Want to Get Closer to Your Novel? Take a Step Away

WRITING A NOVEL:  START TO FINISH, ENTRY TWELVE

Want to Get Closer to Your Novel?  Take a Step Away

I didn’t do much writing this week.  Writing, that is, on paper.  I was getting too hung up on a word goal which is something I’ve said I wouldn’t do.  I was experiencing a bit of a mental logjam.  I had all these cool ideas, great scenes, and plot devices planned but couldn’t seem to connect the dots.  So, instead, I just thought about TUG.   A lot.  By thinking about the next scene’s setting—not necessarily the scene itself—I was able to formulate how the entire a scene will unfold.

Something I realized I was doing right off in this book that needed correcting was the settings.  You see, I had all these ideas for scenes which were mostly dialogue driven.  Action propels a novel, not ideas.  Yes, I have a goal of keeping the narration down to a minimum, letting things be shown through dialogue. I was overcompensating though.  To keep with my goal, I need to entertain the reader, as well as using this neat dialogue and these interchanges between characters to show what is going on.  One way I can entertain the reader is to keep the scene settings unique.  True, every novel has a main set, a main few sets.  However, now that my main story has been thrust into motion, it’s time to expand the boundaries these characters are at risk of being confined in. 

So the next scene is set at an empty football field.  Two major characters are introduced there.  I can’t wait to write it.

I also got in touch with my main character.  As Thaddeus is essentially me, boy he is mentoring is my son.  I guess I didn’t realize it to the degree that this is true.  But thinking of this next scene, a mentor spending some crucial time, experiencing a potential life altering moment THRU conversation, really struck me.  I want to take my son to the football field with me (as soon as it stops raining one of these days) and sit there.  Sit there exactly as I have pictured.  Realize that this, albeit is research in a way, is also a moment in his and my life that is so little on the surface, but so much more.  Someday. 

So I’ll write this scene this week.  It’ll be good.  Distance has gotten me closer to all these words.