With a novel, there is no hurrying it. You're constantly walking into the unknown.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Novels, in my experience, are slow in coming, and once I've begun them I know I have years rather than months of work ahead of me.
If I had a plot that was all set in advance, why would I want go through the agony of writing the novel? A novel is a kind of exploration and discovery, for me at any rate.
Entering a novel is like going on a climb in the mountains: You have to learn the rhythms of respiration - acquire the pace. Otherwise you stop right away.
A novel is a big thing. It's difficult to hold the whole story in your mind, especially when you've finished a first draft and are still giddy from the flow of creative juices.
I do novels a bit backward. I look for a situation, a milieu first, and then I wait to see who walks into it.
I never plan my novels because if I know what is going to happen, it bores me rigid. I let the story tell itself.
Every time I start a new novel, it seems like an impossible undertaking. If I tried to do too much too quickly, I would get lost and feel overwhelmed. I have to go slow, and give things a chance to take form and grow.
Finding my way into a novel is always half the battle.
There's no reason you should write any novel quickly.
I think the worst and most insidious procrastination for me is research. I will be looking for some bit of fact or figure to include in the novel, and before I know, I've wasted an entire morning delving into that subject matter without a word written.
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