30 300 words and counting…
Yes, you guessed it right, since Thursday afternoon I’ve written more than 31 000 words on my new novel. It is so strange how the words just poor out of me now that I’ve started, if there are not too many interruptions I should be able to finish the first draft of this novel by the end of the weekend. And then I can start the first draft of the next book: number two, I’ve even got a title for that one now “The Dream”. Might not end up being the title in the end, but I always find I work better with a story if I’ve got a title for it, I don’t know why.
It is exciting days indeed, and this to me is also a bit like reading a book for the first time. Yes, of course, when I start writing I have a pretty good idea about what’s going to happen and where the story is going – but then very often I find when writing it that new things come up, things I didn’t know about till the second I write them. That is what I truly love about writing, that it can really surprise you, even in the smallest details when you work your way through it. So far it’s the story itself that I’m getting down on paper. By that I mean that all the historic details will come later. When I wrote book number one I very often got lost in research every time something came up in the story that made me wonder how things were back then. I would immediately get on the internet or dig out some books and start reading and then stop writing for several days because I did research. It is important to do research of course, but I think that it’s more important to get the story itself down on paper first. Writing this book I now put something in red letters in the story when there’s something I’m wondering about, or if I’ve got a scene in my head of something happening that will need some more detailed knowledge of that time. When I’ve finished drafting this book and perhaps the next one, I’ll go back and spend some days doing all the research. The first draft of “The Battle” was 56 000 words, and the final draft that I entered into the competition was 76 000 words – so it goes without saying that a lot of things happens to a manuscript between the first and the final draft. But – I’ll say this; I didn’t really change the story itself that much on “The Battle”. I added a whole new chapter, and I added lots of historic details but I had no major changes in the story. It does feel like it’s the same thing with this book because the story feels so right when I write it. Let’s hope it is!
It is exciting days indeed, and this to me is also a bit like reading a book for the first time. Yes, of course, when I start writing I have a pretty good idea about what’s going to happen and where the story is going – but then very often I find when writing it that new things come up, things I didn’t know about till the second I write them. That is what I truly love about writing, that it can really surprise you, even in the smallest details when you work your way through it. So far it’s the story itself that I’m getting down on paper. By that I mean that all the historic details will come later. When I wrote book number one I very often got lost in research every time something came up in the story that made me wonder how things were back then. I would immediately get on the internet or dig out some books and start reading and then stop writing for several days because I did research. It is important to do research of course, but I think that it’s more important to get the story itself down on paper first. Writing this book I now put something in red letters in the story when there’s something I’m wondering about, or if I’ve got a scene in my head of something happening that will need some more detailed knowledge of that time. When I’ve finished drafting this book and perhaps the next one, I’ll go back and spend some days doing all the research. The first draft of “The Battle” was 56 000 words, and the final draft that I entered into the competition was 76 000 words – so it goes without saying that a lot of things happens to a manuscript between the first and the final draft. But – I’ll say this; I didn’t really change the story itself that much on “The Battle”. I added a whole new chapter, and I added lots of historic details but I had no major changes in the story. It does feel like it’s the same thing with this book because the story feels so right when I write it. Let’s hope it is!
posted by Lena M Bakke @ 7:29 PM
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