what should i call my novel?

[nicky wire's legs]

My novel's really coming together, you guys! it's very exciting!!! ive booked some days off to really immerse myself in it. i can feel within myself the twistings and convulsions of a masterpiece waiting to be born. it is TIME.

 

[Lucifer Sam]

I voted for Objet D'Art. I am replying a month late, but how is the writing going? I am currently trying to write a short story. It's not easy.

 

[nicky wire's legs]

I voted for Objet D'Art. I am replying a month late, but how is the writing going? I am currently trying to write a short story. It's not easy.

Thanks for your response!! I'll reply to this when I'm off work because I hate typing on my phone!!

 

[caramel sea salt]

Earth Rock Blood Bone Sea is such a great title. You must call it that. Like a Nick Cave album!!! I'd buy it for the title alone.

I'm writing (well, trying to anyway) about my experience with chronic illness, pain and exhaustion, and I can tell you it's bloody hard. Of course you want to communicate that it's not an awful lot of fun, but you don't want to turn it into a giant whingefest either. And how do you articulate (physical) pain well?

 

[nicky wire's legs]

I voted for Objet D'Art. I am replying a month late, but how is the writing going? I am currently trying to write a short story. It's not easy.

okay, im finally at home! long day!!

the writings going good. so many times i thought "this is never going to work, this novel cant be written!!" but ive managed to work out all of the glitches that i can see. it's a multi layered work. i sort of worry that it has too MANY layers now. yet i think somehow they all work, that there's some harmony with them all working in tandem. it's a very psychological novel and that's difficult because the plot is informed by the characters psychology so you have to make sure that the action all conforms to their psychology/personality and you're not making them do things that are incongruous just to move the story along. every time i make my main character do or say something, i have to think about the entire rest of the novel to see if her actions in this moment fit in with her actions throughout the novel, and that's a bit exhausting. (surely theres an easier way??). im happy with where it's going though and happy because i know that this is the novel that i WANT to write, rather than just the best idea i could think up. i mean, if i write no other novel, so be it: i just want to write this one.

it sure isnt easy, though, that's true as hell. it's the hardest thing you will ever do and the least compensated. i think i may like the short story form better than the novel form, because, like the title that you voted for, i feel like a short story is like an objet d'art: finely crafted, with an innate harmony, superb economy, and no superfluous parts. something that you can turn about in your hands and examine from all sides. whereas a novel is so unwieldy its hard to see it in it's entirety, hard to see all the sides at once. still, the problem with writing a short story is that in order to sell it as a book you'd have to write many short stories, and that's harder than writing just one novel. do you have any plans for your short story?

 

[nicky wire's legs]

Earth Rock Blood Bone Sea is such a great title. You must call it that. Like a Nick Cave album!!! I'd buy it for the title alone.

I'm writing (well, trying to anyway) about my experience with chronic illness, pain and exhaustion, and I can tell you it's bloody hard. Of course you want to communicate that it's not an awful lot of fun, but you don't want to turn it into a giant whingefest either. And how do you articulate (physical) pain well?

you're right, it does sound sort of like the title of a rock album. thanks for that! im still leaning towards calling it 'neil' though!!

well that's the thing, pain is invisible, it evades language. ive read a few books on it and they all reiterate this. im trying to illustrate this in my novel with my character neil, who is ill, and who is at the centre of the novel, but who is mostly silent. he's speculated about by those around him, in fanciful ways, in ego-satisfying ways, depending on the character of the person doing the speculating, but we never get to know what he's really thinking.

i would recommend just writing about your pain in a practical, simplistic kind of way. sometimes practical, simple descriptions can be the most devastating. i dont know, have you read any books on pain? ive read: Sacred Pain by ariel glucklich; Pain: The Fifth Vital Sign by marni jackson; and am halfway through The Body In Pain by elaine scarry. fascinating reads.

 

[Mostly Harmless]

My mere meek suggestion. Find a couple of folk you really trust, feed them scraps of your words and ask them to be brutally candid.

 

[Lucifer Sam]

the writings going good. so many times i thought "this is never going to work, this novel cant be written!!" but ive managed to work out all of the glitches that i can see. it's a multi layered work. i sort of worry that it has too MANY layers now. yet i think somehow they all work, that there's some harmony with them all working in tandem. it's a very psychological novel and that's difficult because the plot is informed by the characters psychology so you have to make sure that the action all conforms to their psychology/personality and you're not making them do things that are incongruous just to move the story along. every time i make my main character do or say something, i have to think about the entire rest of the novel to see if her actions in this moment fit in with her actions throughout the novel, and that's a bit exhausting. (surely theres an easier way??). im happy with where it's going though and happy because i know that this is the novel that i WANT to write, rather than just the best idea i could think up. i mean, if i write no other novel, so be it: i just want to write this one.

it sure isnt easy, though, that's true as hell. it's the hardest thing you will ever do and the least compensated. i think i may like the short story form better than the novel form, because, like the title that you voted for, i feel like a short story is like an objet d'art: finely crafted, with an innate harmony, superb economy, and no superfluous parts. something that you can turn about in your hands and examine from all sides. whereas a novel is so unwieldy its hard to see it in it's entirety, hard to see all the sides at once. still, the problem with writing a short story is that in order to sell it as a book you'd have to write many short stories, and that's harder than writing just one novel. do you have any plans for your short story?

The only plan I have for my short story (should I finish it) is to submit it to a contest. I've written three screenplays, and entered a pair of them in the Zoetrope contest. Zoetrope also hosts a short story contest, although (them being a studio) the idea there is that the story should suggest something cinematic—it should be like an exquisite treatment of a film. But this story is not that, so I will have to look for different contests.

I don't think a short story necessarily obligates you to write more of them in order to publish a collection. Some writers re-work the first chapter of their novel into a short story. And if that story wins a contest, or gets published in a literary magazine, then they use that success as a "calling card" when submitting the novel to publishers. Similarly, even publishing a different short story (or winning a contest with one), independently of your novel, would nevertheless get you some traction and notoriety, and would be advantageous when your novel is completed. So if you have the talent for a story, you might consider it.

I sympathize with your challenges in writing a novel, especially in trying to prune the multiple layers of it. It's good that you've got it under control. A novel seems like the most difficult thing to write. I doubt I could do it. I am both verbose and undisciplined, and I think any novel I attempted would quickly grow into an unmanageable monster.