Brewing the perfect novel

The draft is finished. 763,000 cups of tea later… the draft is finally finished.

And it’s a good thing I procrastinated over so many cups of tea, because now is the moment when all that ‘brewing’ experience pays off. Now I get to sit and wait, while my manuscript brews and my mind clears. Ready to transform this thing into a final work.

The Fragrant Leafsays brewing is simple and straightforward. (If only it was!) They even outline some simple steps to show how simple brewing is.

1. Start with fresh, cold good-tasting water - I have fresh, crisp good-sounding words. I must be on the right track.

2. Preheat the teapot - Hey, this story is positively smoking. It’s got action, it’s got pace, and characters that leap from the page. (Okay, so sometimes they have arthritic knees and it’s not so graceful. It’s still hot.)

3. Measure the appropriate amount of dry leaves - Dry leaves? Ah, yes. Those moments where we allow the reader to come up for air, and take a break from it all. I’m sure I’ve got an appropriate amount of those. 

4. Select the right water temperature - Still treading water in the shallow end of the writers’ pool. Time to dive in the deep end I think. 

5. Steep for the proper length of time - The crux of the whole brewing thing. Normally I’d let it steep for a month, but who can wait that long these days? Besides, I’m on a time budget here and I’m not getting any younger either. I’m thinking a week. One week. Seven days. And it’s liberating not to think about my novel every spare second. And it kind of leaves me lost at the same time. What did I think about before I started writing this thing? 

Never mind. A week it is. I haven’t looked at it since Friday, so that means tomorrow my week is up. Oh no, that went so fast. I can feel the tension rising already. 

Urgh! 

I think I’d better go make a cup of tea. 

Sash.

The plot thickens…

What do you do if you’re almost finished the first draft of your novel, and you find yourself tangled in timelines, with a spaghetti-esque plot, and sub-characters fighting your main characters for air-play?

I’m almost at the end of the first draft of my first novel, which I’ve been writing for about three years now (while trying to deal with life, the universe and everything).

It started out as a story about three women in business, navigating midlife (a.k.a. write what you know). I knew the first and last ‘scenes’ but that was the extent of my plot.

So I’ve written about 65,000 words and, while I know each character’s story, I keep finding gaps and getting tangled up with timelines. The lovely Sash said I should check out Justine Larbalestier’s idea of doing up a spreadsheet for your novel.

It’s time-consuming, but it’s worth the effort. I now have a fabulous spreadsheet with the point of view, day, place, word count, a brief content outline, plus notes and the editing needed for each chapter. (Thanks, Justine!).

I’ve also discovered that, in addition to my three main characters, I have at least four sub-characters getting air-play (well, they keep me amused!).

Perhaps I should be writing a sitcom?

Obviously, some will have to go…meanwhile, I’m plugging on until I can write ‘the end’. Then I’ll get stuck into editing — and probably (aagh!!) a complete re-write.

…onwards  

Elle