I’m about to start writing book two. The characters are churning in my subconscious and I’m storing up real-life personalities and moments to be regurgitated later.
My story’s come from sticking two ideas together – one, taken from a newspaper cutting, the other, something that a friend is going through. The subjects fascinate me and have the potential to keep me gripped for the year it’s going to take to write the book.
A year?! Who am I kidding, right? My first novel, The Maid’s Room, has taken me five years to finish – (it was abandoned on the laptop for a lot of that time, mind you). Three weeks ago, I started submitting it again. (Fingers, toes and other relevant parts of anatomy are well and truly crossed.)
One of the reasons my first novel took so long to write is that I was a greenhorn – I had no idea what my writing style was. And when a helpful literary agent met up with me and said, ‘You need to show not tell,’ I replied, ‘Oh, of course!’ a disguise of a smile wiped across my face; I hadn’t the foggiest what she was talking about.
I’m no expert now, but I do know more.
And one mistake I’m not going to repeat is leaving the synopsis to the end. I’ve already written it for my second novel. I know I’ll veer off it, that I’ll change my mind about things. But setting the story within the framework of a synopsis is a reassurance that this new book might just work.
It contains the following three features that are essential for any book:
1 The story starts in the right place.
Put your characters in an inciting incident in your opening scenes. That way, you’ll reduce the chances of a literary agent telling you, ‘I didn’t fall into your narrative.’ Writer: Take hold of the agent’s ear and drag her over the story’s precipice.
2 Characters have arcs.
By the end of your novel, your main characters should have gone through a change. They should be different at the end to the way they were at the beginning.
3 Characters are at risk.
How are your characters in jeopardy? Show how great the risks are. Don’t let the tension and drive go slack.
WritingMad 
How many times, and for how long, did you abandon your first novel? I have this huge novel-worth of story in my head, and when I sit down to write, my thought is always, “Holy shit, novels are long!” I try to remember Anne Lamott’s maxim “bird by bird,” but whew!
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Also, being overwhelmed causes me to tell and not show because I’m trying to get some sort of plot down, but it almost reads like someone telling her friend verbally what happened in a book step-by-step. I have to rewrite every single scene with showing in mind.
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I probably abandoned my first book for about a year while I wrote a second book – (I’ve since ditched that one – although I still love its central idea). And of course, there have been lots of breaks in novel writing while I’ve been submitting – months and months and months!
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That makes me feel better.
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Yeah, showing is a tricky one. And like you, I often have to rewrite. My favourite way to show stuff is through dialogue, especially between acquaintances. People speak to fill spaces, squirm, words get misinterpreted….. so much fun to write!
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