New Year, Old Thoughts
A neighbor retired last year after a thirty-five year career teaching high school English. She’s an avid reader and knows the subject, so I suggested she write a novel.
“Oh, I could never do that,” she said.
“Why not?”
“It’s too difficult,” she said, eyes wide, then shook her head. “Well, you would know.”
The truth is I do, and I don’t. Taken as a whole, the task of embarking on a new novel is daunting. It’s monolithic, intimidating, an act of hubris to think you could do it. On the other hand, writing a scene is easy enough, and rather fun. And in the end, isn’t a novel just a series of interlocking scenes? Looked at that way, it’s not so imposing (as long as there is no deadline with consequences lurking in the future). If you just take it scene by scene, eventually you will come to a logical end. Anne Lamott wrote a book about it called Bird by Bird. You might want to check it out.
Recent Comments