For as long as I can remember, I've always said I'd write a novel, but it's only in the last year that I have actually tried to do it. I don't have any problems with ideas, but technique is a bear. The question is, how do you do it? I've tried making out record cards with the characters' lives, physical appearance and ethics, but I find this an incredibly constraining device. I've tried point by point plotting before writing, but that too is a very rigid and joyless occupation. In the end, I got a yellow legal pad and a bundle of pencils and just started writing a first draught. It's illegible to anyone but me, the characters' names are changing as I go, and the plot is expanding and contracting as I write, but I am getting somewhere on paper and I can actually see a very vague and indistinct outline, and how I'm going to eventually finish after two, three or more draughts. Now, here's the problem. A relative of mine, who is actually a professional novelist, reckons I'm crazy to do it this way. The idea of writing in longhand is amazing to him, and, although I'm sure he didn't mean it this way, he hasn't done my confidence much good. So what do you scribes think? How do you write your novels? Is there a right way to do it? Or do you think that everyone coming to this has to work out their own technique?

Well, I wrote my first novel in longhand, and then later typed it up. It has been acepted for publication, though it must now be in its fifth or sixth incarnation. One of the great things about writing, is that things do change. For me personally, I like to splat the idea down, like clay on a board, and then mould from what I end up with.

I do keep notes, and records of characters etc, and I do tend to work along plot points. However, the plot line itself can be very flexible, as certain characters will want to go their own way.

Don't be put off by what anyone says about technique. Anything that helps you get your ideas down on paper is a good thing! And at the end of the day, how you do that is up to you, in the way that you find the most comfortable.

JB

How did I ever write a novel? By initially not trying to write one. I just wanted a quick story about loss and coming to terms with mortality. Some ideas, it seems, are not without lives of their own.

As you say, you’re just starting this ‘mad cap’ adventure and so you’ve still got to find your feet. I’ve been at this for a couple of years and I’m still trying to sort myself out, but one thing I can say is this, whatever it takes, don’t keep it bottled up inside.

I’m now working hard to bring life to my characters (some of which I created over two years ago) for me this requires vast amounts of notes (I now carry a jotter pad with me where ever I go) and a lot of time sifting and sorting. However, this process has already lead to wonderful discoveries about my characters, for example I never knew that some of them had met before my story (a couple even had an illegitimate child and didn’t bother to tell me in the first draft).

At the moment I utilise a messy array of paper and computer files, but I always find the amendments and revelations come easiest when I’m working with a hard copy and a red pen. The later these get transferred to the hard drive.

I suppose I’m saying that you might never stop trying to figure out how to do it, I know I’m still at it…

Grinder

Just do whatever suits you best.

I buy loads of notebooks, and I would mug someone for a nice-looking pen but I invariably write straight onto my laptop. I always carry an A5 size notebook wherever I go so that if I have a spare ten minutes I can make a few notes.

Whatever you , don’t think that because your friend is published his way is the correct way. It’s fine for him but might not suit you. The important thing is to get the story out of your head.

Good luck and welcome to WW.

Dee

Thanks for the advice. Actually, most of you don't seem to be too different from me. Just recently, I've taken to carrying around a small clipboard with a couple of dozen sheets of paper attached and writing wherever I can get five minutes. It's amazing how quickly the story mounts up, and the physical excercise seems to have a liberating effect on the flow of ideas. Of course, that brings its own problems, with new storylines popping up from nowhere demanding to be fitted into the plot. And I thought writers had an easy life!

Hi FX
I'd agree with most of what's said above; just write and let the story emerge and then wrestle with it later, which is what you seem to be doing.

I don't even write in any kind of chronological order. I get scenes coming into my head, so I write them then fit them together later. Sometimes there's no place for it, or it has to radically change, but it always has a seed idea that's useful or which shows me a direction to go in.

I have to spend some time trying to think about where the plot is going, but that's completely separate from the minute to minute detail level of what my characters are doing. Until I'm totally clear about what they're doing, then there's the tiresome task of pulling the scenes round to fit that. It's very backwards and forwards, so all I would say it don't be afraid to redraft and redraft. Every time you pull it apart and put it back together, it feels scary because I feel I'm losing what I've got, but you can always go back to the old draft.

Best of luck with it. Sharon

Hi FX, I agree with Eyeball. I get scenes popping into my head and write them down before I know where'll they'll go in my novel. Also, in my latest draft, a section in the second half of the book, that I spent ages on, now lies on the cutting room floor, to be replaced by something much chunkier and quite different. I'm planning to write the new section first, and then go back to the beginning of the book and tweak that to fit in with what follows. Then, who knows, but I might take what is currently a linear narrative and spin it around abit.

