The 7 Stages of Writing a Novel

By Sarah Ballance

Authors get a lot of questions. Where do you come up with your ideas? How long does it take to write a book? How does it feel to be a published author? Well, guess what. I'm probably the last person to address these questions because (a) I'm new here and (b) I'm just not normal, but I'm going to tackle them anyway. Here's a look at the stages of writing when you're, uh, me.

Stage 1: Inspiration

Inspiration is a crapshoot, but it can come from some rather unusual places. Take this lovely photo, for example. The kids and I had just finished our three mile walk Tuesday morning when the ditch started to boil—major geyser action, only we don't have those here. And the water turned bright red in seconds. I found this alarming. My first thought was someone had cut up a body and stashed it in the ditch pipe. (Fortunately I did not voice that concern to the park ranger, who calmly responded to my epic WTF by saying the discoloration was due to backwash from the aerators they use in the lake.) But am I inspired? Oh, you better believe there's a plot in all that "bloody" water!

Stage 2: Excitement

Post "inspiration," I've got a brand new idea and a shiny new doc file to match. I spend a good thirty minutes telling everyone how excited I am to start a new story, then three or four times that looking through various themed baby and surname lists so my characters won't have to go by "Hey, you!" for the entire manuscript. I am on the cusp of something big. I am … not writing yet.

Stage 3: Wordage

This elusive period of writing occurs in the first one to six paragraphs (or, if I'm really lucky, I get that many pages out of it). It's the point right before excitement is ransacked by reality and I realize my great idea is going to have to get down somehow, and nothing is looking as good on virtual paper as it sounded in my head.

Stage 4: Le FAIL

My characters hate me. My words hate me. I don't know what I was thinking. Le FAIL.

Stage 5: Progress

Some authors move past stage 4 into smooth sailing and actually feel good about their accumulating wordage. Me? I think I ride Le FAIL through to the end. (I have a fast pass—front of the line, unlimited rides.)

Stage 6: The Slump

Like Le FAIL, only when I'm half to three-quarters done with the manuscript. This is the point where I've heard so many authors say they start doubting their stories. You may wonder how I distinguish this from Le FAIL. To that, all I can say is I have no idea, and thank you for paying attention.

Stage 7: The End

I speed up near the end. I can't help it. It's an accomplishment, and I get WAY excited. I don’t know if the novelty of finishing ever wears off, but right now I dig it, big time. And all that nagging and self doubt? Totally makes this moment sweeter! (That's, like, making pessimism optimistic. Now I don't know which t-shirt to buy. WAIL.)

Now, of course it doesn't actually end there. In fact, that's where the REAL party begins, and I am THRILLED to say I'm about to do some partying, Noble-style, with my recently (FINALLY) finished book UNFORGIVEN, which kicks off a series of romantic suspense titles. (I had to throw that in there for those of you who have kindly asked about my progress. And also for the person who keeps finding my blog by searching "Tehcotah, Oklahoma," which is awesome … and also where UNFORGIVEN is set.) All super good, mega-exciting stuff, but I have to admit one teeny distraction. You see, there's just one thing I'd really love to know.

Who the heck was in that ditch, and how do I get him out of there and into one of my books?

Not surprisingly, Sarah's characters tend to be just as twisted as she is. To observe from a safe distance, visit her blog or website. And if you want to know how that next book is coming along, click here.

Spring Inspiration

I feel like an excited puppy straining the leash at the edge of a dog park. Every end of winter this happens. Right when the sun stays up a little longer and a few of the inches of snow that's piled up starts to melt, I beginning plotting.

Not just stories (that never seems to stop) but all the things I'll do over the spring and summer.

I'm going to go to the beach more.
I'm going to ride my bike more. (Oh wait, my bike has a flat tire.)
I'm going to get my tire on my bike fixed, THEN I'm going to ride my bike more.
I'm going to take more trips to AZ and go hiking!
I'm going to sell more books, which means I need to write more, so I'll need to stay in more. Because I know if I try to write outside, I'll only be distracted.

Hmm.


...

I'm going to go to the beach--after I write 2000 words.
I'm going to ride my bike--after I edit a chapter.
Oh wait. I'm going to get my tire fixed after I get an advance check and THEN I'm going to ride my bike--after I edit a chapter.
I'm going to take more trips to AZ, but only if I write the whole time at the airport and on the plane to and from.


This is what March does to me. I have all these great plans, but in truth, I know it's all just a touch of Spring Inspiration. Not that it's a bad thing, but it is kinda like the flu. It'll flush itself out eventually but some of the symptoms will linger. Here's hoping something sticks!

What symptoms of Spring Inspiration do YOU have?


All my best,
AyVee

Allure Van Sanz
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/AllureVanSanz
http://allurevansanz.blogspot.com

Inspiration: Anaïs Nin

Hi! C. Margery Kempe here. There are lots of great erotic classics that inspire me, from early practitioners like John Cleland and the Marquis de Sade, to more recent classic authors like Pauline Réage and Terry Southern.  But the one writer who inspires me most is Anaïs Nin.

I grew up in the Midwest in a family where touchy issues were avoided at all costs and silence was the rule of the day.  When I wanted to find out about something, I always turned to books -- too embarrassed to admit to my friends just how ignorant I was about things like sex. Like most kids in my school, I did a lot of bluffing that I knew more than I did. Inside I desperately wanted to know the real thing.

Delta of Venus was first erotica I read. I can’t remember anymore if I read her diaries before that -- they’re so closely intertwined -- but I do recall buying Delta because I was terrified that I would be stopped or carded or worse, that alarms would go off, blaring “she’s buying a book about sex!”  But it was the local mall book chain, so the clerk just rang up the purchase without a second look (it probably helped that I was always tall).

I devoured the book.  It was so specific! It was one thing to read feminist handbooks about sexuality and quite another to read Nin’s passionate words about how it really felt.  I have written elsewhere about how she rescued me from relying on the ineptitude of teenage boys for experience and taught me to expect so much more.  She also made me want to write about those feelings and to try to capture them in words, something I kept to myself -- or a select audience :-) -- for many years until an agent I knew announced the launch of hew new erotic romance line and suddenly the penny dropped.  Hey, somebody might want to read my stories just like I read Nin!

Nin had an interesting and complicated life that included incest and bigamy, elements which show up in her stories where she often seems to be examining and healing the eruptions of life. The very first story in Delta features both incest and rape which shocked me; more importantly however, it didn’t stop me. I hungered for the vicarious experiences both of her characters in the erotica and of her own life in the diaries and novels.  I loved how she used writing to transform herself from a banker’s wife into an artist surrounded by like minds: writers, painters, dancers, filmmakers.

Nin not only gave me the power to understand and celebrate my own sexuality, she also taught me the power of writing to transform.  I had been raised to dream small, but her adventures helped me learn that I could expand my world if I were willing to dare to do so. I’m still learning that lesson, still finding roadblocks I create for myself. I have to remember her words:

"Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back: a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country."

I'm working on that now with my writing and I have every expectation that I will have everything that I dream and enjoy the entire process of making it manifest. Thank you, Anaïs.

C. Margery Kempe

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