As I recently posted on Older Eyes, I have an idea for a story, possibly a novel. Like many of the stories I’ve written, it begins with a character I’ve imagined. One of the things my writing teacher, Patricia McFall, taught me as I was earning a certificate in creative writing at Cal State Fullerton was that sometimes you have to just start writing, So I have, several times and at least for the moment, I seem to have discovered Where It Begins. The novel. For some reason, blogging seems to be a medium that keeps me working, so this is an experiment. I’m going to begin developing this story … which for the moment has no working title … here on Through Older Eyes. For the time being, it will likely be pieces of chapters or character descriptions. Maybe chapters will come later.
People less familiar with the process of writing might tell me that I should worry about someone stealing my idea. Writers know that ideas are a dime a dozen, that it is the writing and the revision that makes an idea into something worth stealing. So, if you’d like to steal this idea and build your own story, fine. I’d like to see what you come up with. At some point, if this starts to look like a novel, I may password protect it but if you’ve been a regular reader, I’ll be only too happy to email you the password. I suppose this is a fairly public experiment, but I seem to be most disciplined in such an environment. I hope you’ll stop by. I hope I’ll stay with it. Maybe together we can make both happen. Comments and critiques are appreciated. Click on the links below to read.
Things to Do – This is a list of things I need to do to other than writing. These will be dated posts and will appear newest first (usual blog format). I’ll try to provide at least some references when I find answers.
Editorial Thoughts – Random thoughts on what I’ve written so far. These will also be dated and posted newest first.
Plotting – Thoughts on developing an idea into a plot
Characters – character sketches as needed
Timeline - a working chronology of the plot
Then, there are the draft chapters:
Chapter 1 - as of 1/7/2011
Chapter 2 – as of 1/7/2011
Chapter 3 – as of 1/17/2011
Chapter 4 – as of 1/26/2011
Chapter 5 – as of 3/7/2011
Chapter 6 – as of 3/10/2011
Chapter 7 – as of 3/14/2011 (incomplete)
Wow! What a “novel” idea! I’ve had an idea for a novel for a long time. I have the first paragraph written and the scenario for the ending, but nothing in between. I always thought I would work on it when I retired, but now here I am, retired for two years, and I’ve done nothing. Just thinking about it wears me out! I hope yours comes to fruition.