James Moore

It’s not the writing that’s the problem. It’s finding the time to write. Oh, I know a lot of people have troubles with writer’s block, but not me. Not most of the time. There are always a few exceptions, of course.

 

I know I’ve probably gone over this before. Hey, what can you expect? It’s one of the things that I believe is important, so I’m going to cover it repeatedly for as long as I’m writing these articles.

 

There are tools for any trade and that includes writing. Obviously you need something to write on, be it a computer or a pad of paper with a number 2 pencil. You need the basic comprehensive skills that allow you to read and write in the English language (or choose the tongue of your choice) and you need the drive.

 

But all of that is useless without the time to write. I’ve met a lot of would-be writers who lamented that they never had the time. Most of them were either exaggerating their daily grind or simply lacked the actual desire to make the necessary sacrifices. Meet up with me in person sometime and I’ll go into details. Understand me, I’m not talking about every writer here. I’m not referring to the occasional short story author or book reviewer. I’m talking about writers. The ones who live and breathe this stuff and who can’t get a decent night’s sleep because the damned ideas are bouncing around in their heads and want to be out on paper NOW and not later. I’m talking about the ones who’ve decided that this insanity isn’t just a hobby, but what they want to do with the rest of their lives. Because, and I mean this with absolute sincerity, anyone can find the time to write a short story. Anyone can scrounge enough minutes to do a casual examination of his or her latest movie or book. Not everyone can dedicate the weeks, months or years it requires to write a novel. (Side note: Yes, I said years. Apparently there are a lot of people who take years to write a novel. The longest I’ve ever taken was one year and that was a novel that was later broken into a trilogy and I was working on other projects along the way. But that’s me. I accept that some people might actually need years.)

 

It’s November. That means it’s also the time of year when a substantial number of people decide to write an entire novel in a month. There’re contests for this. I think the minimum is something along the lines of 45-50,000 words in a one-month span. I also think it’s a great concept. I might actually participate if I had to prove to myself that I could do it, but I have already written a 127,000-word novel in three weeks before. Not because I wanted to test myself, but basically because it had to be written that fast. That’s what I mean when I say there isn’t always enough time. There’s never enough time, because for me and most full time writers (yes, I acknowledge there are exceptions) it isn’t about writing one novel a year. It’s about writing three or four novels worth of words in that span of time. Those words may not all go into novels, but they have to be put down anyway, and getting behind on one project means getting behind on all of the work that’s expected. As I write this column, I am also working on two short stories, a novel proposal (collaborative), a novel outline (solo) and a novel that, in a perfect world, I’ll have done by the end of November. No way in Hell is that happening, but that’s what I’d like to see. Because I also have to get to work on an anthology that has finally been green lighted after two years of hurry-up-and-wait sales pitches. The anthology, by the way, is what I consider a “fun” project. It’ll eat away my time, and that of my coeditors, and we will probably hate ourselves for coming up with the idea and then deciding to actually act on it. It will pay us roughly nothing when you consider the editing time that will go into it and when it’s all said and done, we’ll remember it fondly and remember that it was fun to do. But it won’t pay any bills. Okay, it might pay for me and the missus to go to the local cinema and maybe even pick up a large popcorn and a cola to wash down the preposterous salt content. It will not, however, do much more than that.

 

While I’m working on all of that, I’m in negotiations with a few publishers for other projects that are either finished, or are finished proposals (Side note, again: See, a LOT of writers are smarter than me and prefer to write outlines and a few sample chapters before finishing a novel. I’m a moron and usually finish a novel before I think about selling it. Not because it’s smarter, but because that’s the way I’m wired. I’m currently trying to UN-wire myself or get reprogrammed, because their way makes much more sense.) I’m also doing edits, line edits and rewrites on several projects, talking with publishes about what extras they might need, signing signature sheets for the limited editions of my stuff, working as an associate editor for a publisher, dealing with an agent (Side note: Yes, I know, I said I’d never deal with an agent again, and this is a trial run. If all goes well, I’ll have officially changed my mind in the near future, which will give me more free time.) and doing my best to keep up with the market.