It feels like being a juggler with lots of balls in the air - scary, but exhilerating.

Good luck with your work,

Adele.

Sharon, you’re reading my mind! That’s what I do and it's exactly the fix I was in a couple of weeks ago, if you remember… I suddenly panicked, couldn’t see how the plot would knit together. But now that the logjam has broken (and thanks to your excellent help) it’s all looking much clearer.

Fx, new ideas are like toddlers – demanding attention and refusing to be ignored. What you mustn’t do is try to shoehorn an idea into your story just because you’ve written it. If it doesn’t want to fit in, leave it out. I have a folder which I call the doggy-bag for each novel where I store scenes that I haven’t fitted into the story. if I have anything left by the time I finish the novel, it all goes into a general doggy-bag to be adapted for further plots. Nothing is wasted.

Are you going to let us see any of your work? You’ll get plenty of advice on here.

Dee.

Dee, I absolutely agree on the doggy bag idea. I've belatedly realised I could be doing that and now I'm wondering how I'm going to find and extract all the bits I've ditched from my previous drafts and whether I've managed to chuck anything out completely.

Funnily enough, with The Wings it's grown in a completely different way, starting with a short story and ballooning out in the middle and my new novel is working that way to some extent too. I'm not sure if that's because it's been gestating longer or whether I'm making it too simple at this stage or whether my plotting brain is better developed.

Your methods of working do seem to change as you do more writing, and from project to project.

Sharon

Hi, Dee.

I'd love to upload some of my work, but I tried it today and having spent an hour of so typing in the first section of my novel, the site informed me my session had expired. Seems like a major difficiency to me. Am I missing something here? How do you guys upload a lengthy section of your writing?

Hi FX – or can we call you David? FX is so hard to pronounce - although it sounds good in a hissy-fit.

If you’re inactive on the site for a while you time-out. So there you are, quietly typing away, and suddenly the site doesn’t acknowledge your existence. It’s a teeny bummer you learn to live with.

What I do is create everything on a Word doc - I’m doing it now – then copy and paste onto WW. The assumption is that you have already created your work in Word or something compatible and you just copy your file.

The formatting is a bit basic. No paragraph indents, and you have to follow the instructions on the panel you should be able to see on your left to do italics or bold. You soon get used to it.

Main thing to remember is that a normal document appears dense when it’s uploaded on here so we usually space out our paragraphs. Have a look at some of the work already uploaded and see how it looks on the site. After that – just go for it… you can easily edit it later - and we’ll soon tell you if it’s unreadable.

Dee
x

Dee,

you are very kind to try to help me, but I'm afraid you're not aware that I am what is technically known as a cretin, at least when it comes to computer technology. How exactly do you "copy and paste" a word doc onto WW? I know, I know, pathetic, isn't it, but I did warn you, I'm still writing with a pencil - that should have told you something!

Sorry to but in FX, I was browsing and saw your post so thought I'd try to help...there are a few ways to copy & paste- first it's easier if you have Microsoft Word (or whatever software you use) open, and the WW site open (at the WW page where you usualy type in your work)both at the same time-

Now, If you want to copy and paste ALL of the text in your Word doc - Open your work in 'Word' and simply go to the "edit" option (on the tool bar at the top)and click the left mouse button once, the drop down menu will apear - choose "select all", you will see all the text is now highlighted, next click the Right mouse button once (anywhere on the page) and another menu appears, select "copy" from the list of options. Next, go to the WW page (where you usually type in your work) and (with your mouse pointer inside the window you type in) click the Right mouse button again, from the list of options choose "paste". That should be all done now...your work should be in the WW window, ready to submit (if not I'm sorry

If you just want to copy PART of the text from Word, rather than all of it, click and hold your Left mouse button at the start of the text you want to copy in Word (remember to keep the button held down for the moment), then drag across and down (left to right downwards) over all the text you want (you will see it highlight as you go)... when you've selected all you want (highlighted), then you can release the button. Next, click the Right mouse button, selct copy, and follow the instructions to Paste (as above).

Phew, now I'm confused. I hope that helps...if not, I'm really sorry. I hope I didn't over-explain this BTW, I have no idea how much you know about using Word etc...so I thought it best to go through every step.

Derek.

Hi FX, tell us what you can do on the computer (don't be shy ) and we can guide you from there. If you've never used a word processor you might need more than Derek has said.
Sharon