Journey Of A Novel

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2nd chapter

A new way of being

Tanya V 12 February 2024

It has been months since my last post. I haven’t stopped writing in this time but I have failed to write regularly and with intention.

My progress has been hap hazard. I’ve felt lost after reaching a writing milestone for myself with having my work assessed. Life has travelled alongside my creative journey with an equal measure of unfamiliarity. I have settled into a new region, a new life, a new way of being and within that have worked at establishing connections to create some structure in my days that includes writing.

I joined a writer’s group, connected with a local writing organisation and started teaching creative writing again, and have created a rhythm in my day to day existence that includes time for writing. I have completed the 5th draft of some chapters and begun the 6th draft process. Part of this is rewriting, adding and deleting to improve the narrative; in doing this I have made chapter 1 into 2 chapters and finished redrafting chapter 3. I submitted the new draft of chapter 3 to my writer’s group for feedback today. We meet in March so I have to wait until then for their responses.

One thing that I have missed more than I expected to up to this point is journaling my journey. I have missed the solace of taking stock of where I am at, where I am going, and how far I have come. Before this practice and without this practice my creativity stalls in a frozen moment of uncertainty that seems to have more staying power than my creative ambitions.

The journey of my novel has become as valuable to me as the novel itself.

The peace of mind that I take from keeping up to date with my creativity in a structured way has inspired me to make it a project all it’s own and grow Journey of a Novel into it’s own website. To what end??? I don’t know, but it feels good. It feels right. Bottom line – It is another solid step towards commitment to my creative development.

A numbers game

Tanya V 26 March 2022

Today I completed the 2nd draft of chapter two, and I have three people reading to give me feedback which is three times more than I had for my 1st draft. The word count is dropping as I slash away superfluousness with a flurry of backspacing, and I’m now frowning half as much when I read back over what I have written.

My love of words has taken a turn from wanting to keep them all to trashing every attention stealing syllable that could distract from story, narrative, or the focus of a reader’s imagination. After many years of adding more words, more ideas, and more story it’s time now to start taking away.

So, my writing journey seems to have shifted from the words to the numbers.

Getting it all out and getting it all down has worked a treat for me with room to play with my words on this second pass of my work. To do this I have made copies of my 1st drafts and named them as 2nd drafts so that I can edit away indiscriminately with only the story in mind while still having my 1st draft copies untouched.

The other main focus while writing the 2nd drafts is to restructure each chapter with an idea that I have for story formatting to assist with the flow between characters, settings and story stages – well, that’s the plan.

I can feel a new rhythm setting in now that I’m into 2nd draft territory and it is a relief. As I reached the end of my 1st draft journey I was beginning to feel disconnected from my work, I felt a kind of creative limbo caught somewhere between nearly done and ready to begin again afresh.

Goodbye chapter two

Tanya V 22 March 2021

I finished the first draft of chapter two. It’s done, I sent it to my reader, it’s shorter than I intended at 3700 words or so but to write anymore would have been unnecessary. The story rolled on giving me the sensation of it writing itself which is an expression that I’ve heard but never experienced firsthand. Next I want to dive into chapter three. Most of chapter three is clear in my head but I do need to tidy up some details with reading and research before I get lost in the words. Chapter three will introduce another new character, and like chapter two will also be fresh writing with nothing previously written towards it. Whether it flows as easily as chapter two remains to be seen, if it happens though I welcome the happy buzz that I’ve gotten from polishing off chapter two’s first draft.

Finishing chapter two so quickly has surprised me, but I have had more time to focus because I’ve had my internet off for most of the week. Every time that I used the internet in the past week, I intentionally turned it on then turned it off when I was done, and I’ve had more headspace and focus because of this.

The research that I’ve done this week required internet, also posting and reading latest posts of accounts that I follow on wordpress were internet sessions, along with emailing. That’s it though, no social media, no time guzzling youtube watching frenzies, and no rabbit holes of random information. The internet for the last week has been a tool for information and communication and nothing else. My imagination has become my entertainment. I’ve had breaks in my time too with old movies that I have on file, I’ve seen all of the films I have many times before which makes them the equivalent of a battered favourite childhood book. I’m bored of them very quickly and tend to only watch parts of those films. My only other distractions have been tending my small garden and walks in the park. Thinking through my story at times I’ve also inexplicably found myself cleaning my drains and sorting my sock drawer; mundane tasks help me when I have a mind full of thoughts. Life isn’t always this way for me, but I have less distractions from the outside world right now, the only distractions at hand come with scrolling online so I put a stop to it.

