One of the reasons I’ve been a bit quiet of late – well, of the last nine months or so – is that I’ve been directing a lot of my energies into a creative pursuit as well as my day job: I’ve been writing a novel.
A couple of weeks ago I finished the first draft; clocking in at around 89,000 words it’s the longest single piece of writing I’ve ever created. I decided not to blog the process of writing it for fear of breaking the flow, but now begins the editing, which feels at the moment like it’s going to be a far less linear process, so I’m going to start putting some notes up here about what I’m doing and why. Hopefully some of what I write will be of interest; I’m going to write about what worked for me, and if you’re writing a novel it won’t necessarily work for you. I’d strongly recommend going on a creative writing course of some sort if you’ve not done much creative writing before. If you’d rather not (and it’s certainly not vital) I’ll do a post with a list of some books you might want to think about reading at some point in the future too.
My thoughts on writing the novel will come in two flavours: a non-chronological, rather rambling list of things I remember from the process of writing it and, hopefully, some more coherent thoughts on the re-drafting process. They’ll all be categorised as “creative writing”, and when I’ve done my planned re-build of this blog you’ll be able to access them all in one place. So – on with the first post. Today: routine.
All about my writing routine
The designer where I work regularly tells me that routine aids creativity, and I’m starting to believe him. Just as it’s important as a freelancer to get up at regular times and put in place a separation between home and work life, I found it important to get away from the distractions of home, to set aside periods of time to write, and to do this regularly. I found that the first month or two was quite easy; after this the realisation that progress can be slow is very disheartening, and without a routine in place it’s easy to be distracted. By putting aside certain times of certain days to write, and by setting targets, it’s easier to manage these distractions.
I started by setting Sunday afternoons aside; I found, however, that this didn’t quite work. On Sundays I have commitments in the evening, and invariably just as I was getting into the flow I’d need to stop writing. I could also end up hungover on a Sunday and start writing very late, and with a bad head. By changing my writing day to Saturday, I could write well into the evening without worry – and as long as I managed to do my cleaning, Sunday was often free to get a few more words down. What did I learn? If you believe in the project, make sacrifices. I gave up my Saturdays, most of my Sundays, most of my time off, in fact; I’m sure friendships have been damaged. But I had to write this novel for the sake of my mental health. I’d never forgive myself if I hadn’t. You don’t just pop out a novel in a month. I was naive when I started in thinking it would take 6 months; 9 months later I know I’m only about half way there with the writing, and then there’s the struggle to get published to come after that, and there’s still no guarantee of success. Worth it? Yes, I think so. But ask again in 9 months.
Break things
One of the best things to happen to me during the drafting was my car breaking down. It meant the only way I had to get around was the bus, and given how irregular they are around here (in timing, not in shape or anything: they all do look like buses, at least) I often ended up with an hour or two to spare. I had thought that this wouldn’t be long enough; I’d been of the opinion that 1,000 words in one go was the lower limit of a useful creative period. But that’s not how I work. It turned out that if I was in the mood to write, an hour would be plenty to keep things moving, so I took advantage of that and ended up writing – at my peak – for at least an hour four days a week. The main learning? Whatever works for you – you just have to try it. Some people will get up an hour or two early and bash out 1,000; I’m a night person, so I’d rather go to bed a couple of hours later and work then.
Next time…
Next time I’ll tell you about a few of the books which have helped in the writing so far – and a few books which are essential reading for any writer, whether a novellist or copywriter.