It’s been a while since I’ve worked on a novel. Actually gotten deep into the process of story, digging deep in the dirt of creativity with the purpose of creating something bigger than myself. I’ve penned a few short stories, several articles and brainstormed probably four or five novels from start to almost finish since I finished my last novel, but haven’t started one in quite some time (with the intent of finishing LOL).
I did today. It’s been bouncing around in my head for some time–years, really. I don’t have the whole story, which is unusual for me, but I feel this compulsive urge to start writing and have the gut feeling the missing pieces will come as I write. I did about a page today, no small feat if you’re a perfectionist like me.
What I’d forgotten about writing the novel is how no amount of planning, charting, brainstorming, etc., give you a real feel and breathe life into your characters like writing about them does. Nothing. Nothing. NOTHING! I hear some of you (thinking loudly) who know every minute detail of your characters’ lives right down to the type of button on their shirts before writing the first word, and I respect that process. But that’s never been me, and even less so now.
Here’s what I started with: her name, the fact that she’s just found out something important to her is being sold/taken away and that she’s a professor venturing out on sabbatical (maybe that last one is my own wishful thinking LOL).
One page later, here’s what I know about her: something long ago made her resolve never to cry in public, (which she will do by the end of the novel, I promise), that she drinks the same thing as me at the bar (margaritas on the rocks, but maybe not quite as many as me LOL), that her best friend (a guy) is married, practically a newlywed, and the three of them go out often, and that being unmarried bothers her more than I originally thought. I thought she was more interested in her research but she’s really preoccupied with no man in her life. Maybe that’s the result of the best friend’s recent marriage (that I didn’t know about before I started.)
Writing is so amazing like that. So many things we can’t possibly know until pen hits paper bubble up once the wheels are in motion. No wonder I love writing so much. OF course, I say that before I have finished a chapter, before I have revised, edited and torn my hair out when a plot point takes its own direction, but for now I’m happily blissful that my characters are coming to life. If only I didn’t have the day job…!
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