MetaChat - So, is it possible to write a novel in eight weeks? Day One of my endeavor begins...

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06 July 2006

So, is it possible to write a novel in eight weeks? Day One of my endeavor begins... →[More:]

Faulkner wrote As I Lay Dying in six weeks, and Hurston Their Eyes Were Watching God in about the same, but I'm no Faulkner or Zora Neale Hurston.

It's unrealistic for me to think I can finish this novel, which I've been stewing over for several years (yes folks, she said years), in a mere eight weeks (I go back to teaching on August 31st).

Last summer, I never got off Chapter One. It's a helluva good chapter, though, that I'll probably cut. (It did get me into the 92nd Street Y novel workshop, which I paid for to the tune of $450 and didn't attend; I mainly wanted to see if I could get in, but like an idiot, I paid the $450).

This book needs to come out. I feel very pregnant. I have over twenty detailed chapter sketches and an overall story flow-chart (I'm mostly a feel-as-you-go writer, but with a novel, it's good to have a few star charts handy). There are several more projects in a holding pattern. I'm getting old. It may never happen. Scary. On the other hand, I know it doesn't matter all that much, one way or the other, in the larger scheme of things. It doesn't really matter to anyone but me and those close to me. It's just something I'd like to do.

So, I'm here at what may become my home-away-from-home for the summer: Starbucks. Blasphemy to some, including my beloved, I know, evil corporation, yes, but it's air conditioned, and they have nice little tables (not to mention t-mobile) and a perfect-height counter I can stand at if my belly cramps from too much sitting, and the come and go of people is soothing. A corner in Queens is not quite Paris, but it'll do.

Wish me luck, folks. Today is a new day. No one can help someone write a novel, I realize; a novel, I read once, and truly believe, is like setting out solo in a rowboat across the Atlantic. All anyone can really do is wave. Still, a little MeCha company along the way is a good thing (there's wireless at sea, right?). Shared experiences, advice, support, grant money (just kidding), are all appreciated. Updates (perhaps brief excerpts) to follow.

Generally, I'm superstitious about discussing the content of what I'm writing while I'm writing it (process, yes, content, not so much). Suffice to say, the book is basically about a man trying to put his family back together, after a life of jail, drugs, what have you. It's called Newton's Cradle. With any luck, I'll have a polished draft by August 31st.

Now, anyone wanna go swimming? Hiking, biking? Kite flying? Parachuting? I love roller coasters, you know... anyone?

post by: Pips at: 10:08 | 25 comments

I'm excited for you. That is so cool. I'm dripping with envy over here....dripping! So can we refer to the Starbucks now as your office, like Perez Hilton does? His office is the Coffee Bean on the corner of 18th and something or other in LA.

What's that I smell? Is it a Pulitzer? Ooops no, I just found the anchovy that dropped behind the counter last week. Sorry about that.

You know, I can totally believe that As I Lay Dying was written in six weeks.

posted by iconomy 06 July | 10:17

Oh yeah, and "I'm no Faulkner" is not necessarily a bad thing. I guess you can tell that I'm not a fan... ;)

posted by iconomy 06 July | 10:19

I flew a kite on Monday. For the first time in my life, I could actually keep it up there and even control it! It was fun.

I don't want to so swimming, but I think I'll go cycling later tonight.

Oh, and good luck.

posted by Daniel Charms 06 July | 10:19

Good luck, missy! Let us increase the creative endeavors!

posted by matildaben 06 July | 10:25

I feel very pregnant.

*looks around nervously, breaks sweat*

posted by jonmc 06 July | 10:26

Sounds great, pips! Best of luck!

posted by gaspode 06 July | 10:27

*slams bottle of champagne on Starbuck's counter, waves hanky at Pips!*

posted by rainbaby 06 July | 10:27

Hey Pips! Thanks for the shout yesterday!

Now about this novel....
Just do it! You know what you're doing and it can happen in 8 weeks or less. I have full confidence in ya!

Now get crackin' so we call go skinny dipping at that nudie playa! lol.

posted by Joe Famous 06 July | 10:29

Cool.
You go Girl!!!!!!!

You can do it.

It's called Newton's Cradle.
I'm guessing that the main character is called Newton?

posted by seanyboy 06 July | 10:33

Unless it's gonna be several pounds of paper, I bet you can do it, or at very least get a solid draft out.
"Get it out. Push it out. Way out."
It sounds like you know what you want and have a firm idea in mind so at least you could get it mapped out with the main scenes or points or what have you, and either work on the scenes that you must, or just let the thing evolve as you write and write and write in seamless hours to the speedy clicky clack of your fingers at the keys.

If you're not consumed by the muse by the end of the month you could do the blogathon and give yourself a text purging boost while raising charity money.

