How to Finish Your Novel - from two of my friends, who have!

Have you, like me, always wanted to write a novel?  Maybe you started and didn’t finish?  You got bored of the characters?  You lost the plot?  You thought of a better idea and just pinged off and did that and nothing ever quite gets finished?  You REALLY want to write, but you’re terrified of the blank page or the blinking white screen?  You think – who the hell do I think I am?  Stephen King?  Haruki Murakami?  J.K.??  Your inner critic starts getting psychotically unkind?

I’ve never yet finished one.  And the last few years (possibly due to tiredness) I am also clean out of ideas even.  Or good characters.  But I have friends who aren’t.  I realised the other day that I know two  friends, who between them have completed four  novels – two each.  One of them used National Novel Writing Month (click the link, it’s a great idea for a mutual support system to get your novel done and runs every November, for free, with a further month later in the year for revising/editing your draft: primarily, it’s a great way to MAKE TIME to write a first draft).  One of them typed away all on her lonesome, occasionally encouraged by a writers group locally.  They both wrote different genres and they both did it different ways.

I think they are the key to our future novel writing success.  Maybe you, like me, have a false divide in your mind, between yourself – aspiring writer (you either think about it, or you do do some, you just don’t finish projects)…and that Mythical Creature: a published writer with books in shops, on the internet, getting paid for their work so that they could put it on their CV, say.  I thought about it and thought – this is crap, it’s a false dichotomy.  Every JK or Stephen was once us, right?  So the people we need to talk to are not the successes, only – we need to hear from the amateur writers like ourselves, who have licked the one thing we have trouble with: Sticking To It, and Finishing Our Novels.

So.  I interviewed them.  I give you – my good friends Gitarist Und Dichter (hereafter G&D), a man; and TimeTraveller, a woman.  These are their thoughts on how to get it started, get it written, get it finished!

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1. What made you want to write a novel - instead of short stories or poems or screenplays etc?

G&D - Madness? I have written short stories and stage plays in the past. I do like writing short stories but I think that writing a novel is a step on. It gives you more time to really explore the characters and the situations. It also allows you to take on a larger theme and try to build in a larger scope.

TimeTraveller - I've wanted to write novels for as long as I can remember.  I enjoy reading them, and I enjoy writing them.  They have plenty of space, room to meander, and you get to see more of the characters' inner lives.   

 

I also write mini-plays - short sketches of funny, interesting, or poignant real-life interactions.  And short stories, to kick-start my imagination, test out ideas, get a feel of whether a story has got legs.  If not, it might still be worth exploring, worth considering as a part of another story, somewhere.  Every now and again I do a bit of research on a subject that interests me, or I want to include in a story, and write an essay on it.  I rarely write poems - I'm not very good at them.  As for screenplays, I don't know enough about them to write a decent one - but it's a thought.  

2.  Whats your ideal theme, or genre or set of subject ideas you like to have present in something you write?

G&D - I have been influenced recently by Japanese writers like Osamu Tezuka (The God of Manga) and Haruki Murakami. Both of whom have a cast of performers who take the roles in their work. Tezuka based his on the old Hollywood star system. It means that even if the character is very different the actor is the same. I have a couple of 'actors' who turn up, although sometimes it is just the look or, as in the last two, a religion.

As for themes I am drawn to what happens after an event. When the dust clears how do people move on. That has been a continuing theme, although pushed to the secondary story.
As for genre's I tend to just go with what fits. I don't like to be pigeon holed.

TimeTraveller - The themes vary, but the common thread is: what would the world be like if this happened?  What would the ramifications be?  Recently, that's been leading me down dystopian paths, which is a new arena.  I'm also keen on exploring the concepts of time, hidden dimensions, parallel universes, and belief systems.    

3.  How did you get going on your first novel - please explain the importance of NaNoWriMo to you in particular, G&D?  What did you do when faced with the blank page?  Did you go off and make many plans, or wing it, or both, or...?

G&D - I think that NaNo gives me a kick in the rear that I need. I'm very good at finding things to distract me, however I work well under a deadline even if it is a self-imposed deadline. I've not really had the whole blank page thing, as I tend to have scraps of ideas and so when it is time to start I have something in my head. That said I don't always start with a beginning. Because of having to write x amount of words a day (I try to hit 2000) I know I can't spend all that long trying to find the perfect first line. So I just sort of go with something that gets to the meat of the story quickly. I can spend a few days playing with the start later on.

I like to have a rough idea but then allow the story to flow where it wants to go. Sometimes things work out that need to be explored even if they take you away from the plot.

TimeTraveller - To get going, I write short stories, and keep writing them until one or two show a bit of promise.  Then I make lots of notes, straight off, about where the story can go, and all that.  Then I think about it for a few days, probably quite obsessionally.  I start writing at the place I'm thinking about the most.    

First get it written, then get it right.  Opinions seem to vary on who said that, and exactly how they worded it, but it's great thought to hold on to.  It's one that keeps on giving.

Blank-page staring can be useful, so long as it doesn't go on for too long.  It gives you time to get in the right mood, get your thoughts together.  To get the very first sentence of the novel down, I just wing it.  Once you've got something, you can always improve it, but you've got to just start somewhere.  When the story is up and running, I ease into writing by reading yesterday's work, and tinker with it, take it from there.  If that doesn't work, I give up on the book for the day, and write something else.          

4.  What did you do on days where you really didn't feel like writing, despite having had impetus before?

G&D - I tend to find that once I start I am okay, I can make the right connections in my brain when I open the book, or file. Although getting to that point can be the problem.

