What Does it Take to Write a Novel and Finish? Part I: An Amusement

I'm doing a three-part series called What Does it Take to Write a Novel and Finish on the wonderful blog For the Love of Film and Novels. In this three-part series, I will break down what you can do to make sure that if you start writing a novel, you are going to finish it. This week will be all about starting the novel, next week is about not giving up after the first draft, and week three will be about finishing.

Click here for Part II: Your Novel as Mistress, Master, and Tyrant.
Click here for Part III: It's Time to Kill the Monster.

I really want to say thank you to blogger Marissa for creating such a lovely blog for film and novel lovers and for inviting me to guest post then so kindly accepting three posts when I couldn't tackle this subject without turning into something much larger. Thank you so much again Marissa!

Here is a little teaser of Part I: An Amusement, but you'll have to check out this awesome blog to read the entire thing and make sure to follow so you can be updated when each installment goes up.

photo credit: Carlos Fenollosa via photopin cc

Winston Churchill summed up the process of writing a novel really well, “Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement; then it becomes a mistress and then it becomes a master, and then a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster, and fling him out to the public.”

Research

To start writing a novel, all it takes is an idea large enough to encompass 100,000 words and access to a computer, but starting is nowhere near finishing. The first time I decided to write a novel, I literally sat down at my computer and looked at the white screen and realized all I had was an idea and nothing to actually write. I spent the next six months researching my topic, a process that continued until the week before I sent it out for copyediting.

photo credit: Raymond Larose via photopin cc

I researched every detail, so that I knew exactly what my characters would be wearing, saying, eating, drinking, and doing on a regular basis. My novels are historical, so I needed to be extremely knowledgeable in the era, but all writers are delving into topics they are not familiar with, and in order to write about those topics, you have to get some insider-information. 

Continued at For the Love of Films and Novels and don't forget to follow so you can keep up with each installment.

Click here for Part II: Your Novel as Mistress, Master, and Tyrant.
Click here for Part III: It's Time to Kill the Monster.