Lessons on Writing
I wrote a novella this spring about a couple of college students who were high school sweethearts, reuniting after three years apart. It's different than anything I'd written before, and more sexually explicit than anything I'd written before. I usually write about more substantial topics like mental illness and abuse, but this was just about a second chance in love.
When it was finished, I had a couple of beta readers go over it and did some editing, then posted it on Scribophile. It got ripped apart. There were plot issues and I had unnecessary details but had glossed over important details. The sex scenes didn't feel relevant to the plot, and my big sex scene of The First Time for the protagonist was ho-hum. There were times people completely lost interest because the chapter had plain old become boring. My love interest was coming across as an asshole when I meant him to be flawed but a good guy, which makes my protagonist look stupid for wanting to be with him.
I realized that I glossed over a lot of things because I wanted this to be short. I didn't think it had enough of a plot behind it to become a full novel, so I made sure it was short. In doing so, I left out a lot of potentially good details and plot elements. My characters weren't developed enough, again because I was keeping it short.
A serious rewrite is in order for this novella.
When I write, I fly by the seat of my pants. I let the book tell me where it's going. No plotting, planning, or outlining. I just run with it and see what happens. Often I have no idea what's going to happen next until it's flowing through the keyboard. Sometimes it's like I'm reading the novel, not writing it. Plot twists can surprise me even though I'm the writer.
In this rewrite, I need to listen to the book more. Let it tell me where it's going and how long it will be. I have some ideas and have gotten started on my rewrite. There are more characters and minor characters are being developed more. It's going well so far, and I think will end up being longer than the first version. Who knows, maybe it'll end up being a full novel after all.
Writing is hard work, a lot more than I expected when I started writing nearly three years ago. The inital draft of a novel is the easy part. The editing, rewriting, more editing, and more rewriting is where it gets hard.
But there's so much joy in creation that the hard work is worth it.
When it was finished, I had a couple of beta readers go over it and did some editing, then posted it on Scribophile. It got ripped apart. There were plot issues and I had unnecessary details but had glossed over important details. The sex scenes didn't feel relevant to the plot, and my big sex scene of The First Time for the protagonist was ho-hum. There were times people completely lost interest because the chapter had plain old become boring. My love interest was coming across as an asshole when I meant him to be flawed but a good guy, which makes my protagonist look stupid for wanting to be with him.
I realized that I glossed over a lot of things because I wanted this to be short. I didn't think it had enough of a plot behind it to become a full novel, so I made sure it was short. In doing so, I left out a lot of potentially good details and plot elements. My characters weren't developed enough, again because I was keeping it short.
A serious rewrite is in order for this novella.
When I write, I fly by the seat of my pants. I let the book tell me where it's going. No plotting, planning, or outlining. I just run with it and see what happens. Often I have no idea what's going to happen next until it's flowing through the keyboard. Sometimes it's like I'm reading the novel, not writing it. Plot twists can surprise me even though I'm the writer.
In this rewrite, I need to listen to the book more. Let it tell me where it's going and how long it will be. I have some ideas and have gotten started on my rewrite. There are more characters and minor characters are being developed more. It's going well so far, and I think will end up being longer than the first version. Who knows, maybe it'll end up being a full novel after all.
Writing is hard work, a lot more than I expected when I started writing nearly three years ago. The inital draft of a novel is the easy part. The editing, rewriting, more editing, and more rewriting is where it gets hard.
But there's so much joy in creation that the hard work is worth it.
Photo Credit:Nokhoog Buchachon via FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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