TimeTraveller - I sit down in front of the computer with the novel open, even if I don't feel like it.  It's a rare, bad day when I don't even do that.  Writing nearly always makes me feel good, which is a strong motive, right there.  If I really can't get going on the novel, it's usually because I've got something else on my mind.  I have no problems writing about that, instead.  It still counts.  

5. What would you say to people who have got stuck midway (or earlier or later) in a novel and become discouraged?  To go and do another, or persist?  If so, how?

G&D - I'd say persist. Maybe kill off a couple of characters or have some sort of life changing event for one good or bad. Or start thinking of an ending. There is nothing wrong with a novella. Although I think things should be finished one way or another rather than just left.

TimeTraveller - When I get stuck, I use Chandler's Law, and have someone walk in the room with a gun.  It doesn't have to actually be a man with a gun (do I even need to say that?), but it does have to be something deep or dramatic, something that grabs your interest.  If you can't think of anywhere interesting to take it, go back and see where it went wrong, and start again from there.  If that doesn't work, I'd seriously think about putting it to one side, and starting something else - you can always go back to it in the future, and take another stab at it.   

6. What's your solution to writer's block, and when do you typically find it pops up?

G&D - Learning to play a new piece of music. I have to concentrate on counting, where to put my fingers and so on. It really takes your mind off the block and seems to help. Other than that when walking.

It tends to pop up when I am annoyed.

TimeTraveller - I had writer's block for a decade, and since then I've heard some good tips for keeping it at bay.  Writing every day is the thing that helps the most, for me.  Set a target of at least ten minutes.  It doesn't matter what you write - it still counts.  If nothing comes at all, at least you have seriously thought about it.  You might not end up with anything on paper, but you are a step closer.  

Sometimes I set a timer for ten minutes, and write everything I can think of about one object.  A biscuit tin, for example, might remind me of my grandmother, or might make me think about sweet foods.  Ten minutes, describing all the senses, emotions, and memories associated with whatever object you choose.  You have to stop when the timer goes off.  I find that very good for opening up the imagination, and pushing through the block.  It's not my own idea, but a rough version of an exercise in Pat Pattison's book, Writing Better Lyrics.  

For me, writer's block is a particular threat when my confidence is low, when I get that creeping fear that I'm just kidding myself, that I'm a rubbish writer.  But I hold on to the thought that writing is writing, and still good practice, even if it is rubbish.  They say that the more you write, the better it gets.   

7. How important is writing regularly, and in what form (morning pages, a journal of ideas, several novels on the go at once etc) to feeling you are a writer, and helping you get the work done?

G&D - I like to write bits when I have ideas. But I can be a bit disorganized. I write my diary each evening and that is important.

TimeTraveller - Writing regularly is essential, for me.  I also carry a notebook and pen around in my bag, so that I can jot ideas down when they come, wherever.  I use it for story outlines, snippets, observations, character development... everything, really.  

I don't like more than one novel on the go at once, but it is wonderful to have another one lined up (in outline).  It provides a really good motivation to get on with the current one. 

8.  What is the secret to finishing a novel, for you?

G&D - Having a clear idea of an ending. So that have something to aim for. If you don't know what the end point is that it is likely that you will just carry on for ever. My first novel was about Loss and Love. It wasn't very good and more of a learning experience. 

TimeTraveller - I keep telling myself that there are several stages to writing a novel, and the manuscript is just one.  You can improve it tomorrow, or at the first edit.  You can even change it completely, but you've got to start with something.  

If it's a good story I'm already motivated to finish it, to keep it moving.  Planning ahead in detail doesn't do it for me, which means that if I don't finish, I won't ever find out how it ends. 

I did find that actually finishing, knowing when the last word really was the last word, was trickier than I expected.  You grow attached to the characters, and you can always think of one last thing.  And another.  The best advice I've heard is to put it away, take a (long) break, and then read again with fresh eyes.  That's the time to sharpen it up. 

9. Will you be writing another, and if so, when and what is it about?

G&D - Yes, something about people in a transit bar in Hong Kong airport at 3am.

TimeTraveller - Yes, I hope so!  I've got an idea for a dystopian novel about artificial intelligence, which I'm very keen to get started on. 

10.  Do you think I left out any really important questions - if so - let's have them, and your idea of answers! :-)

G&D - Nope can't think of anything else. Just a quote, Picasso once said "I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it." And that is as good a reason as any for creating a novel.

I tend to write all in one go and then edit and redraft after. I think that works best for me. At times I have go back and edit as I go along when I decide to change something later on. But for the most part I don't. 

TimeTraveller - I can't think of any questions, but I have a few more thoughts, for what they're worth:

I'd recommend joining a writing group if you can.  Or start one, if you're that way inclined.  It's definitely a boost to meet other writers, and it gives you an idea of how your work stacks up.  When I first went along I was just emerging from a decade-long dry patch, and it was the only time I wrote anything.  I figured I might as well write as just sit there, watching everyone else.  It got me started again.  

People have different writing routines: I write in the quiet-ish bits of the day, usually at the kitchen table.  And on the sofa, in front of the television.  I zone everything out.  

I try not to work to a word-count, I just try to get the words down in the right order.  Sometimes, I manage a whopping two thousand words, and it's great day when that happens.  Recently, I have been going back to it later, and having another crack at it.  That has proved to be a winner. 

Oh, and did I mention, write every day :-D.
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Go forth and write!