Heheh - nice to hear about other people's experiences - no, Scoop, I've finished the first and second draft of my novel and am currently waiting for agents to come back and tell me that they are not 'enthusiastic' enough to take on the project :-) I think people work differently but the Ondaatje interview surprised me, because I thought that he would plan his novels. I don't agree with you entirely Scoop - I think if I had a plan for my current novel, I'd have finished it earlier - it's important to have at least have a blueprint of the plot, otherwise you can spend years wandering around aimlessly. The next novel I'm working on has a more clearly defined plot, but it's not proving easier to write! I'm consciously trying to think more about the characters before putting pen to paper. I guess this is something that is a matter of personal taste and choosing which method suits you best.



Traveller, you're right. I misunderstood. I thought you were thinking through a new idea, in which case interweaving plot etc is much easier to attempt in the writing. It's a bit like planning a journey, it's not until you hit the road that you'll discover jams, detours, broken lights etc... Indeed, that's pretty much what Ondaatje says, isn't it? He has a few random ideas but they don't reveal themselves in any narrative order until he starts writing. But... I hadn't realised this was a problem with the second draft of a novel. I'm sure the agents will be back with more sensible suggestions than mine:-) I shall keep my gob shut on your latest musings as you're quite right, method is a matter of personal taste, and just getting on with it in the expectation problems will resolve themselves on the page may not work for everyone. Yikes!! Shyama

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OOOps: sorry. I copied your response to save reeling through the page to remember what your points were, and then forgot to delete it.