 

Oh, and I still have a day job. And a family. And there are health issues for a few loved ones that are taking more of my time than I like to think about.

 

People, I’m hardly unusual in that respect. Life can, does and WILL get in the way of your writing time. You can either deal with it or let it knock you down and keep you down. I’ll deal with it. I’m still not designed to sit on my butt and do nothing. If I’m sitting on my derriere, it’s normally because I’m either writing or getting ready to handle the business of writing. Now and then it’s because I’m gabbing with another writer, but mostly it’s the first two.

 

As busy as I am, I could easily point out a dozen writers who stay just as busy or even busier and some of them who are actually successful enough to only work as a writer. Most of the professionals I know also have another job or enough other responsibilities (parenthood, family or health issues, etc.) to qualify as second jobs.

 

I’ve pointed out before that I know a lot of writers. I’m willing to bet that at least eighty percent of them know a dozen stories about would-be writers who complain about not having enough time.

 

There’s never enough time. You have to make up the difference where you can. I haven’t played a video game in over ten years. I would love to. I don’t have the time. I’m not complaining, I’m just explaining. I could make the time for the latest Playstation system and game, but if I did, I’d lose writing time. Or I’d lose sleep time. Both are really far too precious to me. So, video games go to the wayside. If I suddenly find gaming companies asking me to write for them, then I’ll make the time, do the research and get my butt in gear. Until then, I’ll have to experience Halo vicariously.

 

Recently I pointed out to a writer on a bulletin board that I don’t post much because I have more substantial writing to do. He took that as a veiled barb. I guess that’s fair, because it was to a certain extent. His response was to applaud my wit and explain that he considered ALL of his writing, including what he does on bulletin boards, etc. as part of his career goal.

 

More power to him. Me? I still have a novel to finish before the end of the year. I’m getting paid for it. I don’t get paid to post my opinions on who was a better Superman, Christopher or George Reeves. (Side note: Nope, just an example and nothing to do with the subject that was being discussed. For the record, though, Christopher Reeves was the one I’d have picked as the better Superman.)

 

There are a thousand distractions out there. I find myself falling victim to a few of them almost every day. That doesn’t change the fact that I have deadlines. The distractions aren’t allowed to win, because they don’t pay my bills. And yes, as I’ve stated before, this is a business. It’s also my passion, which is a wonderful combination and I’m damned grateful to be able to make a living with it, but I wouldn’t be making that living if the distractions were allowed to take over.

 

I don’t have high-speed Internet access at home. I know myself. There are a trillion movie trailers, music downloads and pictures of cute cats in silly positions with amusing slogans out there just waiting to chew up my writing time and spit it out. And I’m just exactly stupid enough to let them. So, no DSL or Wi-Fi at my house, thanks just the same.

 

You want to write? Write. Don’t let excuses get in the way. Regardless of how crappy my day has been how much my feet hurt from being on them at the day job or how strained my eyes are from reading and dealing with computer screens, I still have deadlines and I take care of those before I take care of sleep. There are a lot of writers on this board (go figure) and I bet most of them would agree with me about how to make the time for writing.

 

Remember how I always say get paid for the work you’re doing? That’s why. Because you’re working. You’re giving up free time and video games or that concert you really, really wanted to go to. You have to sacrifice bowling night with your buddies, or you decided you could wait to see the latest James Bond movie. You made the time. You worked it out and busted your rear end to get it done and that means you deserve to be paid for your hard work (With the standard provisos: It doesn’t suck, you managed to get a publisher who wants it, you are fulfilling a contractual agreement, etc.).

 

All work and no play may make me a dull boy, but it also puts bread on the table. Later. I can relax later. Right now, there are deadlines.

 

And I couldn’t be happier about it.

