On "On Writing the Breakout Novel"

[davidlevine]

I posted the note below in response to this post by elfs, in which he wondered aloud whether there's anyone out there writing who doesn't already know the things in Writing the Breakout Novel (e.g. the story has to be interesting, and that includes both the characters and the setting; the book has to be about something). This is something I've been thinking about for a while and I thought I'd repost it here for general consumption.

Well, I suspect that most writers do understand at some level that a story has to have all of those things. But when you're up to your elbows in sentences and there are adjectives and adverbs all over the floor, sometimes it's useful to have a nice bulleted list of larger goals that you should be careful not to forget. (I do like the checklists at the end of each chapter of that book... they're useful for evaluating a work in progress.)

I've also found that I've often needed to be told certain basics again and again and again before they really sink in. For example: "life needs to be hard for the character." I can read that in a book, and go "yes, of course." And then I'll hear it from another writer, and say "obviously." And then I'll see it in a comment on someone's LJ, and I'll say "naturally." And then one day I'll read it in a magazine article, when I'm also trying to figure out why the current work in progress is just lying there like a dead slug, and suddenly the light goes on and the chorus of angels sings out and I say "aha! life needs to be hard for the character!" And from that moment on I can move forward confidently on that point, while continuing to screw up someplace else.

Advice doesn't really click, it doesn't really work, until you hear it at the moment you are truly ready to hear it. Which means that there's value in being told the same basic things over and over and over again, because you never can tell when the stars will align. And sometimes you can even get that "aha!" moment twice for the same piece of advice.

Comments

[jaylake.livejournal.com]

Nicely put. Sometimes the obvious, and putatively well-understood, hits me like a lightning bolt in much the same way.

[bdkellmer.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Clearly that's one of those books from you get different lessons, depending on what you need to hear. Last time I read it, the big thing I got out of it was that the story you're telling has to be significant in some way beyond its impact to the characters themselves. A story that affects the world, for instance, is more likely to have breakout appeal than one that focuses on a small family, for instance.

Think I'll go back and read it again.

[crazysoph.livejournal.com]

Advice doesn't really click, it doesn't really work, until you hear it at the moment you are truly ready to hear it. Which means that there's value in being told the same basic things over and over and over again, because you never can tell when the stars will align. And sometimes you can even get that "aha!" moment twice for the same piece of advice.

And not just for writing, either.

Crazy(and getting used to repetitions)Soph

PS Sorry for the double-comment; I've cleaned up the version where I messed up the HTML tag for italics.

[weelz.livejournal.com]

Well timed post, David, thankyou! I'm waist-deep in writing for the first time in oh say 10 years, and I mean writing ANYthing. I'm still at the enjoying-the-flow stage. I haven't decided whether I want this to be THE great novel but mebbe.

[davidlevine]

Good luck with it!