This Writer's Life - Parte the Second

Record the process of writing my latest novel in a series of blogs? Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Halfway through writing the third book of The Covenant, a series of loosely related dark thrillers, and the experience of recording the writing process in a blog has revealed itself to be akin to sticking pinning pins into an open wound. It must be said, however, that writing this blog is less painful than writing a novel. But then, tripping over, stubbing your toe, tumbling head-over-heels, banging your head on a wall, and catching your eyelid on a protruding nail is less painful than writing a novel. Just ask George Orwell …

Wonder no more what George would have found in room 101. But this isn’t a blog about writing a blog. This is a blog about writing a novel. So, how goes it? The good news is that I have reached the halfway point. This is not to be sneezed at either. Most authors will tell you the hardest aspects of writing a novel are the beginning, the end, and the middle. And when I say the middle, I mean that moment just before the middle, when you're approaching that biggest of hurdles: the second half of your book. Truth be told, it is difficult not to consider the notion that if you abandoned ship at this point, you would lose less than half of your eventual output. Add in the fact you would also get to experience that rush of excitement that comes from starting something new ...

In this instance, having previously abandoned my plans for what would have been the third book in The Covenant series (see my blog The Writer’s Life – Parte the First), I was determined to continue. The spirit was indeed willing. Even if the flesh was weak … feeble … and in desperate need of a year-long membership to Anytime Fitness. Besides, I had a much better feeling about things this time around. There had been usual crises of confidence. At several points during the writing of the first half of the book, I had wondered if I hadn’t made a serious mistake (if any other authors reading this could confirm this isn’t just me). But these fears were swiftly allayed when I read back what I had written, allowing for the usual typos, mixed metaphors, and run-on sentences, of course.

So far, so good then, with one notable exception. My need to plan, research, and prepare each novel in (what others might find brain-numbing) detail has been severely tested by the lack of time I was able to allocate to this task. Instead of having detailed notes to follow, I had a list of ideas that formed the basis of a narrative (I now have some insight into how James Herbert used to work). For others, this may have been an opportunity. For me, this has been a nightmare. I wouldn’t say that I was having to make things up as I was going along (I did give myself a path to follow) but the view has not always been clear. Where previously I just followed the prescribed route, as dictated by my notes, I was now having to review every single scene on the fly. This has meant constructing, writing, and rewriting multiple scenes simultaneously. Every time I deviate from what my notes state, which is often, I must go back and rewrite previous scenes affected by the changes and go forwards and revise my plans for upcoming scenes affected by the changes―I can only wonder how Stephen King makes this work!

How this will affect things as I begin work on the second half of the book? I dread to think. What I am expecting is a mixture of the challenging, the frustrating, and the downright hair-pulling-outing. Who’d be a writer, eh? Well, I would, despite all of this. The fact of the matter is that there really is nothing else like writing a book. It’s like living a second life, with all the struggles, labours, and rewards that suggests. Every day, I sit down at my desk, slip through the thin fabric of reality, and enter another world where I get to play God. If you have ever toyed with the idea of writing a book, do it. It doesn’t need to be a magnum opus. It doesn’t need to be a literary masterpiece. It just needs to be your own words, on the page, telling the story you want to tell. I'll say it once more: there really is nothing else like time spent writing. Taking time out to put your thoughts on paper is like downloading the bad and reliving the good. It's the ultimate therapy. As another great horror writer once said, writing is the best thing after sex and sleep. I’d agree with him. Although, I wouldn't have necessarily put these things in that order.