 

James A. Moore

There are certain things that will drive you out of a story as a reader. It might be an interjection by the author that breaks the from the tone of the book or a really bad run of punctuation errors or even something as offbeat as a character using dialogue that seems completely false to you. It happens. As a reader you either get on with it or you set the book aside. Me? I’ve never once in my life started a book and failed to finish it. I’ve been sorely tempted a few times, but I feel obligated once I’ve started. And yes, I am likely the exception and not the rule. But I can tell you this without any guilt; when the writing is bad enough, I give up the writer.

The thing is, as a writer, you have to understand that not everything you do is going to work for every reader. It’s inevitable. Stephen King sells millions of copies of his novels, most of them have been made into movies and so have a damn substantial number of his short stories and yet there are people who still swear they’ve never read anything by him that they liked and some of those making the claim work in the genre (I’m thinking there’s a bit of sour grapes in a lot of those claims). Me? I love his stuff, but that’s not what this article is about. It’s about pet peeves and stranger things and how they relate to you the writer not you the reader.

I recently saw a series of discussions on a board about what amounts to cardinal sins in the eyes of a handful of writers. One person couldn’t stand the idea of an exclamation point and a question mark being used together. Another felt that there was never a reason for an exclamation point in a novel. Still another felt that short sentences were annoying, in direct contrast to another who felt that long sentences should be made shorter. According to another writer, the word “was” should be stricken from the English language, thus assuring that no sentence ever be passive again.

Um. Yeah, about that…. You’re wrong. Sorry, but there it is. Sometimes “was” is needed to explain past tense.

Now, where was I? (Sorry, couldn’t resist)

Ah yes, pet peeves. Grammatically speaking, fiction breaks most of the rules of the English language. Even if the descriptions, etc, are spot on with proper English, the dialogue is likely to either destroy all rules or sound completely false. People very seldom speak proper English in conversation. It happens, don’t misunderstand me, but not nearly all the time. As an observation I’ll point out that a lot more people who speak English as a second language speak it properly than those who speak it as their native tongue. Why? Because the people who learned English as a second language often have to translate from their native tongue, which means actually THINKING before you speak, and because they were more formally trained in the use of the English language. I suspect the same is often true in the reverse as well, but speaking only one language myself, I couldn’t hope to back up that argument. And of course, the preceding is strictly observational and the accuracy is questionable at best.

There I go wandering off again. The rules of the English language are there for a reason. The rules of Grammar are there for a reason. If you want to be a writer, you should understand both. You should use them, too. When it serves your purpose. Ah, here I go stepping into the lion’s den. Ready? It’s okay to break the rules occasionally. It’s called dramatic license. Well, that’s what I call it at any rate. I’ve been known to use one word sentences. I’ve been known to use several of them in a row to make my point. Punctuation serves a purpose when you’re reading. Part of the purpose is to help you set the pace. Commas and periods both cause a reader to pause for entirely different reasons, but they both cause a pause. Ellipses do the same thing. Exclamation points are there to let us know that someone is screaming, or speaking very loudly without adding “he shouted” at the end of a sentence. What an amazing concept(He exclaimed dramatically)! They all serve their purposes and they have all been beaten into new shapes and forms by writers who are better than I will ever be. Why? Because for writers of fiction (and nonfiction, I suppose) words are not merely tools but also a form of expression. Just as an artist who works in water colors might decide to throw in a little India ink or even go crazy and use oils now and then, writers sometimes like to experiment. It’s what makes writers unique and how they discover their voices. Oh, sure, we’re all telling stories, but I’m willing to bet if you read fifteen different authors you would find that few of them sounded exactly like the others, at least if they’re successful authors. It’s part of the job description, folks. We’re supposed to entertain our readers and in order to do that we have to experiment. Strunk and White might disagree with me, but there it is.

