The Writer's Kitchen I: So You Wanna Write a Novel, eh?
On being a writer: fear and loathing and imagination.
“So you wanna write a novel. eh?” That’s it. That’s what the Grinch voice says inside my head every time I turn to a new project. The voice isn’t as scary as it used to be decades ago (my brutally bad first fantasy novel is still buried in a drawer), but the shadow has gained other weapons to stick me with since: time-eating children, ever-weakening eyesight and demons like procrastination and malaise.
Yet it is so much fun. Despite the labor, the self-doubt, the writer’s block and the thousand reasons to give up there is an indescribable joy in creating a living, breathing world full of living, breathing characters that talk to you: you are born with them, you laugh with them, you weep with them and you often die with them.
“A writer is nothing more than a little God in pajamas”—(Someday I’ll remember which author said this - I love it)
My Writer’s Kitchen articles (and upcoming podcast series) are designed for creatives who love reading and writing. Maybe some of you want to begin a novel but don’t know how. Maybe some of you already produce novels but enjoy revisiting the nuts and bolts of the profession and learning about the creative processes of others—digging around in alien author brains. In this series I’ll discuss how I operate as a novelist: recognizing best ideas, scheduling, first lines, character arcs, narrative structures, self-editing, creative stimulation and much, much more.
As a paid subscriber you have the opportunity to read my White Rose of Stalingrad novel as a serial release, and I’ll take you through the journey of the book’s creation from beginning to end. I’ll do my best to avoid making this a “Song of Me:” I want our experience to be one of exploration, discussion and learning. We’ll take a look at things like The Hero’s Journey paradigm ( Joseph Campbell), Pixar’s Rules for Telling a Great Story and potentially just about anything else under the sun.
“If the artist did not know his goal, even the most miraculous of tools could not find it for him.”—Arthur C. Clarke
The focus will always be on writing. Plotter or pantser, no matter our process or style, we cannot escape the toil of creation nor the agony of producing garbage nor the ecstasy of completion. If you want to write your first or fiftieth novel, remember:
FEAR: I’ll never finish a whole book and it would be stinky fish crap anyway.
LOATHING: Nothing is more discouraging than reading your first draft.
IMAGINATION: Our cave of creation, our bastion of hope.
(I probably should add) EDITING: Our friend and savior.
As we go along in this series I’ll tell you some things about me. I was born in Los Angeles and raised in Canada, then returned to Los Angeles as an adult. I grew up in a loving, academic household—my dad was a university professor, my mother a former teacher turned housewife. University degrees were expected (mine is in English Literature with an Anthropology Minor). Both sets of my grandparents were apple farmers in Washington State; I have many fond memories of summers spent there.
Don’t forget—no one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell”—Charles de Lint
I have been a pizza maker, an encyclopedia salesman, a news cameraman and a book store employee. I have dug up the 400-year-old skeleton of a Huron Indian child, attended a Sperm whale autopsy and eaten kangaroo. One of my ancestors was killed at the Second Battle of Bull Run, fighting for the New Hampshire infantry in the Civil War. Another ancestor fought in George Washington’s Continental Army and I have a copy of the land grant he was awarded as a surviving veteran.
Today I live in suburban Los Angeles, a married stay-at-home dad with two young daughters who are home-schooled and a 14 pound terrier mix from the Lancaster Pound running roughshod over everything. And I write. And I write. And I write.
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you.”—Maya Angelou
That’s a tiny bit of my story (the highlights, not the lowlights) and I’m sure many of you have experiences and ancestries far more interesting than mine. Look back into your own history, at the tapestry of your life, for inspiration and ideas: sometimes they’re there, tucked away in your memories, waiting for nothing more than for you to look their way. Such an exercise can offer you gems, meaningful details or sweeping themes you can use in your work. If you’re at a loss for a starting direction, your own history is a good place to start.
And while your life story can be rich with potential, never fall prey to the wretched old writer’s advice to “only write what you know.” To heck with that. If I came up with a tale about working in a pizza parlor, sure, I’d tell it with authority. Charles Bukowski penned magnificent stories about his experiences working at the U.S. Post Office. But even in the telling of your own personal tales your writing requires research, exploration and imagination. Do you think Jules Verne, Beatrix Potter, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley and William Faulkner lived everything they wrote about? Of course not.
“Start writing no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”—Louis L’amour
Write about what inspires you, whether it’s an epic of French nationhood or the trials of a family of New England church mice. Go with confidence in the direction your Muse is pointing. Find your truth and tell it. Research. Empathize. Explore. Imagine. (I should be able to build a cool acronym out of that …)
Having two daughters, I became interesting in telling the stories of female characters. Do I understand the feminine mind? Ask my wife, who will respond with a resounding “no.” But My muse took me there and I went. Do I have any experience serving aboard a zeppelin warship in a steampunk universe (my Romulus Buckle novel series)? No. Do I have any experience as a woman Red Army fighter pilot in late 1930’s-early 1940’s Soviet Union (The White Rose of Stalingrad)? No.
But I had to write my stories. I had no choice. My Muse has likely handicapped me by jumping around in different genres (Historical Fiction, Steampunk, Apocalyptic Fantasy, Sci-Fi Weird and Y.A. Adventure) but again, I had no real choice. I wrote screenplays for ten years (mostly B-level cable fare flicks and kids’ TV) before I decided to embrace potential poverty as a novelist. I am a late-starter in the book writing universe which for me is freeing—I write whatever the hell I want to.
“You only fail if you stop writing.”—Ray Bradbury
If you’re considering writing your first novel or another novel, you might select an idea that has stuck with you for a while; if your idea for “Billy’s Hike in the Himalayas” has taken up permanent residence in your brain you just might be ready to spend 4 to 6 to 12 months or more of your life in an intimate and frustrating relationship with Billy. Most importantly, if you choose to write—you gotta stick to it.
“Success is the sum of small efforts—repeated day in and day out.”—Robert Collier
With The White Rose of Stalingrad I first read a novel about Stalin’s women pilots written by an American War journalist who didn’t have access to many records; he relied on interviews so he got a lot of the details wrong. I loved the idea of the Russian women in the air war. I researched everything I could and shared emails with university professors who were experts on the subject. The first form of the story was a screenplay. Nobody bought it. But the idea would not let go. I made a research trip to Russia in 2007 to interview veterans of the regiments and visit locations in St. Petersberg, Moscow, Volgograd (Stalingrad) and Kursk.
White Rose is an exception in my writing career for how extensive and expensive my research became, but I had to get the story right, or at least as right as I could possibly get it. I owed these women I never knew. I owed it to the proud veterans who told me their stories, ribbons on their civilian jacket lapels. I owe them the telling of their story (largely unknown even inside Russia) the best I can make it.
I also owe it to the book characters who now reside permanently in my head, talking to me with their own desires and opinions, wondering how their story will end.
So you wanna write a novel, eh?
Richard
Please consider supporting my work with a paid subscription to my newsletter (think of it as buying me a good cup of coffee once a month) and join us in the serial read of my White Rose of Stalingrad novel plus all installments of The Writer’s Kitchen articles and upcoming podcast and much more. I’d love to have you aboard.
A Book on Writing I’d recommend: The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, Warner Books, 2002 (*please use this Affiliate Link). Positive encouragement in the creative battle with procrastination from a real pro.
Be sure to check out The Writer’s Kitchen Podcast when it arrives! (I have to figure out how to make one first)