Novel writing 101

Like the title? I incorporated 101 into the title, since this is post number 101... ok i'll shut up now...

So as I wait here at work for a friend to pick me up I'm going to spend my time (semi) productively; writing a Post, yo. As per my self-enforced rules, I am going to blog about an observation I have made. It may not make for a long post, but we'll see how it goes.

You can tell what kind of novellist a person would be by listening to them tell a story. Naturally this thought has been on my mind due to NaNoWriMo. But it's true. Check out these examples:

• The taller-every-time-they-tell-it-taler: these are the kind of writers who will write a lousy first draft, pretty close to the general flow of things, but really boring. Then with every redraft, the story becomes more and more dramatic, until finally you have a very tall tale indeed. I'd say, as a novellist, this kind of person would be the compulsive redrafter. Some may call them compulsive liars, but generally they see themselves as masterful storytellers, making any topic or event interesting or entertaining.

• The "they said 'hello'... Oh wait, it might have been 'hi...'" teller: these guys are notorious nitpickers. Generally their first draft will take forever to write because they will try to edit as they go, in an attempt to edit-as-they-go. I can safely say, while currently over 15 000 words behind in my NaNo Novel, that this is my type.

• The "OhMiGod I forgot about that part" teller. These guys often think of details after the fact that they have to go back to add in. This happens with a lot of writers, and presumably a lot of story tellers too. I've experienced my fair share of this over the last 17 days, and I'm only on chapter 4...

Anyway, gotta leave it at that. Might edit more in later. I'll add the photo in later too, seeing as this app won't let me post photos :(.
Till then...

Bible reading progress: still on Psalms and Acts. Man, those are long books!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone