Put It Out There

For whatever reason, I've always believed that if you put something out into the universe, it will respond. I see it more as an exchange of information. People will relevant information to your request will respond in kind. As such, here goes nothing. I have finished my 93,000 word dystopian novel, Contraception, and am currently seeking representation. I have started the query process, which so far has been tedious, but I've always been a fan of busy work. It is with high hopes that I aim to find a book agent and then a publishing deal, but if all else fails - I'll self-publish. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. 

Novel Writing

Writing a book is challenging. Initially, I never thought it would be possible, sort of like watching someone free-climb a rock wall and you look at them and say, ‘nope’. Well, I was tired of saying ‘nope’, so based on a conversation I had with my friend, I made an outline of major plot points for a story, researched average word length for novels, and wrote 1,000 words during work days. That’s what I did starting in July and by November, I had over 90,000 words - my starting point. I went back through it myself as it needed substantial editing. It was interesting to look back on what I had wrote at the beginning versus later on, realizing that I had a better sense of where the story was going and who my characters were as the novel progressed, obviously. When I started, anything could have happened. I was building a world and there were no plot lines to connect, yet; I was free. 

I’ve never considered myself to be a creative person, in terms of music, art, or creating something from nothing. But dammit, I wanted to write a novel. So I did it. I hired an editor who is not only making my story tighter, but is also asking me a lot of questions which while writing, never occurred to me. Rewriting is an enjoyable and yet frustrating process. If I change a plot-line in chapter 10, I need to remember what other things will be affected by it, and how to change those based on the initial change I made. It’s a delicate balance which I’m figuring out as I go. 

My editor keeps asking me how I did it, and what drove me to write it. FIrst, I had a lot of time on my hands at work. Second, I just did it. I literally wrote 1,000 words every day whether or not I wanted to. Some days were harder than others, and some days I had no idea where the story was going, but I wrote anyway. For me, it’s sort of like cooking. You can’t start unless you have the ingredients, and you can’t shape a novel without words on a page. I’ve edited, rewritten, and reorganized the words I wrote so much that even looking at my first draft would be almost unrecognizable. 

Has it been frustrating? To be honest, not really. I’ve really enjoyed writing and shaping this novel and hope one day, people will enjoy reading it. Would I do it again? For sure, as soon as the current one is completely wrapped up. I’m trying to write a short-story while still going over my novel edits and it’s difficult for me to keep 2 ‘creative’ projects going at once. I need to dive in, be involved with one creative project, and then detach before I move on to the next. I’m also aware that writing about writing is about as pretentious as it gets. Don’t worry, I haven’t started wearing a French beret and doing slam poetry yet. 

Clarification

I apologize for the lack of posts recently. Over the past two months, I have been working on a novel and have aimed to write 1,000 words per day. As someone who doesn't think of himself as creative, this has been a challenging process. It's a fictitious work about a global policy that works to resolve overpopulation. Will I try to publish it? Absolutely. Do I think it will get published? Ehhh. For me, it's more about trying to do something that I never thought possible. I'm about 20,000 words away from my goal and as soon as I wrap that up, so begins the editing process. I'll continue to work on keeping my blog up to date as I'm sure the only person who reads this, my mother, is still curious about my life in China. 

In the future, I will work to post at least once per day and work on writing more. I know I've gotten lazy with simply posting a picture but you know what they say, "worth a thousand words."