Writing a Novel

I’ve been tagged by Crystal over at the Chat N’ Chew Cafe’. I’ve known Crystal for several years, first through an online e-mail writer’s group, and then we met at a writer’s conference a couple of years ago in Denver. We share the same last name (her maiden name is Warren), and have many other things in common, so she started referring to us as cousins—which I found to be quite funny—and it stuck. If you haven’t stopped by her blog yet, then do so. She’s new to the blogosphere, but not to writing. She’s been writing for years.

I don’t really do memes here, but this is just one simple question (asked by Meredith Efken, whom I also know and count as a good friend). Here’s the question: “If you could write a novel about any subject, what would it be? (Just the subject–don’t give away your plot idea!)”

I’ve actually written two novels and I have an idea for a third. My first novel was about a rock star. At one point, I knew several people in bands and I was close enough to a couple of them to get a taste of the creative process they went through. I wrote a couple dozen songs and shared them with one band in particular. I even played guitar myself for a while (I wonder…should I post a picture of me with my long hair and guitar? Oh, what could it hurt?)

I wrote the rock star book over the course of one year. I rearranged my work schedule to work on my novel every Monday. I also worked on it most Saturdays. Within a year, I had completed it. Unfortunately I never found a home for it. I haven’t given up hope yet though.

My second novel was about an elderly man who was dying of cancer. I told the story in the first person and I love the way it turned out. It’s more of a novella than it is a novel and I always had visions of self publishing it. I knew that most royalty publishers would never touch it because the book includes some pretty heavy theology. I may just may make it available to download as a .pdf file here at Little Nuances one day in the future.

My third novel is about the over-romanticization of first love. I think this book has a shot to be published, but unfortunately, fiction isn’t like nonfiction—in that I’d have to write the entire book before submitting a book proposal. Nonfiction books work the opposite way. The author submits a book proposal, and if the royalty publishing house likes the book, they offer a contract (and an advance). Then the author writes the book. Since I make my living from writing, I can’t very well set several months aside to write a novel I may never get paid for. But maybe I need to set aside one day a week, like I did with my first novel, and plug away on it for a year or so.

I’m not going to tag anybody, but if you’d like to answer the question yourself, feel free to do so. Write a post and then link back to this one so I can read about your dream book(s).

Technorati Tags: writing a novel, rock star, self publishing, cancer, first love