Has anyone tried writing a novel lately?

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   Deah Westposted 11 years ago

   I am currently working on three novels and I was wondering about the voice I am writing in for one of them.
   I started writing in first person passive I think and then switched to third person omniscent and have to change all my first person to that third person voice.
   In addition to this I have a lot of dream sequences and internal dialogue.

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      Kori Nashposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Maybe if you think about what made you change the point of view in the first place it might help you decide which voice to use. Point of view does more than tell us who, it also tells us how. Now that you've written in both, which one do you feel more comfortable writing? Which one seems to fit the story you're trying to tell?
      
      I've been working on some ideas, but I'm still in the organizing stages - which is probably why I've been thinking a lot about things like this!
      I've started and stopped many times and I have quite a few unfinished stories... I feel really good about this new one though! Happy writing 

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         Deah Westposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I believe the third person omniscent voice fits best with what i am trying to say. this story started as a class assignment for a creative class in college and has grown into a story with lots of twists and turns.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I'm a bit confused how you can write in third person omniscient if you have a lot of internal dialogue and dream sequences. 
      
      To have internal dialogue and dreams, you need to be inside a character's head, which means you're writing in third person subjective.  Third person omniscient is when you're outside all the characters' heads, observing the action as if you were a camera. Third person omniscient can't read minds.   
      
      I wrote a Hub about it called "Writing in Third Person Point of View".

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         Deah Westposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I am still confused myself on which I should use, so I will read your hub and maybe that will help me decide rather or not to keep the internal dialogue and dream sequences before I write anymore of them.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Modern readers like to identify with the main characters in a book, so it's generally better to go for third person subjective, so you can really get inside the heads of your characters and allow the reader to get to know them intimately.   Third person omniscient is a bit too impersonal for today's reader.
            
            One thing - don't let anyone tell you how to write your novel.   Different approaches work for different people. 
            
            I've had people tell me I must sit down and do an analysis of every character and a "map" of the whole story, broken down into chapters, before I start.  That works great for some people - it doesn't work for me (because for me, knowing the end of the story means I lose interest in writing it).
            
            I've had other people tell me I must work chapter by chapter and go back and edit each one before I go on to the next. That doesn't work for me either - but for some people it's a great help. 
            
            You sound like me - you write "out of order".  In other words, you write the key scenes which move the story forward, and at some point you'll need to go back and fill in the gaps.  There's nothing wrong with that if that's how you work, but you do have to force yourself to fill in the blanks - don't leave it too long!

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      Jenn-Anneposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I have a storyline in mind that I've thought out over the last several years but have only recently started writing down. It has been slow going so far and I need to be more disciplined about it, but I'm excited to have finally started the process.

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   LisaMarie724posted 11 years ago

   Only every other day.  I always start one but I have so many ideas so I end up with 5 books that are no where near finished.  Good luck.

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      Deah Westposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Glad to see that I am not the only one struggling to write novels.

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   Shanna11posted 11 years ago

   I'm working on a YA novel right now. I actually have the entire plot planned out and I've convinced myself to just write through any writer's block or doubt. The editing process is more important anyway.
   
   I feel a  little cliched saying that, but eventually I'll have a finished manuscript to show for it.

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      Deah Westposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I have one tha I have ober 10 cahracters for and I am only30 pages into writing. I think my problem in writing this one is too many characters and storyilnes going on at once and knowing tha it will take at least on spin off series to cover every character that I have to cover.
      If I do what you are I would have been done with my first novel by now.

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   Valorie Esquilonaposted 11 years ago

   Good luck to you!
   
   I have tried to write one before and I already finished it but I don't want to read it nor to publish it right away because I believe in "Labor of the Files" in literary criticism which states that "if you have finished writing a novel, poetry, short story or any other literary works, don't publish it right away.  Keep it in your files for days and weeks first and then come back to it and read it again.If in  the moment you read it you believe and you are sure that it's worth sharing for, that's the time you go and publish it."

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      Deah Westposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      if and when i do self publish it won't be for a while yet.

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   JRH328posted 11 years ago

   I started one about three years ago and for what I thought I was through most of the editing. I was so confident that I let some people read it. Even though I missed a lot in the editing many of them liked it and had only a few things that they thought should be changed. I'm now in the middle of yet another revision and this time I gutted most of the book and took into another direction that I am happier with and I feel it will draw in more readers.
   
   A couple of things that I learned in this process that I will pass along to you. One is that when you feel you have done all the editing and you're ready to have it read, set it aside for about two-three weeks. Put  it in a closet on the top shelf and forget about it as much as possible. Then get out your red pen and go through it once again. Have a group of your close friends read what you have written. Choose wisely, only the ones that you can trust to give you feed back and be honest with their opinions. Give them a dead line and get them together to discuss it as a group. Have an open mind and trust that they have your best intentions in mind.
   
   Good luck in all of writings.

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   Marisa Wrightposted 11 years ago

   I wrote one novel in my teens, sent it off to a publisher and got rejected. I was so disappointed, I threw it in the bin.
   
   I now know I shouldn't have, because I didn't get a straight "no thanks" letter.  I got a constructive letter with some helpful advice, and I now know that publishers never do that unless they think the manuscript has promise.  So I probably threw away something that could've done well, if I had revised it.
   
   I wrote my second novel about eight years ago.  I wrote the first half in a fit of inspiration, and was so convinced I would finish it, I started researching publishers.  Unfortunately, I stumbled across the Harlequin writers' group (which is a great website for writers BTW) and decided I was writing a Romance.  I say unfortunately, because on the advice of the Harlequin writers, I started tailoring my manuscript for the Romance audience instead of following my instincts.
   
   When I gave my finished novel to a couple of writers for a critique, they both said the first half blew them away - but that the second half was an anti-climax and didn't feel true to the characters.  That's when I realized I shouldn't have let myself be influenced.  So I was faced with the prospect of throwing out the second half and rewriting it from scratch - about 30,000 words.  I've never been able to get started on it.  I think avoiding that chore was part of the reason I started writing online!

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      Deah Westposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I wish I could get past the first thirty pages in my first novel, but there is so much still to do. Although I failed to mention that I have 11 chapters started in that 30 pages.

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   Marcy Goodfleischposted 11 years ago

   Several of us (various Hubbers) are working on our individual novels and books & we trade messages about it.
   
   AND - Yvonne Spence, who writes as "Melovy" here on the site, has written a book called Drawings in Sand.  It's on Amazon Kindle Books and is quite good - a fiction book about a woman recovering from alcoholism and overcoming the effect it has had on her life and relationships.
   
   Yay, Yvonne!!!!

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   Randy Godwinposted 11 years ago

   I suppose we all do things differently.  I never know where I'll end up when I begin a story.  I try not to agonize over it either.  But that's just me.  Besides, writing a novel is the easy part.  Writing one someone wants to read is an entirely different matter. 

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      Deah Westposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      thanks for the advice everyone and I will just write the story the way I feel it should be written.

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      Kathleen Cochranposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      "Besides, writing a novel is the easy part.  Writing one someone wants to read is an entirely different matter. "
      
      Amen.  And finding those readers who are interested in the novel you've written is even harder than writing it in the first place. 
      
      Good luck Deah.  Avoid passive voice and adverbs and you'll do better than many writers.

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