I’ve written two novels.
The first, Life Under Water, I wrote after the death of my sister (I am writing about death an awful lot in these Oort Cloud posts lately, but I am trusting the writing brain that is for a good reason). It has some moments. It’s overly slow, and a little ponderous, but told with strong feeling.
I should probably be less honest in a newsletter promoting my own writing, but again, I’m trusting my writing brain here. Following the breadcrumbs it leaves for me.
My second novel, Multitudes, is pretty bad (it’s unpublished). It has some good ideas in there, but it was very ambitious (it was sci-fi, told from seven different characters’ points of view, for one) and I made some mistakes. I never took it beyond a second draft.
With both these novels, I spent several months taking notes for the book before I started. I loosely outlined the plots, and spent a lot of time thinking about theme. They seemed like “important” books to me, that codified and condensed my own view of the world into 200 or so pages.
I had been making notes for a third novel this year (an aside: I make my notes on large sheets of sketch pad art paper), while I wrote short stories to stretch my writing muscles. But I was in the middle of a short story I really liked, and it kept getting longer and longer. It really wanted to become a novel. So, I abandoned my old notes, and am now gearing up for my third novel. This isn’t an “important” story to me, in the sense of distilling my world view down into a single book. It’s simply a good story that needs more room to tell, so I’m giving it that room. I’m still taking notes, still outlining the plot (the weakest part of my writing game), still toying with theme and meaning. But this time, it’s less about me, and more about the story.
I’m telling a story.
Peace.
Time for commerce:
My website: jeffmwood.com.
My Amazon page.
My latest story: Veronica Scissors
Serious Moonlight (as J G Cain)