Writing your novel, with the Aid of 21st Century Technology

How do I begin to write my novel?

Greetings, fellow writers. As we speak, I am toiling away at the third sequel to my novel, Baglady, entitled Baglady in Free Fall. Since I am just setting out, I can’t be sure whether all the chaotic elements swarming around in my mind will ever gel together as a coherent novel. (Without wanting to sound grandiose, I think fondly of Marcel Proust when he was creating his seemingly plotless, formless, labyrinthine multi-sequel classic: A la recherche du Temps Perdu / Remembrance of Things Past.) As everyone knows, the mere act of starting, let alone completing a novel is a calculated risk of precious time. Not a decision to be taken lightly. However, once the compulsion takes hold, a writer will most likely just forge ahead.

In this instance, I began by entering text: disjointed fragments describing ideas, themes, events and landscapes, as well as character sketches, pieces of dialogue, potential storylines and plots, whether from memory, the imagination, or even personal letters and scrappy journals collected over the years. At the same time, I’m arranging a framework of chapters, each containing interrelated scenes, as though I were creating a stage play. These scenes, I hope and trust, will eventually support and flesh out the plot of the story, the details of which I am working out (using rough notes as a guide) before I commit myself to writing the actual body of the novel itself.

Having tinkered around with potential plot scenarios, some time ago I judged that the disparate elements would be too unwieldy to handle. Therefore, I split them up into the prospective plots of Sequel Two and Sequel Three, and assigned a provisional ‘space-time’ framework to each section: that is, where (geographically) and when (what calendar year) does each novel begin and end? Having determined this for both sequels, I worked on them both concurrently.

How do I control a massive project such as a novel?

This might sound like a recipe for failure, except that I am now accustomed to using a novel-writing software which works beautifully and, best of all, is free. I find that it really helps to get a big project under control. It’s called Ywriter5 novel-writing software. When using this free program, you can easily input text into separate scenes and then shift these scenes around as needed; you can also rename and renumber the chapters as you go along. It means that you don’t necessarily need to work through the novel in chronological order. You can build pieces of it, as though it were a jigsaw puzzle or an architectural structure, which it is. For the first time ever, I composed the final page of the final sequel, and inserted it into place, merely because the ideas occurred to me, and because I could.

The Ywriter5 program also helps you to keep track of character descriptions, point of view, notes on chapters, daily word count progress, total word count, and more. It displays the scene names in order on a graphic timeline, as well. When you download this free software from the website, you will be invited to make a donation through PAYPAL if you choose to. I did, but only once I tested out how good it was. Go to: http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html

What about the actually typing of the novel?

The next electronic aid that I recommend is a low-cost software called Dragon Dictate. With the help of a combination headset/microphone, this program allows you to dictate your ideas as live text directly into MS Word and other programs, including YWriter5 novel-writing software. Dragon Dictate is not capable of perfect work recognition, so you will have to correct certain words as you go along, but the program does tend to improve its performance with habitual use. It’s worth using as a practical aid, especially when you get inspired in your writing and prefer to dictate your thoughts quickly rather than write longhand or type. Go to: http://www.nuance.com/dragon/index.htm

Why should I even contemplate such a massive undertaking? Will anyone even read it? Does anyone care?

Of course, you will need to face down, again and again, that lingering demon of self-doubt. I would say: If the spirit moves you, go ahead and aspire to become a creator as well as a consumer. Oftentimes, a writer won’t be able to control or even know what happens to his/her work once it’s released out into the world to seek its fame and fortune. But the one thing a writer can control is the creation and completion of the work itself.

I have read a lot of advice, advocating the contrary. Writers may be told to ‘create buzz’ by setting up advance web sites and developing fan-bases across multiple social media outlets before even embarking on the writing itself. For all I know, in our brave new cyber-connected world, this may be sensible advice. However, I continue to believe that the bedrock challenge for a writer is to create an authentic work, worthy of publication, and then ‘put it out there’ for the world at large.

Author, J.K. Rowling, when embarking as a novice on her first Harry Potter novel, asked herself what was the worst that could happen. Answer: the rejection of her manuscript by every publishing house on the planet. Big deal! She decided that she had nothing to lose—and everything to gain—if she tried.



By Christina Manolescu, Founder of Invisible Cities Network © 2018. This article was originally published in The Write Place magazine, Canadian Writers Society