When is it right to stop your novel
Jan 2, 2024 0:16:02 GMT -6
Post by account_disabled on Jan 2, 2024 0:16:02 GMT -6
I was off to a flying start. I had this idea that I liked more and more and I started to develop it. Six linked stories, a single purpose. Genre: Science Fiction. I study the most suitable (and complex!) structure and work on the stories, on how to position them, on the characters, creating a schedule for each story. In total there are 39 chapters, even if in reality you don't read "Chapter 1", etc. anywhere, because I chose a different "nomenclature". David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas bewitched me, as I have said several times. I create the characters, studying the most suitable names, and start writing. Complete 17 chapters in total. Then I abandon the novel. There were problems to solve.
Problem number 1: incomplete Special Data world building One of the stories was very lacking in so-called world building . Being able to create an imaginary world or even recreate a real world is a task that must be developed before writing the story. In that case I had drawn some lines, because I wanted to maintain an aura of mystery, indeed to give the idea of a world so far from ours as to be opaque, almost invisible. A mistake, because, rereading those chapters, one feels the lack of details and the mind cannot photograph that world, not even mine! In the other stories, however, I had been diligent: reading those chapters I feel like I was watching the film.
Problem number 2: useless chapters I had inserted a useless story. Yes, I had become fond of a character – who existed, by the way – who in reality could easily have just been named in the novel, without having a part in it. And in fact I soon realized that I didn't know what to write about that story, until all its uselessness became clear to me. The solution was simple: I deleted those chapters from the file, but kept them for future use. By eliminating a story, a hole was therefore created in the novel, which needed to be filled. I solved it by giving the right space to a character who until now had remained in the background, as an extra or only hinted at. Yet he is one of the key characters in the story.
Problem number 1: incomplete Special Data world building One of the stories was very lacking in so-called world building . Being able to create an imaginary world or even recreate a real world is a task that must be developed before writing the story. In that case I had drawn some lines, because I wanted to maintain an aura of mystery, indeed to give the idea of a world so far from ours as to be opaque, almost invisible. A mistake, because, rereading those chapters, one feels the lack of details and the mind cannot photograph that world, not even mine! In the other stories, however, I had been diligent: reading those chapters I feel like I was watching the film.
Problem number 2: useless chapters I had inserted a useless story. Yes, I had become fond of a character – who existed, by the way – who in reality could easily have just been named in the novel, without having a part in it. And in fact I soon realized that I didn't know what to write about that story, until all its uselessness became clear to me. The solution was simple: I deleted those chapters from the file, but kept them for future use. By eliminating a story, a hole was therefore created in the novel, which needed to be filled. I solved it by giving the right space to a character who until now had remained in the background, as an extra or only hinted at. Yet he is one of the key characters in the story.
