{"id":4634,"date":"2012-06-24T13:46:08","date_gmt":"2012-06-24T13:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/argyle.org\/?p=4634"},"modified":"2012-06-24T13:46:08","modified_gmt":"2012-06-24T13:46:08","slug":"first-you-write-the-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/argyle.org\/?p=4634","title":{"rendered":"First you write the novel. . ."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s tempting to believe that a traditional publisher will take care of everything once my novel gets accepted for publication.\u00a0 All I will have to do is sit back with a frosty drink under the palms, enjoy my new readers, and maybe make a few dollars to boot. I admit that I get a pang of jealousy when someone I know has a book about to be released by one of the Big Six. Truth be told,\u00a0 I have never been able to deal with all the rigamarole surrounding the business. Maybe I’m too impatient, maybe too thin-skinned, but they always seemed to hold all the cards and I have always hated asking for things.<\/p>\n

Many authors disagree with me and say that it’s just too much to do – to publicize the work yourself after all that labor. “Publication is not the business of poets” said Virginia Wolfe (although I cannot find the quotation) a little less than a century ago. Ah, would that it were still so, but I suspect that it truly is not. And if I think that as a new novelist I will get much promotional help from a publisher, I’m probably dreaming.<\/p>\n

If you haven’t read this rave by Jessica Park,<\/a> please have a look. It’s very thorough and credible, chronicling all the heartbreak and second guessing so common to writers.<\/p>\n

I’m close to releasing a short piece – a 6000 word short story entitled Say Nothing<\/em> that was critiqued by my writing group. I plan to put it out on Kindle. My sister<\/a> created this gorgeous woodblock print for the cover, so now I have no choice, I have to release it.\u00a0 It’s great to have control over the appearance of the work, and lucky to have a friendly family member with talent, something else I would be denied the use of by a trad publisher.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The immaculate Brandon Hauser and his closet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

I published a number of short stories over the years in traditional lit and University presses but never shopped a collection, never really<\/em> entered the fray, easily discouraged by the lack of interest and my perception of all the work I had ahead of me. Periodically I have tried to replace writing with other creative pursuits.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The quilt I made at the height of my denial.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

But the problem is that when you really love something it is impossible to let go of it. No matter how much I tried to ignore it, how much I read and painted and sewed, there remained a hole at the center of my life.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is how I started.\u00a0 I found a\u00a0 small space where I wouldn’t be disturbed and began a novel. I storyboarded it, tweaked every scene so it ended on a suspenseful note, decided plot in advance and scene by agonizing scene I crafted a clever, plot based<\/em> (never easy for me) novel with twists and turns of which I was inordinately proud.<\/p>\n

This happened five years ago.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Had I known then that this was destined to be the novel in the drawer<\/em>, I might of – well I probably would have written it anyway. I still dream of picking it up again and making it work. The premise was good, about identity and the price of past actions.\u00a0 It was called Inside Job<\/em> or sometimes The Republic of I<\/em>, depending on how highbrow I was feeling on a particular day. The problem was that I held the story too tightly, wouldn’t let it breathe. I was so afraid that it would escape,\u00a0 so I monitored every turn of phrase, held it hostage.<\/p>\n

Could it have worked. Yes, of course. But I much prefer trusting that character will lead me where I should be going. So this story begins with a strong central character.<\/p>\n

As I write this novel, I plan to chronicle my journey, including the complications and joys of fact checking this historical piece of fiction. Every Sunday I will share the previous weeks triumphs and snags on my work-in-progress, No Name Key<\/em>, the opening available here<\/a>. If anyone is undertaking a similar journey, please share your thoughts about process. I would love that.<\/p>\n

I’m about 30,000 words into the story. I expect the finished work will be about 70,000 words or so.<\/p>\n

This one, dammit, will get done. <\/em>And revised. And polished.\u00a0 I also have a few people interested in seeing it when that magic day arrives. More on that next Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s tempting to believe that a traditional publisher will take care of everything once my novel gets accepted for publication.\u00a0 All I will have to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,32,38],"tags":[55,58,89,91],"class_list":["post-4634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fiction","category-publishing","category-writing","tag-front","tag-historical-fiction","tag-work-in-progress","tag-writing-a-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/argyle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/argyle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/argyle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/argyle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/argyle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/argyle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/argyle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/argyle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/argyle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/argyle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}