I've been making great progress on the novel in the last couple of weeks. This week I went over the 70,000 word milestone that I had originally set myself as my end goal. Anything over that is novel length, or so I have read. So I feel as if I am really going to finish this book now, even though it is going to be quite a bit longer than 70,000 words (which is about 200 paperback pages).
Writing is a solitary pursuit and it is easy to lose self-belief. I find the best way is to set myself goals that I can hit in a short period of time. So I try to write at least 3,000 words a week, or at least 500 words in a sitting. That kind of thing. I do sometimes feel like I am more interested in how many words I've written than what I am writing, but that is not the case. It is the case though, that a novel is not written in a day. It is made up of many small sections of writing done at different times, just as a dry stone wall is made up of many different stones. It is the writer's job to fashion each of these stones and then fit them all together so that the wall stands on its own.
I got a new laptop for Christmas and now take it everywhere, writing whenever I have a few minutes spare between all the other things I have to do as a father, husband, singer in a band and employee of a private company. All of these eat into my time, but it is amazing how much you can get done in the downtime with a bit of discipline and perseverance. I get some strange looks from other parents while waiting to pick up my kids from clubs. The mums and dads chat and watch their children, I sit in silence, computer on my lap and try to concentrate. I probably seem rude, or a bit of a recluse (definitely not my character at all), but I feel anxious if I do not make progress on my book when I have a whole hour to myself. It feels as if I am somehow cheating if I do not write.
After a few minutes I manage to transport myself once more into the world of my book. A world that is little-known to most people today, including me. The world of Britain some 1,400 years ago. The period known as the Dark Ages is, to most people, dark in terms of the amount they know about it. I fell into that category when I started writing my story. I knew next to nothing about the seventh century, but had a vague idea for a story based around documentaries I'd seen, or novels I'd read, with very little in the way of concrete historical fact.
As I've progressed, I've accumulated more knowledge. I've bought books and read information on different websites and blogs, but I am still no historian. Almost every time I sit down to write I come across another question. What trees grew and how many were there in Northumbria? Did common people know of the Romans who had left the island nearly two hundred years before? How common was the use of money? How exactly were slaves treated? The list goes on and on.
Some of the questions have answers that can be found, others are more difficult and depend on what you read. One thing is certain though, there will be people who will read my final book and find anachronisms in it. I will never be a historical expert, and there will be people who are real historians who know of things that I am not aware of and they will quickly see beyond my thin veneer of knowledge. I hope that they will be able to get past that and enjoy the book on its merits as a story based in an often-forgotten time.
However, from time to time I do think that it would have been an easier option to have created the story in a fantasy world. A pseudo Dark Ages Britain where nobody would be able to tell me I'd got it wrong. I could even have dragons and trolls marauding through the land, and not just in the tales told in the mead hall. But I am past that point now. I settled on the genre and now the book has taken on a life of its own. All I have to do is keep picking up the stones and working out how to place them in the wall. Some of the stones may not be historically accurate, but I hope they all fit together to tell a good story.
Writing is a solitary pursuit and it is easy to lose self-belief. I find the best way is to set myself goals that I can hit in a short period of time. So I try to write at least 3,000 words a week, or at least 500 words in a sitting. That kind of thing. I do sometimes feel like I am more interested in how many words I've written than what I am writing, but that is not the case. It is the case though, that a novel is not written in a day. It is made up of many small sections of writing done at different times, just as a dry stone wall is made up of many different stones. It is the writer's job to fashion each of these stones and then fit them all together so that the wall stands on its own.
I got a new laptop for Christmas and now take it everywhere, writing whenever I have a few minutes spare between all the other things I have to do as a father, husband, singer in a band and employee of a private company. All of these eat into my time, but it is amazing how much you can get done in the downtime with a bit of discipline and perseverance. I get some strange looks from other parents while waiting to pick up my kids from clubs. The mums and dads chat and watch their children, I sit in silence, computer on my lap and try to concentrate. I probably seem rude, or a bit of a recluse (definitely not my character at all), but I feel anxious if I do not make progress on my book when I have a whole hour to myself. It feels as if I am somehow cheating if I do not write.
After a few minutes I manage to transport myself once more into the world of my book. A world that is little-known to most people today, including me. The world of Britain some 1,400 years ago. The period known as the Dark Ages is, to most people, dark in terms of the amount they know about it. I fell into that category when I started writing my story. I knew next to nothing about the seventh century, but had a vague idea for a story based around documentaries I'd seen, or novels I'd read, with very little in the way of concrete historical fact.
As I've progressed, I've accumulated more knowledge. I've bought books and read information on different websites and blogs, but I am still no historian. Almost every time I sit down to write I come across another question. What trees grew and how many were there in Northumbria? Did common people know of the Romans who had left the island nearly two hundred years before? How common was the use of money? How exactly were slaves treated? The list goes on and on.
Some of the questions have answers that can be found, others are more difficult and depend on what you read. One thing is certain though, there will be people who will read my final book and find anachronisms in it. I will never be a historical expert, and there will be people who are real historians who know of things that I am not aware of and they will quickly see beyond my thin veneer of knowledge. I hope that they will be able to get past that and enjoy the book on its merits as a story based in an often-forgotten time.
However, from time to time I do think that it would have been an easier option to have created the story in a fantasy world. A pseudo Dark Ages Britain where nobody would be able to tell me I'd got it wrong. I could even have dragons and trolls marauding through the land, and not just in the tales told in the mead hall. But I am past that point now. I settled on the genre and now the book has taken on a life of its own. All I have to do is keep picking up the stones and working out how to place them in the wall. Some of the stones may not be historically accurate, but I hope they all fit together to tell a good story.
I am in admiration at your commitment, you certainly deserve to end up with a best seller.
ReplyDeleteI'd second the above comment! You do sound very hard working and dedicated. As to whether it would have been better to write fantasy, if you're anything like me you want to write about what you want to write about! You have to write in the way that your heart takes you, it can't be forced. Although some people choose to very much write in a certain way or genre, I know for myself that that isn't me! All the best with your writing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the good wishes.
DeleteYou are right, of course. It is all very well to try to write following a formula or in a specific genre, but it is hard enough to find the energy to write what I want to write about. If I tried to write something else, I think I'd give up pretty quickly.
Keep going! I managed to write 150,000 words in the end after editing and when you've finished, it's a great feeling!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement! Just downloaded your book, Feud, from Amazon. Looks like a fun read!
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