What I’m Doing Differently Next Time (Or How I Want To Be Like Stephen King)
I have to confess, I lied.
My current WIP is not the first novel I’ve started. It’s the fourth. All of them were so insignificant, I forgot they existed.
My first attempt happened in college, in the late ’80′s for a college writing course. I had to type it on a university computer (I didn’t know anyone who had their own computer) copy my work on a disk and carry the disk around with me. Once I lost the disk and had to try to remember about a hundred pages. I got a B in the class, I think mostly because I forgot to show up at my meetings with my professor, who didn’t get that I wanted to write about faith. Oh well. Once the class was over, I changed my major and forgot about the novel. It was lame anyway.
Attempt number two came about 1995. This lasted about two weeks. I had a plot, characters and a vision. But I got distracted. This might have been around the time I met an interesting young man on America Online and moved across the country to get engaged.
Attempt number three came a couple of years later. I was newly engaged and working as a temp in various offices. I wanted to combine my hometown’s history with the peculiar story of my great-grandfather who had thirteen wives, but then I got bogged down with the history of it. I also realized I am not a fan of extensive research, like what a historical novel might require. While I had the most invested in this attempt, I think I gave up on novel writing after this. I couldn’t see how my strengths fit in with the requirements of a long narrative. I also discovered that having a home (and getting pregnant a year after the wedding) took a lot of time and energy out of me.
Which brings us to this attempt, which I began in November of 2006. (Eight years and five babies later.) I started again with a new realization — my strengths could work. I could write a contemporary novel, not a historical one. I could write it like a sitcom. I could infuse my quirky humor. I could write what I knew about: temp agencies, failure, narcissism, the contrast between Oklahoma and Massachusetts, difficult pregnancies and grace. I’ve plodded along, often taking very long detours, but I’m not far from finishing.
My plan is this: to have a version worthy of beta readers by January 1, 2011. (This is after my terrific critique partner, Jane, gets through examining it.) Then, I’m going to draft a dozen or so readers to give me feedback, then I’m going to enter it in the ACFW’s Genesis contest on March 1. Then, on March 2. I’m starting another novel and I’m promising myself it won’t take four years to finish.
I’ve learned a truckload of lessons in this process. Next time, I’m going to do many things differently, here’s a few examples:
1) I‘d have a more systematic approach, like the Snowflake Method. I wasted a lot of time flitting from idea to idea. I thought I was making progress, but mostly I was writing in circles. It wasn’t until the second year of this journey that I started writing with any type of order.
2) I’d have a daily writing goal, and honestly, it would be larger than ten minutes. It would be, like, two thousand words a day. I recently read Stephen King’s book: On Writing, A Memoir of the Craft, and discovered that this is his daily goal. Now, he’s a full time writer. That doesn’t seem like a hefty amount to me. I believe I can meet that goal in addition to all my other responsibilities.
3) I’d read more. Stephen King said he read fifty books a year. That’s only one a week, people. I can do that too. I’ve decided a New Year’s Resolution for 2011 is to read at least fifty books next year and write down all the titles so I can say, at least to myself, “Look at me! I’m just like Stephen King!” (I want his success. I don’t want his style and subject matter, just so we’re clear.)
4) In the beginning, I wouldn’t worry too much about details. I spent way too much energy on the personal quirks of the characters. Little of that work is showing up in the manuscript. Next time, I want to put my energy into story first, then let the characters develop around it. I think it will move faster and I’ll be happier.
5) I’m going to simplify my timeline. In this story, I have a pregnancy taking place in my novel, so I need at least nine months. That’s a lot of time to tell a story. (Poor Suzanne, she’s been pregnant now for almost four years!) Next time, I’ll have the entire story take place over a month, or a weekend or a day.
6) Next time, of course, I’ll be under contract with a publishing house, I’ll have an agent and I’ll have a chair like this. Of course, I’ll name it “Steve” (after Mr. King) and write only bestsellers.
7) Here’s what my Twitter friends said they’d do:
@curlyrbr add more action at the beginning of the story
@SarahEGlenn Honestly, I haven’t a clue. I’d be glad to finish more stuff. That’d be different!
@billjonesjr I’m doing a better job of plotting, and pay attention to the 1st 1/4 of the book.
@paperbacklove Organize it and plot it right (heh.) I’ve got a 3-ring binder setup and some awesome software all ready to go!
@lisamarie20010 I’d plot it before I start writing instead of making it up as I go along – it will help with the synopsis as well.
@kathleenmbasi Think about the whole package up front–the target audience and the market, and plan with that in mind.
Here’s to Next Time! (And next time, I’ll be more honest!)

