Saturday, January 8, 2011

5 Things I've Been Surprised by Writing my Novel

I'm one of those people that loves numbers in titles. "Eight Ways to Reduce Stress," "Three Things You Should Know About...," "Twenty-Five Ways to Blow Your Nose," you get the picture. I've decided to give it a try and see if anyone else has five things that has shocked them about writing their novel.


Over this past year I have learned a lot about writing a young adult novel.
1) It isn't as easy as Stephanie Meyer (author of "Twilight," in case you've been asleep) said it was for her.

2) Re-writing is not an option - it's mandatory.

3) Most of my family and friends are not as excited about the details of my characters as I am, and talking about my protagonist as if she is alive can get really annoying to them.

4) A critique group is a necessary ingredient in my process. The people in my critique group can relate to having their heart ripped out, stepped on, and put back in their chest only to ask for someone to do it again.

5) I miss my characters if I haven't visited my pages after a couple of days.


Next year I'd like to write about the Five Things I Learned About Getting my Novel Sold. Wouldn't that be great?

5 comments:

Elizabeth Varadan, Author said...

Nice post, Rachel. Yes, next year I'd like to write a similar post: "What I've learned about getting published." Or even "How I got my Agent". :-)

RAD - Dot Painter said...

Good goals Mitty:)

Angelica R. Jackson said...

Ain't it the truth! Laurie Halse Anderson wrote a post you might identify with
http://www.thedebutanteball.com/?p=13722Shorten%20Links%20Here

Angelica R. Jackson said...

I gave you a Stylish Blogger award; come over and get your button
http://angelicarjackson.blogspot.com/

Then you can add it to your sidebar, and it's nice if you pay it forward to other people.

See you next meeting!

RAD - Dot Painter said...

You are so nice Angelica. I'll go get my button this week. I still have reading to do for Thursday:)