Meanwhile, I'm feeling uncharacteristically optimistic at the moment. Maybe it's because the weather finally seems nice, or that I'm underslept, or that I just excreted a few dense pages of text myself.
Nothing like a healthy dump.

posted by ethylene 06 July | 10:34

One word: Nanowrimo

If 9,769 people can write 30,000 words of a novel in November 2005 each, I have no doubt you can do your novel in eight weeks!

*borrows TPS' cheerleading outfit*

GO PIPS!

posted by TrishaLynn 06 July | 10:35

Wow, thanks y'all... the rowing's lighter already...

(someone's hammering at the front door here... maybe it's the nameplate for my new "office"...)

(Ha, JF! Last one in's a rotten bunny...) : )

posted by Pips 06 July | 10:36

Know what, Pips? I think you've helped inspire me... I wonder if some like minded of us would be interested in a sort of writer's powwow thing to keep motivated or focused, like an inverse book club of sorts, the whine and cheesed kind... random thought...

posted by ethylene 06 July | 10:46

More the merrier, ethylene... long's I don't have to pay another $450. : )

posted by Pips 06 July | 10:53

A tape recorder is your friend. It has often helped me when I am speaking to someone about what I am writing to turn the recorder on and then go back later and listen to the conversation to pick out thoughts/ideas to develop. Great resource if writer's block creeps in.

posted by getoffmylawn 06 July | 11:13

Oh, and good wishes are sent to you for your writing endeavor!

posted by getoffmylawn 06 July | 11:15

TrishaLynn's right -- I did NaNoWriMo and I turned out a 50K word Anthony Trollope-esque novel in 29 days. You can definitely do it! Rah!

The key is to not to fret about the quality of every sentence you write -- just focus on getting the thing written down. Don't wipe anything out, just keep moving forward at all times. If you can help it, don't read what you've already written. Just like when having a baby -- keep pushing!

posted by JanetLand 06 July | 11:16

Yeah, I am a tinkerer to the nth degree, JL. Jon calls it "debugging," which is fine for a poem, but really seems to hamper my longer works. I tend to write and rewrite as I go along, at a pace of about a page an hour (for fiction), if things are going well. Which still makes it a "doable" goal, I think (the eight weeks); it's when I spend three hours on a paragraph that I gets in trouble. "Keep moving" should be my new mantra; I can always revise more later, and some time away from a particular piece usually gives me clearer vision anyway.

Thanks again, everyone... you're all invited to my bitchin' book party (*knocks on wooden head to avoid jinx...*).

(they're bringing in a huge refrigerator, by the by... now I'll have some place to stash the bodies)

posted by Pips 06 July | 11:43

Lunch break!

*slides down dinosaur's neck at whistle*

Got me some chicken and broccoli from Chicken Festival... much better than the local "chinese store," as my Bronx students call it (I rather dig the expression). Plus, my laptop died at 'bucks. Luckily, I don't lose anything when the battery goes; the machine just slips into sleep mode and wakes right up again after it's plugged in.

Maybe I'll do a little more after lunch, then call it a day. If I go longer than five hours or so, I find I'm no good the next day (course, some of that's MeCha time, but what the heck...).

posted by Pips 06 July | 12:29

All the best, Pips!

posted by Smart Dalek 06 July | 12:40

Isabel Allende says if you write a page a day, at the endo of the year, you'll have a novel.

posted by brujita 06 July | 13:30

Good luck. . .my unsolicited advice. . don't discuss it too much. . .just do it. . .we'll all be interested in hearing about it once you get it done. . .Graham Greene used to write exactly 500 words per day, no matter what.

And I would have to think that, after being there, a/c would be something of a necessity for doing something like that, even though I am sure, in the past, or present, people have managed without it. . .

posted by danf 06 July | 14:47

Pips, you can definitely do this. Will you have a finished, perfect novel in eight weeks? Probably not. But will you have vastly more accomplished than you do now, will you be a better writer, will you work faster and more surely, will you have a better idea of whether this is something you want to continue doing? Yes to all. My experience this winter writing an album in a month taught me the value of sheer plod in the way nothing else could have. I had a deadline and I had to do the work - what came out may not have been perfect, but it was certainly better than all the albums I didn't write in all the other months. You know?

Put the time in. You'll feel good. What a great goal to dedicate your summer to. (And when it's done, if you want a reader, I volunteer!)

posted by Miko 06 July | 14:55

It is possible. It is slightly nuts, but it is possible. Slightly nuts is the way to be. You have my whole-hearted endorsement. Bring headphones.

posted by Divine_Wino 06 July | 15:09

Oh, eight weeks? I thought you said eight days. You can write ten novels in eight weeks. Phillip K Dick wrote 200 novels in eight weeks. As far as I can tell Charlie Stross writes a novel on his cellphone every morning while he waits for the egg to boil.

posted by Divine_Wino 06 July | 15:11

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