics, I realized that, with a few changes, I had a complete novel residing between my ears. All that was left to do was to squeeze it out of my mind, down my arms , through my finger tips and into a computer. Once the story was in the computer, I designed the cover and shipped Finders-Keepers off for publication.

After I finished Finders-Keepers, I need a new nocturnal diversion so I started Losers-Weepers, the sequel. Now, I have no need to devise specific projects for the dark hours. I pull up my current writing project and add to it so that the next day, it is no longer a problem of devising the next action, but putting a familiar story on the page. I have to add the “he saids” and “she saids,” but the next episode is all ready in mind.