Now let me make something clear here. You need to actually comprehend the rules of the English language and the rules of Grammar if you want to be successful. The world is overloaded with people who fail to understand the rules well enough to sell a novel or a short story. There are some people out there who are simply so bad that not even the most patient editors on the planet are willing to put up with them. Some writers will see changes made by an editor and simply make every change suggested. Others will be a wee bit more contentious about the situation and will point out to editors that in this one case, this single situation on page 103 of the manuscript, the comma splice was deliberate. They will fight tooth and nail to keep that damned splice, too, because it’s there for a reason. Believe me, I’ve had a few polite but firm discussions in my time. I’m the first to concede when I make a mistake, but now and then I like to experiment. Not too often, because it gets annoying as all hell to the editors. I know, because I also happen to work as an editor. You can normally differentiate the mistakes from the deliberate screw ups.

I’ve long contended it’s okay to break the rules as long as you actually know them first and do it deliberately. And within reason should be added as a proviso to that statement.

If you like exclamation points, by all means. They have a long history and have been used for many years to make their point known. If you like ellipses…help yourself. If you want your characters to speak in broken English or you feel some insane desire to spell out their phonetic pronunciations, who am I to stop you? It’s your story; write it the way you want to.

Just remember, the editors who look it over might have pet peeves of their own, and while they are going to work with you, they are also going to consider their likes and dislikes when it comes to whether or not they feel like publishing you. Unless you happen to be an international best selling author, in which case they’ll probably give you a little more leeway. Not always, but most of the time.

If you’re thinking of diagramming every sentence in here to prove that I don’t understand grammar, you’ll be wasting your time. I’m sticking to my guns on this one and I do understand grammar, I just sometimes choose to ignore it.

And now for my moment on the soapbox: People, I understand the desire to get published, I do. I also understand that some people, often those whose unique take on grammar’s rules and whether or not they should ever be followed, will inevitably decide it’s best to go ahead and self-publish. Fair enough, but remember you’ve been warned and not just by me, but by a lot of other authors and professionals as well.

Fine. I tried, but you didn’t want to listen.

That doesn’t mean you should set up an anthology. Even if you do, that doesn’t mean that once you’ve decided to edit and self-publish an anthology that you should then include your own stories in said anthology. There are a few occasions where an editor is in an anthology and no one looks askance at that editor afterwards. Gary Braunbeck and Hank Schwaeble recently edited an anthology called Five Strokes to Midnight. It did well enough to get amazing reviews and several nominations for awards. It also won two Bram Stoker Awards from the Horror Writers Association. Both editors also have stories in the anthology. It came out from a brand new small press. It also included an introduction by multiple award-winning author Tim Lebbon and additional stories by multiple-award winning authors Christopher Golden, Deborah LeBlanc and Tom Piccirilli. Believe me, very few people looked at any of the performers askance and if they did, it was only for a moment or two. This is the exception, not the rule. Most of the time the writers I’ve spoken to look down on an editor adding his or her own story to an anthology unless that editor is already a well-recognized and established author or maybe the collection is non-fiction.

Come out with your own small press, come out with an anthology of stories, add yourself to the table of contents and put that puppy out for sale and the odds are remarkably good that you’ll end up looking like you edited a charity anthology and took every damned story people tossed in your direction and forgot to even consider a decent layout for the interiors. Yeah, I went there. Deal with it.

Professionalism is still going to require a few standards and failing to meet them just makes you look, well, painfully unprofessional.

Okay, that’s all. I’m off my soapbox and out of your hair for another month. Try to remember to write. It’s what we’re all here to do. Get at least a little “me” time to do your work and the rest should be easy as long as you stay off the Internet and cell phone and actually write.

Seems one of the things I keep running across endlessly is writers who don’t quite know how to finish what they’ve started.

Oh, they have the ideas, they have the energy, and they have the determination, but when it comes to actually writing down the words and making them work, the writers in question falter and then simply stop. A good number of them have quit writing after a few attempts and others simply start on the next project and run across the same situation again.

It seems they can’t keep their focus on the projects they’ve started. It’s not that they don’t have the desire, because with some of them the need is almost a physical thing. They want it so badly they should have scars on the veins from attempting to mainline the muse.

What is it that separates these writers from the successful ones? What makes the difference between being a writer (professional or not, successful is a different beast) and a wannabe?

If I had to put it down to one thing, it would be attention span.