The result has been surprising. I don’t know if it’s realistic to give full credit to less internet being the biggest motivator, but it has certainly made a difference to me. I tend to spend a lot of time online looking for information of all sorts – I’m a self-confessed information junky for better or worse. In structure freedom can be found, this is a regular reminder that I give myself. It may not work for everyone but for me it certainly helps me to have limits to work freely within.

On a roll

Tanya V 21 March 2021

3000 words in two days, I think that I’m on a roll! My aim is for 5000 words per chapter, so in two days I’ve written over half of the first draft of chapter two.

I’ve been getting to know my protagonist as they begin their journey. The sketchy ideas I had in mind are gaining clarity with each word that I write. I focused on one key question – who are any of us without other people?

There’s only so far that any one person can go alone before limitations and lack of perception stand in their way. That’s the pivotal point that I’ve addressed in chapter two. My protagonist has gone into the world not knowing anyone, not knowing their way or their options. My protagonist is alone for the first time but all the while coming to terms with the fact that they always have been alone.

The main idea addressed throughout chapter two is trust; trust in others which denotes self-trust. Without the world at large and other people the exploration of trust would be a hard idea to demonstrate. The happenings in this chapter serve to provide some inner direction as well as outer direction within the world for my protagonist to carry forward as they discover the unknown.

Traditional stories are rich with archetypes that serve as markers on the journey through life, and with chapter two I’ve begun to work in the first of the archetypal characters from the folklore tale. Based on my recent research into the tale that is at the heart of my novel I have decided to write in this character. Getting to know this character has been enlightening in that a new perspective on my protagonist has been revealed to me. I’ve established depth that I had wanted to work in but hadn’t before perceived how to do that. Part of what is working for me here as that this character doesn’t have a lot to say and doesn’t do a whole lot, yet they make a big impression upon my protagonist by giving them a reason to trust. Writing this character has become about what they don’t say, what little they do say, and of course what they do; this new character serves to bring to light what my protagonist was previously unable to perceive from their sheltered existence.

Along with creating momentum for my process I’ve also gotten into a rhythm of saving and backing up which I was slipping at previously. Things are travelling along well at present, and ideally this will be the working model that I will take with me into the future. Of course I wouldn’t have arrived here without time to reflect on how to move forward so I’m mindful of the ebb and flow that makes up the creative process.

Chapter two begins

Tanya V 20 March 2021

The groundwork has been established for chapter two, my protagonist is in forward motion and things are happening in my fictional world. It was difficult to get going, I did dither.

For the past week I’ve been shuffling through the chronology of my story in my head disagreeing with my decisions, disputing myself, and trying not to have reason-based conversations with myself out loud so I don’t appear cra cra… I was repeatedly cycling over points contemplating on how to best proceed with different scenarios in mind. I went back to the beginning in the end which helped me to reassess why I had made the choices about the narrative that I had long ago. This was all helpful, but gradually my process descended into a procrastination exercise.

Recognising this I came at it from a different angle and launched into research of the original folklore tale that I am using as the bones of the novel; this was very helpful. I was able to step out of my head and get off the merry-go-round of maybes that was plaguing my progress. I still have some more reading to do to solidify the direction that I’ve chosen to go in, but I was inspired to write before I could complete all of the reading that I’d assigned myself.

It felt so good to get back to writing.

Reading the research in parts is a more practical approach for me as it keeps the information fresh in my head. I find that when I do large amounts of research, I lose detail. To remedy this I keep notes in my chapter document to include certain points, I bullet point them below where I am writing and work them in as I progress. Over the years I have read lots about my chosen folklore tale so I’m familiar with most versions of it from different times and civilisations, but I’m less familiar with the version referenced in chapter two. New ground is being broken in terms of how I view my novel; for so long I thought that I knew what it would be but now I’m mixing it up and feeling good about it.

