In a previous post, I mentioned that I had a big breakthrough on my current novel. Basically I realized that the massive amount of research needed for the novel could minimized if I just changed the point of view. This was so much of a breakthrough, that the story took over my life for a couple of days.
At first I had the usual problem. My story would not let me sleep until I wrote down some notes. It kept this, and me, up for a couple of hours in the middle of the night. With the notes properly typed, I was finally able to get to a fitful sleep.
I thought that would be it for a while. I made plans to to work on the novel a little at a time with the goal of having a first draft ready in late spring of 2017. That may still be the date, but the novel is definitely fighting it.
Starting early this past Saturday morning (June 25, 2016, for those keeping score) the novel took over. Just a couple hours of work, I thought. The novel had other ideas. I was able to take breaks, run errands, eat, sleep, and shower, but everything else for Saturday and Sunday was writing.
By the end of the day Sunday, I had twenty-thousand words of my first draft complete.
Surprisingly, my fingers weren’t even sore. I was in need of exercise and my eyes needed a rest, but everything else was fine. I actually survived.
If I could do this quantity of writing on a regular basis, I could get to a rate of novel production similar to Stephen King (no comment on the quality at this time). The important thing is that I could see how a person who is a professional novelist can be productive.
At this time, I still have my “real job” to deal with. That means I do have other things I need to accomplish this and the following weeks, so I probably can’t devote the same amount of time as I did over the weekend. If, however, I can get five more sessions like last weekend, that would add up to a novel’s worth of words. Again, these are all first draft words, so a finished novel is still quite a ways off. I also only have about a month and a half before I have to return to my full-time teaching gig, and that will slow me down.
The first novel is currently looking for an agent. If I can get the second novel done before the middle of next summer, that will be two in the series complete. The notes and general outline of the third novel are complete, so writing will have to start next summer. The fourth novel in line has just notes at this point, but I’m including setup pieces in the current novel so there will be continuity and expectation. If I can pull off the fourth novel the way I want to, it actually leads to a world of notes that I’ve been compiling since junior high school, all waiting to be written as books.
All of this assumes that the not-sleeping thing won’t kill me first.