Listen it’s easy in this day and age to settle down with your laptop, your cell phone, your I-pod and a dozen other gadgets in preparation for writing. All that means is you’ve got the electronics. It doesn’t mean you’ve got the tools to handle the job. Aside from the obvious need for a little talent, you also have to employ the skills you learn from practicing the fine art of writing. That means you have a basic grasp of grammar, you can write a sentence that is coherent and then use the same skill to make paragraphs, pages, chapters and eventually complete stories. Even of you never write a novel, even if you prefer to write short stories and flash fiction, you have to have a certain level of talent and you most assuredly need to have a bit of discipline. Without those things all the gadgets in the world will fail you.

I recently watched one of my regulars at the coffee shop come in with every intention of getting some writing done. She knows I’m a writer and we talk from time to time. She set up her lap top, got herself a nice, big latte the better to keep her energized and ready to write, had her notebook full of scribbled outlines, etc ready to go, and then answered her phone as soon as it rang. Fifteen minutes later, she hangs up the phone and actually has her hands over the keyboard when the phone rings again. Then one of her neighbors came in, settled down at her table, completely ignoring the laptop and notes, etc, and long story short, I think she managed around two paragraphs in close to four hours. That phone was ringing off the hook and she was answering every single call, because she felt bad if she didn’t answer a call. It didn’t seem to matter if the call was important or not, but every call needed to be answered.

Yeah. I’ve got an answering machine and caller ID. I need to talk to someone calling here, I’ll play the messages and then I’ll make my callbacks. AFTER I’ve finished with my writing for the day.

The fact that she was sitting in a Starbucks and expecting to get any writing done is also, frankly, a near guarantee that nothing will get accomplished. I like Starbucks. In addition to working at one, I am exceedinglyu fond of the caffeine and tend to go out of my way to have some before I write on most occasions. Yes, I know it might not be the healthiest thing in the world for me. I also gave up smoking after 2o odd years last October, so only one vice at a time goes off the list. That point is neither here nor there. The point is, much as I love coffee and enjoy the atmosphere at Starbucks. I don’t even consider writing at one. There are too many distractions. There are WAAAAAAAY too many things I can do to keep myself from writing.

I still have dial up on my computer. I could have DSL and or high speed etc, but I choose not to, because I know myself. If I have the sort of speed that allows me to download trailers for movies like THE DARK KNIGHT, what I’m going to do is, by God, sit down and download endless trailers, and watch them. Or what the heck, I could live on the edge and download a good number of episodes from my favorite TV shows. I will do these things in a heartbeat, and then I will scratch my head and wonder why I haven’t gotten any writing done. I know, because I’ve done that sort of thing to myself before. In the long run, I can live without the trailers. I use the Internet mostly for hitting a few websites and to e-mail my manuscripts out to editors.

I’m a movie junkie. I have a weakness. I know that from time to time I have to curb my desire to watch every damned movie made, or I will never manage to finish a thing.

You have to have a routine and stick to it. It doesn’t have to be full time hours if you can’t spare the time, but if you can and you have the time, knock yourselves out.

Two hours a day can let you get a lot accomplished if you leave the video games in a different room, switch the TV off and only answer he phone when you know the person calling isn’t going to want to tell you their life’s story just because they’ve had a lousy day and need to talk.

Discipline.

It stops me from answering every interesting comment on a bulletin board, and it keeps me from hiding in the corner when a story goes south. I can’t speak for everyone, obviously, but I’m guessing you could ask around and find that a lot of novelists have mastered the fine art of taking care of writing before damned near anything else.

Finishing what you start isn’t that hard, folks, provided you set your mind to it. Save the Play station games for later, after you’ve written and saved the scenes you’ve had planned out for the last three months and then check how long it takes you to finish a story. You might be surprised how much of a difference it makes.

James A. Moore

Normally, I try to have this article posted by one in the morning. I’m a few hours behind schedule this time around.

