Derek, Sharon, Dee,

Thank you for your help. I've prayed to the god of computers and he's sent me a vision of cutting and pasting. My effort may now be found at http://www.writewords.org.uk/archive/6523.asp

While I have in the past had a few small factual articles published, this is the first creative effort I've ever put up for adjudication. I'd really love to know what you think, and don't worry about hurting my feelings - I'm a real hard-ass. Show me no mercy! In this first draught, two of my three main characters meet for the first time. I'd be interested to know a)do you think I've put in enough detail? b) can you see the characters? c) can you see the setting? d) any other comments.

Regards, Dave

FX,
Welcome to the mad world of writing. I, like you, started writing my first novel with all sorts of plans and ideas. It took me four years and still needs a lot of work. I have abandoned it now and look on it as my 'apprentice piece'. I learned so much from it, not least of all that I could write that amount of words!
I have just read a book 'Write Away' by Elizabeth George. She describes how she goes about writing her novels and I like her methods, they may be a bit restrictive for some but they suit my organised mind. I am just starting my second novel and will use some of her techniques.
I will go and cast my eye over your posting now.

Gina.

I remember reading John Braine's "How to Write a Novel", and, feeling he knew best because he was John Braine, followed his command to write straight through to the end, no revisions. It was a disaster. I learned not to slavishly follow anyone's advice.

I'm just finishing another novel, and what worked for me was to start at the beginning with a rough idea of where I was going; at the end of each chapter I would make a very detailed note of what every major character did, any significant thoughts they had, anything we'd learned about them; and fill in plot progression onto another table. That way, I was confident of the ground behind me, and thus more comfortable about striking out into the blank future. (I'm also hoping it'll make writing a synopsis a doddle.) I would also have blank postcards onto which I would spell out where I wanted to be headed in the next few chapters. Allowed me to be flexible, as, as things changed, I could just rip them up and rewrite, but again it gave me a bit of structure.

Best of luck finding your own way, and with the novel.

Take care
Andrea

Incidentally, I wrote it in roughly thirds. Wrote the first third, then went back to edit, rewrite, edit until I was fairly happy that it all made sense, characters consistent etc and I was happy I'd accomplished roughly what I'd wanted to. Then I'd write the next third, do the same; then the final third, do the same. Again, something about being confident of what was behind me made me more confident to experiment with what lay ahead of me.

It also meant that I had alot of work behind me, but still had the real thrill of writing, rather than revising, to look forward to alot of the time.

Have just got the final third to where I'm fairly happy with it, now I'm going to go back to the very beginning and do a continuous revision all the way through.

Gina, thanks for the advice regarding Elizibeth George's book. I've seen it on the shelves, but was hesitant to buy because she's a mystery novelist, and I thought her methods might be a bit restrictive. However, she might be worth another look.

Andrea, that sounds like a terrific method of working. I've noticed that as I get further into a draught of the novel, I'm getting further and further away from the original concept, with the result that the whole thing is becoming a bit of a patchwork quilt. However, your method seems like a brilliant way to keep control without sacrificing too much creativity. I'm going to give it a try.

Dave