Thursday, May 07, 2009

Thoughts on the Next Novel

There is a new story idea niggling about in my brain. It came to me one night while I was waiting for my Wednesday evening church class to start and I started writing ideas down in my journal. (Never leave home without it!)

Of course, the current novel isn't done yet - the editing process is taking me awhile, but that's ok. I think that's how I work. I don't want to be rushed.

But this new idea is a really cool idea and I'm excited to explore my options with it. And here's one of the questions I wrote in my journal, "Can I write a light-hearted novel?"

Good question. Breezy novels do not come easily to me for some reason. My characters are always angst-ridden, my themes and topics always serious and thoughtful. Every time I've thought my novel would be "light-hearted", it's always ventured into the land of "serious." I've stopped fighting it. If that's what the story calls for, then that's what I write.

So maybe, just maybe, this new story will be lighter than what I normally write. I'm anxious to find out.

11 comments:

  1. Melissa, follow the nudge! You are doing so good with your goals. Kudos/hugs. :)

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  2. Great that you are already planning your next one! I'll bet you can do it if you really want to!

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  3. I love changing it up with my writing, and the new energy it brings to the page. Have fun, and go for it!

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  4. Definitely see where the path takes you!

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  5. I laid in bed last night with insomnia and plotted my next book! Funny when inspiration will strike! Althought I didn't have my notebook and was too lazy to get up and get one!

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  6. Exploring new ideas is so much fun!

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  7. I think the deeper the writer, the more serious the novel.

    And by serious, I mean "intellectually serious". I have a number of old dime novels from the '50's ("SHOCK TREATMENT - 'He was madly in love with her... and her husband would be so easy to kill...'") that are serious but also puke.

    The most truly creative writers have a lot of angst in their lives because they are generally complex people.

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  8. *snort* Light and breezy, huh? I haven't heard this one before. You're like me, we want to write breezy, we even start out that way and then some horrible black moment turns it dark. Good luck! However, go where the story takes you. If you like it, it will go where it should and take you along with it.

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  9. Half the fun of writing over the long haul is the lure of trying something we haven't done before. Good on you! If it changes mid-stream, so what? Gotta go with your gut and plunge in.

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  10. Maybe you're at the point in your life where you want to write a light hearted novel. My writing changes so much with what I'm going through at the time.

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  11. It's tough. I can manage dark humor, irony, touches of light-heartedness, but so far not a whole book dedicated to it. I refuse to give up on. I want to be the next H.E. Bates.

    Does anyone even remember H.E. Bates?

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