 Today was not a normal day for me. I got to sleep in rather late by anyone’s standards and by my own I may as well be Rip Van Winkle. After eventually crawling out of bed, I got dressed, went over to a friend’s house and helped her load the rental truck that’s taking her to a slightly different life in North Carolina. Her husband is in the Armed Forces, and currently in Afghanistan. Seemed liked the neighborly thing to do, and it’s a last chance to hang with one of my work buddies. By the time my next article comes out, Good Lord willing, she and her husband and daughter will once again be a family unit.

 Had you asked me what my plans were for the weekend last week, they would have involved writing. In addition to this essay, I have three short stories I really need to finish, and I also have three novels I want to get wrapped up.

   Ah, and there’s the rub. They aren’t three NEW novels. They’re the same three I was trying to get finished by the end of 2007. Yeah, that’s right. I didn’t make it.

  First mistake: I tried to start all three of them at the same time. Turns out that while I CAN write three separate novels simultaneously, it slows me down more than a bit. That’s normally called “biting off more than you can chew,” in publishing terms. That’s okay. Live and learn. And it’s not like I didn’t have other things I was working on to keep me busy.

  Other things, Jim? Like what?

  I’m glad you asked. In addition to writing novels, I do an occasional review. In addition to the occasional review, I do a monthly article on a website. If you’re reading this essay, you’re probably already familiar with that fact.

  I had to do a few rewrites on DEEPER during the course of the year. I’m pretty sure I mentioned that a couple of months ago, while I was going over the numerous suggestions that multiple proofreaders and the editor and publisher had suggested.

  I sold CHERRY HILL to a publisher that I haven’t worked with before. Said publisher suggested that I might want to write a novella to go with it. Same character, different story. Cool. That’s two sales instead of one. Of course, I had to write the novella. A little over 30,000 words later, it’s done.  I was invited into a rather unique project, A round robin with some of my favorite authors. Hell yes, I dropped everything to work on that. When I can. I might tell you more about the project.

  I was asked to write a short story for a magazine. Minimum of 3,000 words. Being the wordy bastard that I am, I turned in 10,000 words instead. The publisher didn’t complain and when the time comes to get paid, I’ll probably be even happier than usual.

  My short story collection, SLICES, is coming along. I had to edit all of the stories for that particular collection. Then I got them back a few days ago and I’ve been editing them again.

  Speaking of editing, me and a couple of friends (Tim Lebbon and Christopher Golden) got a spur of the moment idea for an anthology a couple of years back and sold it almost immediately. As in within 18 minutes of coming up with the concept. Well, hell, that was pretty amazing. Of course, we then had to edit said anthology. We read a lot of stories. Because nothing went in without a serious debate from each of us, we read ALL of the stories and then we had to edit the ones we accepted, as well as the make suggestions for those that weren’t quite there but close. (On a side note, I saw the cover art for the anthology today. Damn, it’s pretty.) I’d tell you more, but, once again, smaller presses like to control the flow of information and who am I to argue?

  Speaking of anthologies, this year has seen me invited into many more than I have been invited into in the past. A lot more. Because I’m a writer and I love anthologies, I’ve tried to write a story for each and every one of the personal invitations. On a side note, I was ready to get back into writing SMILE NO MORE (one of the three novels I’ve worked on for the last year), when the editor of one of the anthologies I’ve sold a story to already asked if I could send the story again. Yeah, well, there was this computer crash, see, and to my surprise, that story was only on one hard drive. That would be the hard drive that isn’t working anymore. So I rewrote the story from scratch. Of course, it’s been a few years and my notes are long gone. Happily I remembered the story well enough to rewrite it completely.

 Because you’re never too busy, I took on work as a freelance associate editor with Bloodletting Books. That means I get to go over the manuscripts with a fine-toothed comb and make sure that all the punctuation is handled properly. It also means I’m reading a lot of blind submissions and tales that were specifically requested.  Remember how I talked about DEEPER a little while ago? Yeah, well, the idea has always been to promote what I’m selling, right? So I wrote a ten thousand word short story for promotional purposes. It’s available here if you feel the need to read it: http://www.necessaryevilpress.com/pdf/deardiary/Dear_Diary.pdf. I think it turned out pretty damned well, if I do say so myself.

