I love books. I’ve got piles on the floor because I’ve run out of shelves. I have a ‘to read’ pile by my bed which is toppling over. I am in and out of the library so often that the librarians all know me by name. But I’m going to post about my attempts to write a book. (I have written a non-fiction book, under a pen-name, but that was more of an extended copywriting job than a literary endeavour).
I started writing a novel last June. Not with any view to publication – just because the characters leapt into my head and lived there, fully formed. I found myself writing and before I knew it, I had five thousand words… seven thousand… nine thousand… I felt I knew the characters intimately. I knew what scent some of them wore. I knew what wine they drank. I knew about their parents, their politics and where they went to university. I knew that one of them had a cat called Jasper that her landlord didn’t know about. None of this made it into the story – it was just stuff I knew about these people who seemed as real to me as my own friends. Then, when I had about twelve thousand words, it stopped. I thought it was just a hiatus, but there’s been nothing. I haven’t written a word of my novel for more than eight months.
I don’t really know what to do. There seems no point in forcing it, but on the other hand, the idea of abandoning these people feels wrong and makes me sad. I want to finish the story but have no idea how to do it. I wonder how many characters lurk in notebooks and computer hard drives, waiting for their stories to be finished? And I wonder if mine will ever be rescued.
Here are the other Weekworders:
Sally
Katy
Christine
Carmen
John
Cyndi
Carola
Martina
and
Adrienne
Carmen is our next host. I look forward to her word!
Sally, I am sorry I didn’t play this week, it has been so hectic, I’ll be there next week! Do you know who is picking next week?
although i’m not an author, i believe the words will appear when you least expect them! perhaps your characters are vacationing? will be seen in a dream? will resume their lives & loves in the next few months? i have no doubt the novel will be resumed.
Sally, when I was younger I used to write a lot – not books but short (I mean really short) stories – I called them “sketches”. Sometimes it would flow out of me, and sometimes I would get seriously stuck. I put it to the side and came back to it later – often months, sometimes years. And sometimes, I suddenly knew how to go on or finish a story and it was almost effortless.
I wish you that this will happen to you.
I know forcing may not be a good idea, but I can’t help but want to squish those stories out of you-I know it’s there!! I had a dream that was a fully formed story that i typed out as fast as i could and stuck it on my desktop-i want to go back to it and find a way to bring it to life. I hope you really do find the inspiration to get up and go and if you want any added ummpff I can put you in touch with a great friend of mine who has won NaNoWriMo several times and is a great motivator. I’d love to host next week if no one minds-i’ve been absent and hated that fact for a bit now. All the best!
I have a slightly different problem, if I stop writing whatever it is I am working on, then I find it extremely difficult to get the energy back and re-establish the flow. I suspect it is different for you though Sally, the story you´ve written so far was formed in your mind, the work done by your subconcious, until you reached that point where you stopped. Perhaps the inner you is waiting for you to learn or remember something which is crucial to the story, if that is so then it will pop into your mind again when you are ready? Have you thought about how the story was going to end and then work your way back from there? Keep us all posted please……………
sorry everyone… i was just now able to post my WEEKWORD response for BOOK… no access to the internet. If I hadn’t been so busy, with my mom’s 80th birthday, I would have really missed the internet & blogging.
The new weekword is gypsy. Come on over and please join us!
I have always thought how wonderful it would be to be able to sit down and write a book. But after knowing several people who have actually written one I know that it is really a great deal of very hard work. Perhaps your book is just waiting for you and at some time in the future you will have the time to complete it. Meanwhile, enjoy your garden!