The Evolution of a Partly Written Novel

My experience is that a person embarks on writing a novel because they get an idea in their heads that won’t leave, fade away or otherwise leave them the heck alone.

“A bee in their bonnet” is one good expression that describes the feeling.

Ten years ago I got this neat idea about a story that I thought would be…well, neat.  Without much effort, I managed to take some notes here and there, write out a few vague plot ideas and catalog a couple of interesting characters.

I ended up with all that.  Those are just parts of history, plot outlines and character descriptions.  There’s not much there that will end up in the actual book, all THAT writing is just being used as a guide.

Then there are the drawings.  The rough sketches and final drafts.  Coloured maps and miscellaneous scenes.  Made over years of stealing moments and pencil crayons from my kids.  They are an invaluable part of my writing process and I refer to them often for both inspiration and consistency.

And there we have the actual work in progress.  The first ten chapters printed, labeled and filed sort of neatly into a folder.  Don’t get too excited though, according to my last updated time line, it seems I got the bright idea to intersperse a subplot in between them.

The chapter I’ve been working on is the anchor.  It creates a bit of chaos in that I’m no longer sure what this means for my existing ideas and for my characters.

I’m so excited!   😀

(And of course, that’s really why we do it.)