  The thing here is that I had three novels I wanted to write and sell this year and I managed to finish none of them. A few years ago, I’d been grinding my teeth and ready to scream for missing the deadlines set out by my publisher and by myself. These days, I accept that from time to time I’m not going to make the deadlines I choose for yourself. You can’t let that get you down. You surely can’t let it stop you from trying.

  I didn’t manage to write and sell three novels. Instead, I managed to write and/or sell two novels, two novellas, and five short stories and rewrite one more. Instead I worked every day, wrote every day and managed to go on far too little sleep again. In addition to writing, I edited and when I was done editing, I did a lot of proofreading. Just for kicks, I read and reviewed a decent number of novels and also read a lot of “slush” that varied from woefully inadequate to damned amazing. I’ve also written my first ever rejection letter and believe me I agonized over that one. I’ve been going into intricate notes on three separate books series, two which will be co-authored and one more of my own design, and all of which have to be finished sooner or later. I thought I’d try something new, you see, and actually have outlines and a few chapters I stead of entire books written before I start trying to sell the works.

  New Year’s resolutions are something to aim for, not a guarantee that I’ll succeed in my goals. I did not write three novels, but I stayed very busy.  I did not sell three novels, but I definitely made a few sales anyway.

  My resolution for this New Year? Finish the three novels I’ve started, and sell the two I have not sold. I’d also like to sell a few more short stories, but so far it’s survivable. Aside from what you’re reading right now, I haven’t managed a single story today. I’d feel a lot worse about it, but I was helping a friend move and I can always write tomorrow.

  Did you make writing goals last year?

  Did you meet any of them?

  How about this year?

  For me, I intend to make finish those damned novels, because they’re in my head and want out. Just, this time, I intend to finish them one after the other and not try to write them all at once.

  James A. Moore   

Okay, we’ve gone over the basics of starting a novel. I can’t write it for you (Well, I could, but you wouldn’t want to pay that much and really, what’s the fun of having someone else doing  the work and taking all the credit?) so at some point the odds are good you’re going to start writing.

  That means that sooner or later the complications are going to kick in. Oh, I’m the first to admit that life is complicated enough, but I’m not talking about your life here, I’m talking about the life of your baby. You’re novel, unless you are amazingly lucky or exceptionally skilled, is going to hit a snag somewhere along the way. It’s seldom at the beginning, at least not for me. Hell, by the time I let myself get started on a novel most of the tale is plotted in my skull and written except for the pesky typing part.  

Everything is going along smoothly, you’ve introduced your characters, you’ve established the foundation of the plot, you’ve got the sets all painted and ready for your use and your adrenaline is kicked up a few notches, assuring that you can write to your heart’s content. Heck, you’re so with it you’ve already arranged that minimum of an hour where everyone knows to leave you alone and you’re already too damned disciplined to let the internet distract you TOO much, aren’t you? 

Ten thousand words into your novel and all is well. Twenty thousand, and this is starting to feel easy.  Right around thirty thousand words, closing in on the halfway mark, and suddenly, the first seeds of doubt take root. 35,000 and now you’re wondering if you forgot some crucial plot points along the way. Or maybe, you should have worked in a few more characters and a half a dozen more subplots… 

It’s hard to say what, but something is missing. How do you know? Because the story has progressed far too fast for your satisfaction and at best this feels like it’s going to be a novella.

 Well, my answer to that is easy: Let it be a novella.  

But Jim, how can I sell a novella to the big New York publishers?

 It’s possible. Not probable, but it does happen. Norm Partridge recently managed it with his amazing novella Dark Harvest. Of course, it’s far more likely that you won’t sell it to the big New York publishers. Say thank you to all of those small presses, won’t you? There you go. 

Oh, wait, you’re here because of rumors that I might actually have wisdom to impart. Apparently you haven’t caught on that I’m bluffing. So, let’s look at the question a second time.

