Journey Of A Novel

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narrative

A good start

Tanya V 10 March 2023

Chapter one is taking on a new shape. I’ve been pulling it apart, rearranging the narrative, deleting, deleting, deleting and writing new words. The beginning is no longer the beginning. Re-reading the last draft with feedback in hand I can now see where the story starts. It’s not at the beginning but soon after it. The start of the story within the novel is an awakening, or ‘the call to adventure’ as it is written the hero’s journey story formula.

It’s not so much a call in the case of my story, it’s more a motivating force in a new direction because of things beyond the protagonist’s control.

So the journey begins.

Changing the sequence of events for the start of the story in chapter one has created a flashback of sorts to establish the beginning, or perhaps more precisely, ‘the known world’. These changes have opened up the story to let the reader in rather than sitting on the sidelines of a once-upon-a-time type scenario.

At least this is what I’m doing my best to craft with words on a page.

The process for this has been to work my way through chapter one cutting and pasting to rework the narrative into the order needed to facilitate the new story-line. Along the way I have written in new parts to flesh out the story where it is needed, and I’ve colour highlighted areas that I think are still questionable, or need more, or could be shifted again.

I keep bingeing the task then stepping away to mull over where I’m at and what I’ve done and why.

I’m looking forward to having chapter one re-done so that I can read it through with a fresh perspective on the novel. The remaining chapters don’t seem to need the same amount of attention.

It’s a good start.

Achieving the improbable

Tanya V 8 June 2021

At just under 5000 words I’ve finished my first draft of chapter five. It was a doozy. It had me nearly whipped a few times, but I nailed it, I’m done, it’s in the can. For now anyway. Chapter five is my problem child, or chapter as the case may be. It will need more attention than the other chapters I’ve finished the first draft for so far. Chapter five raises the stacks for my protagonist taking the narrative in a new direction, and for the first time in the story a direction with no destination in mind for the protagonist. That makes chapter five more than a turning point but a marker for development of person and tale being told. This chapter holds story elements that many will be familiar with so I want to honour what the many and varied may identify with within it while also taking the ideals within and discarding them in favour of simple storytelling about a person trying to find their place in the world.

The origin story that I have based the story on is an epic tale but I’ve reassigned the big happenings to short time spans giving it what I hope is a whimsical and fantastical feel. I’ll have to see how it reads when done in full and until then keep pushing forwards.

Along with chapter five needing future attention chapter one will also need to be reworked. I don’t plan to change a lot but will revisit it when done with a view to honouring who the protagonist becomes with further insights to where they came from. When writing chapter one I was aware that I was beginning a story about a character that I didn’t understand fully and cannot until I am done writing the whole novel, for this reason I’m expecting to add, change or edit out some of the first draft of chapter one. I have to push through to the end to complete chapter one last.

Next is chapter six with the protagonist out in the world again forging through life and circumstance. I have some writing toward chapter six that I have written over the years but it’s sketchy at best with an indefinite storyline. I’ll have to do some thinking on the working parts to select the best narrative devices to drive the story into the next part. Chapter six is a pathway into the beyond for my protagonist, I’ll do my best create a gateway to a new world that will do their story justice.

Writing in reverse

Tanya V 10 May 2021

Chapter five, first draft has had me muddling through and scratching my head so far. This chapter includes events that cause my protagonist to step into the unknown with no direction in mind. Previously the risks that they took were aimed at an outcome but within chapter five things do not work out, direction is lost, and rational thinking gives way to emotion. How this plays out is what I have to decide. When rationality is lost that does not necessarily mean that someone is irrational, when emotions drive a decision that does not mean that the decision is illogical. Tempering reason and emotion into human expression is the tricky part here. The turning of events that this chapter culminates in effects a few of the characters including the protagonist so I have a situation to realise that involves diverse motivations.

I am undecided as yet about how exactly this chapter will read. I’m tempted to capture a ‘what just happened there?’ feel as can happen to any of us when swept up in emotional situations. I’ve been musing on making it a something-for-everyone section where the weight of circumstances is spread evenly amongst the characters so all ‘sides’ can be experienced. Also, I’ve been mixing and matching what I have written over time in the past trying to determine where the strength of the writing lies then to edit the story into being accordingly.

3000 words have been culled so far and the narrative organised from the overlapping writings from the past. There is still just under 13000 in the file that is chapter five, draft one so far meaning that another 5000 plus words need to be dispensed with to make the chapter a manageable 5000 words. Getting rid of sections of writing has taken time as I have shifted them about in the file copying and pasting to see how they read in part in different positions within the story. Some have been repetitive so to select and delete was the obvious answer, others captured a feel very different from the majority of the words that I intend to keep. Click and drag to select then delete, save to update and move on; that’s the rhythm that set in as I have puzzled my way through the bulk of writing coming and going from the work in an effort to keep a fresh perspective. With less words I have a clearer view of what I’m working with, but I still am struggling with the feel and details of the chapter. There’s enough to work with to select a focal point, I have enough to chop and change and skew things to present the story in different ways.

The whittling down of words feels like writing in reverse, to bring it all together I think that I’ll have to get the word count down to 4000 words at most then write new words to solidify the chapter as one piece.

Feeling confused and researching camels

Tanya V 28 March 2021

It’s been slow going this week. Getting started has been a challenge for me with lots of distractions and an unclear vision in my mind of what’s next. I wrote 500 words to kick off chapter four and begin my protagonists’ journey through the chapter but I’ve faltered there. This chapter is an introspective chapter for my protagonist, for me to capture this I need to have clear symbolism and connecting elements travelling through the undercurrent of my writing to bring it all together. What the chapter ‘needs’ though I really can’t determine until I get into the writing; I have to get writing. The clear vision that carried me through chapter three though isn’t available to me for this chapter; chapter three was more directly based on a folklore tale whereas with chapter four I’m using very little of that approach.

Chapter four only gives a nod to the folklore tale leaving me to navigate the narrative and integrate my own writing in as I go. Along with this I’ve also written over 5000 words in previous writing bouts towards this section, so I’m reading and sifting and cataloguing in my mind what to do, where to put parts and how to proceed.

Sections that I have written for this chapter previously could be used in chapter seven which in some respects is the inverse of chapter four and the protagonists’ journey through it. Thinking about this takes my mind away from chapter four scattering my attention across the novel, its chapters, where I am at, where I’m heading, then again, I circle back in my mind to thinking – get writing! This all leaves me experiencing a state of confusion which my natural response to is avoidance, but I’m onto this fact and side-stepping avoidance as best I can because I have proved to myself so far that I respond well to time to think in a deliberate way about how to next proceed. With this in mind when I feel the fuzzy edges of confusion creeping in, I make a list of tasks – my current list is:

  1. Read previously written work for chapter four and seven
  2. Add new writing to pre-written work in chapter four
  3. Research deserts
  4. Research Camels
  5. Write without stopping for at least one hour today
  6. Write without stopping for at least one hour tomorrow

Having a clear vision of where I’m going is essential to me, without it a sense of hopelessness overwhelms and I’m lost to indecisiveness.

I’m reminding myself that I have already had periods where I don’t write, I regroup and then there’s an outpouring of words when my vision is clear. Processing time is important, I need to take the time to think it all through and then the words catch up on the page when I dive back into the flow.

Through chapter four my protagonist is finding their way into the unknown, and again as with previous chapters, the irony of me being in the same headspace isn’t lost on me.