The first rule of Write Club
There are a lot of fantastic reasons why I've never started writing a novel.
So... I started writing a novel a couple days ago.
It feels like cheating, but I decided that the best course of action was to novelize my latest screenplay, which is a sort of young-adult type thing, because A. young adult novels are so hot right now, B. I will not be stealing a movie idea to do so, and C. the movie I wrote is at least a fifty-majillion-dollar picture, and there's no way they're going to blow that kind of cash on an unproven writer such as myself.
I won't be stopping my other writing (still got a few super-swank screenplay ideas I'm still kicking around) but it'll be good to have this little novular side-project where I can always go and knock off a thousand words a day -- more, if I get stuck on a screenplay and need a break.
Because the first rule of Write Club is Don't Talk About Write Club... just write.
I'm telling the internets this, as per usual, for one more layer of accountability. Because the second rule of Write Club (if there is one) is that writing hurts, and I'd rather be napping.
- Novels are written by special, magical people who have magical novel-powers, and I'm only, like, a level-one apprentice when it comes to writing anything.
- Although my year of trying to write a short story a week resulted in forty-six short stories and a book and killed off a lot of the aforementioned writerly insecurity, by the time I'd finished that project I had already started to focus in on writing feature-length screenplays, so every time I had what felt like a good story idea... I'd turn it into a movie.
- Novels are more words than screenplays, and therefore take a lot longer to write. I hate starting things and not finishing them, so writing a novel would be a huge commitment.
- Novels are kinda like short stories, yes, but since I've never actually attempted to maintain narrative tension over a long series of chapters, I've been scared of trying. Trying means the possibility of failing. And failing sucks.
So... I started writing a novel a couple days ago.
It feels like cheating, but I decided that the best course of action was to novelize my latest screenplay, which is a sort of young-adult type thing, because A. young adult novels are so hot right now, B. I will not be stealing a movie idea to do so, and C. the movie I wrote is at least a fifty-majillion-dollar picture, and there's no way they're going to blow that kind of cash on an unproven writer such as myself.I won't be stopping my other writing (still got a few super-swank screenplay ideas I'm still kicking around) but it'll be good to have this little novular side-project where I can always go and knock off a thousand words a day -- more, if I get stuck on a screenplay and need a break.
Because the first rule of Write Club is Don't Talk About Write Club... just write.
I'm telling the internets this, as per usual, for one more layer of accountability. Because the second rule of Write Club (if there is one) is that writing hurts, and I'd rather be napping.
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