 How, oh allegedly wise one, can I fix this problem, keeping in mind that I’m writing a novel and not a novella? 

Well, if you insist on not making it a novella, let’s go ahead and look at the potential problems. First and foremost for me, I only seem to run across that sort of problem when I’ve done a detailed outline. That is, for the record, one of the reasons I don’t normally do detailed outlines. They hinder me too much.  So if that’s the case, consider coloring outside the lines. Oh, you know you want to. You’re allowed to you know, because it’s your novel, no one else’s. Write it for you.

 While I remain firm in my belief that going back and editing a novel in progress is a surefire way to lose momentum and in a lot of cases will actually kill the novel before its time is due, you might want to go back and read it. Not edit it, but read it.  You may be as critical as you desire, but there’s a decent chance that you’ve already put in a few situations that you might want to explore regarding your characters and their situations.

 Listen, let me put it another way: How many times have you read a book and wondered why the author didn’t actually go back and examine a subplot that was left unresolved? Well, if it was one of mine, the odds are good you ran across several of them, but in my case they’re normally deliberate. They might be deliberate for other writers, too, but then again they might be undeveloped notions that the author forgot about. It happens and it happens a lot. Part of breathing life into your characters is giving them issues that have not been resolved. Part of that, for me, is leaving a few of those issues unresolved because remarkably little in life can be wrapped up in a neat package.

 Is Don, Our Hero, having an ongoing argument with his neighbor, Lou, who likes to play his radio too loud, tends to put his garbage in Don’s trashcans and throws rocks at Don’s cat every time the cat gets out? Like as not that won’t be resolved in the course of the story, but it can be, if you decide to examine that aspect of Don’s life more carefully.

 What about Amy, who has very real affection for Don but still hasn’t resolved her feelings for Jared, the misunderstood, slightly possessive and almost recovering alcoholic ex-con she recently swore never to deal with again (It would be easier if he didn’t seem so nice when he’s sober)? Well, right now that’s just something that gets resolved in the final scenes when she decides that she can’t take Jared’s lies anymore. But what if Jared is the jealous type? What if he’s the insanely jealous type who was actually locked away for a very good reason and lied about it when he said he’d stolen a car when he was younger and dumber? What if Jared is the sort who feels the need to stalk a woman who doesn’t want to be with him anymore, or hell, for that matter, what if he’s the sort who doesn’t see a problem with shanking that annoying new boyfriend to get his way?

 See my point? There’s a reason for developing the characters before you start a novel. There’s a reason for letting them evolve. Not every idea has to be explored, but if you’re anything like me (And God help you) then the odds are good you’ve already written in a dozen different aspects of your characters’ lives that are potentially goldmines of disaster waiting to happen.

 Now, let’s look at that plot for a moment, shall we? Yes, I get it. There’s a ghost in the house. Yes, the ghost would like Don to move away immediately but Don can’t afford that nonsense and if he wants to inherit his Uncle Wilford’s family fortune he has to stay in the new house for at least one year. What? That’s it? There’s no one else who could be working on the sidelines to get the family fortune instead? There’s no else out there that might have a reason for haunting the house? Are you sure it’s a ghost? Are you absolutely positive there’s only one?  I mean, what about Don’s half-sister? You know, the one he’s never gotten along with all that well? The one who hates him because of some dark, sordid event in their pasts (Pick a dark, sordid event)? What about the rumors that there are hidden catacombs under the house? You know, the ones where that crazy great, great grand uncle was supposed to have been doing evil and unmentionable experiments?  

Do you see what I’m getting at here? Nothing has to be straightforward. Hell, as a reader and a writer both, straightforward is just about as boring as white rice. You should make sure you stay coherent, and make sure you never, ever forget the points you’re trying to make with your novel, but there’s nothing at all to stop you from having a good time while you’re getting there. Don’t misunderstand me. It’s distinctly possible your editor will come along later and ask you to cut something, but that’s a different discussion for a different day.

   James A. Moore