The decision that I made about my narrative and what will happen in chapter two requires a lot of new writing. The writing that I have done over the years towards my novel worked for a lot of chapter one’s content, and will for many subsequent chapters, but chapter two is all new. I’m excited to be writing fresh again, reworking past work into chapter one became tedious at times so it feels good to have a break from that approach for chapter two.

Into the unknown

Tanya V 13 March 2021

What will happen next? No matter what I’m doing my story remains present in my mind like a demanding child pestering me for attention asking what next, or which way. I’ve hesitated at starting on chapter two, I had to revisit the structure of the chapters that I’d laid out before I began the first draft of chapter one. The direction that chapter one took me in with the narrative structure has caused me to now go back and consider reshuffling the order of some of the chapters.

All of this is consuming my thoughts, I want to get back to writing.

My progress has been reading and research, the writing flow has halted making me feel stuck. The irony of being fixed on a point that requires choice about the direction that I’ll take isn’t lost on me, I’m causing my protagonist to wait in the same manner. My protagonist has more than one transitional period in the novel that takes them through an introspective period of change. To write through these turning points in the narrative I can interchangeably use different sections that I’ve fleshed out in reference to the different versions of the tale that my story is based on. I want these mythical foundations to serve to highlight the human experience, I want to take the fantastical and make it an everyday experience.

Regardless of the choice that I make to move forward into the narrative I will be moving into the unknown as much as my protagonist on their journey. I’ve been digesting this and doing my best to integrate my human response into the humanity that I’m trying to capture. It’s scary going into the unknown whether it’s a physical place or not.

To confirm my decision I’ve been re-reading the folklore that I’ve used as the bones for my story, I want to keep doing this at the beginning of each chapter to capture the same over all feel in all of the chapters.

Re-reading, thinking, being with the story to give it time to gestate; all of this has broken the rhythm that I established with writing chapter one. I miss being in the middle of writing, I want to be back in the thick of words that I need to get out because I know what’s happening next. When I tried to dive in and just get to writing though it was a frustrating exercise that left me confused. Taking the time to understand where I’m headed is essential for me to progress, I need the clarity. Learning to enjoy the respite is part of my creative process that I have to learn to embrace.

Tense about tense

Tanya V 10 March 2021

I’ve managed to delete about 500 words to bring the chapter one word count below 5,000 words. It feels good to have done it, it was easier to delete words than I thought it would be and it highlighted the story by removing what served only as fluff. Reading through to cull words and sentences as a task though is a challenging exercise because it’s difficult to be mindful of the flow at the same time. There are sections that need more attention regarding the flow of the story. Less is more is a great rule that serves to bring what’s important into the foreground. I want the story to speak to the imagination and carry the reader along effortlessly. Whether I can do this or not will be in the reading of it by another which is the next step when I put this first draft of chapter one aside.

Time has been eaten away so easily when I read back through my work. It was a worthwhile exercise; I have rewritten some sentences to better convey the story and without these read-throughs I wouldn’t have managed to do that.

There are so many things that I could continue to fuss over that would keep my attention fixed on chapter one for another week to a month. There is character, symbolism, doubling up of language, and the tense. The tense has been doing my head in. The story passes through a large stretch of time already. The whole story is told in the past, and it begins in the past, but steps into focused points of time for some parts, which are still in the past, but more immediate… So many pasts in one story. This shifting of time does serve the purpose of relaying a time lost, a questionable time, a timelessness that is part of this tale. Keeping track of the tenses has made me tense in real time, it eats up a lot of my focus.

For now I’m more interested in getting the story onto the page than making it perfect. Chapter one is ready for some fresh eyes to read it, so I’ll pass it onto a friend who has volunteered to read for me. I’m very lucky to have had this offer, I only expect to get another’s insight and feedback. If feedback includes editing, tense and/or story notes then that is even more of a bonus for me. Really, whatever my friend wants to contribute re: reading I’m grateful for their input. A new perspective on my work will be very welcome.

I’m ready to move on to chapter two.