In which I talk about writing plans.
Aug. 14th, 2009 09:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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This is rather long and I apologize for that in advance. But it's a community for talking about writing, isn't it? So there.
After 15 years of writing, I'd say I'm definitely a writer, even if all I've published is one minor article in a local newspaper, a few reviews in a super-indie publication and tons of fanfic online. I've never really taken my writing seriously enough to try to make money off it, but I'm going for it at last this year for National Novel Writing Month.
I know - NaNoWriMo is usually for bad writing, but it's a good excuse to really work hard every day and get a first draft done from start to finish. I have a lot of research and planning to do first, even though all I'm going to attempt is a romance novel. I figured it's got to have a better chance of being published, considering the huge percentage of the book market romance novels dominate, and from what I've seen Harlequin doesn't exactly mind "beginner" errors.
I got a hold of some romance novels for researching the genre, though before I got them I had already got excited and begun to plot - a plot that I now see I can' t possibly use... Believe it or not, I had never before read a bona fide category romance novel. My first one was Linda Lee Guhrke, and I found it so-and-so, but having since read two others I now see that in its genre it was quite brilliant. There are very clear rules and there seems to be a formula for plot points that I intend to calculate by pagecount next. I want to do the genre justice. It's actually interesting to write such specific genre fiction, as the challenge is to make it original and still make it fit.
- I will want to improve on the clichés, and that's a difficult balance to keep - I don't want to sound like I'm mocking the clichés the reader is likely to love.
- I really hate the way the heroes are written. I don't find them attractive at all. I don't know how I'll be able to write one of these silly characters and still like him.
- The man will have to be stronger and more capable than the woman, and that needs to be one of his appeals. This offends my feminist sensibilities somewhat.
- I will have a lot of doing trying to stop myself from subverting the clichés (my first urge is to write this about a middle-aged overweight couple who are so mundane it hurts, and show the beauty of their love while they munch on industrial cookies on their tacky 80s pattern sofa).
All this makes me think I should just write the novel I want to write; it's got more of a chance to be actually finished, but pretty much zero chance of being sold, despite probably being a better book.
What do you think I should attempt? Mundane romance (this is the idea that fires me up) or something I can actually sell?
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-15 05:59 pm (UTC)For writers who can magically sit down and start writing from-the-heart masterpieces without studying the craft, great. For the rest of us who fear we'll end up pumping out reams of unstructured rambling, killing those seedlings of original literature ideas in the process, having some help with the first (or first few) manuscripts is a great idea.
I think we instinctively know which way we want to go...just write and hope for the best, or use a plot & structure book/study genres, etc. and practice the craft. Both ways are valid, and writers would do well to respect all paths that nurture creativity and fulfillment. Formulas become formulas for a reason, yes? =D
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-16 08:16 am (UTC)I completely agree! If the reader is instinctively expecting some turn of the plot at a certain point and it doesn't happen, it could really diminish reading pleasure. Better to stick to the formula when you're just starting out writing; you can break the rules later. Using the accepted basic grid for the story also doesn't mean it can't be original. The formula is not the plot.
(I'm really beginning to itch to write a "kitchen sink romance". I don't know if that itch would really carry me through 50,000 words of dishes and leaking pipes, but I just love the idea of using the romance novel formula with a Mike Leigh cast.)
I think it's a damn shame, though, that publishers refuse non-formulaic novels for the reason of them not being formulaic. I recently read a book written by publishers called "How Not To Write a Novel" and then proceeded to read an excellent published novel that did a lot of the things they warned against. The excellence of a novel doesn't hang on whether or not it's formulaic or on any other specific dos and donts. Many - most - of my favourite novels are written in the "wrong" way somehow.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-16 03:35 pm (UTC)Ah, but ONE way we're all lucky is to be writing when e-publishing is taking off. I certainly don't know a whole lot about it, but from I understand there's a lot more creative rope regarding content and length when it comes to e-publishing. I know people are still resisting the idea, and saying they don't want to give up the paper versions and the experience of holding a book, but after living through the same sorts of arguments when people resisted going from vinyl to disc, then disc to electronic files in the music industry I personally am extremely excited to be writing at this particular moment in history.
I'd say my favorite ~emotional/thinker~ sort of novels were written in a more unconventional, "literary" style. Many of my favorite comfort novels, or the ones so compelling that I stayed up all night (for several nights running, sometimes) reading were genre/entertainment novels. The world needs both! Yes, write what you (you=general you...I'm working through all of these same issues myself) love. But there's no shame in loving books with engaging characters and plot elements that are woven around formulas, and were written to entertain. Just make sure you're writing in a genre that has the potential to entertain YOU, or all's lost ^___^
Thanks so much for wading through these replies. I'm on the verge of shelving my current project for awhile and writing a mystery using the book The Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery, and these exact issues are the ones I've been struggling with.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-17 03:27 am (UTC)E-books! It's no wonder if there's more rope in e-publishing because it's practically cost-free. I think it'll take more people taking to e-readers before it will take off, though. I find it hard to read books in digital form because my computer is such a perfect entertainment center, and with so many open projects on it, that I just end up working on/playing with something else, but my significant other has an e-reader and has read several books off it. She loves the thing! (She read some bootlegs and some free books from Amazon Books, though, and an e-book often only costs a few euroes, so it's not a great projection for making money in e-books.)
That sounds like a good book! Good luck!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-18 01:49 am (UTC)http://romanceuniversity.org/
=D
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-18 05:55 am (UTC)