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During my writing career (as a mere hobbyist) I tried to write a novel several times. The fact is that I started off in my teen years whetting my pen with poetry and getting some diversion by writing short stories. I know, my posts here are rather an evidence of the contrary (especially the very long rant about my favorite anime series), but the truth is that I'm not a verbose writer by nature. I learned to be somewhat more articulate by keeping a daily private journal for almost six years now. But still novels are mostly unknown land.
Time is a key factor when writing a novel. One needs to allot a certain amount of time *daily* to the task, for a certain number of days (say, one month). This is just for the first draft. And then comes the cycle of reviewing and rewriting, about which I can't say much since I've never got that far. Time is also important *inside* the story. In a short story everything points to the final resolution and there is very little or no space at all for digressions. It's a very economical genre. On the other side, novels are much more spacious and many more things happen that have just a temporary / local function. One has to take into account this spaciousness so the flow of the story is not affected in a negative way.
Lastly, novels ask for a huge dedication. You can't just scribble down a novel as you do with a (short) poem or a short story. You have to keep yourself faithful to your characters, their places, their stories. You have to get back to them everyday and write about that same story conveying that same message *every single day*, whatever may be happening in your life at the moment. And that for me is maybe the single hardest thing about writing novels.
I'm currently jotting down a first draft of what I hope to be my first personal success in the genre. I took inspiration from - hear ye - "The Vision of Escaflowne", because once again I was so disappointed by the ending of it; and also I thought it would be easier to write some fanfic-style novel. Of course, it will never earn me a dime, nor get me an award: if I ever get to end it without being too much disappointed it would be a great win. And if someone ever reads it and enjoys it, even the more so.
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June, 22th 202
Tags: writing, novel, fanfic