Writing a novel easy??? Who the hell told you that?!?!?!?

Okay - so to be fair I was not expecting any part of this to be easy.

I guess like many in beginning a novel I had not realised the amount of work that is entailed just in prep.

I enjoy reading - I devour books.
I have done book reviews and been very honoured by a couple of authors asking me to write reviews.

I have dabbled in little bits of writing for myself - a lot for friends and patients, articles now and again, short stories (but not for a while).
I have enjoyed dabbling in writing since being a child and therefore like many have always had that dream of becoming  published author.

So - as mentioned in my previous entry - in being approached by a published author I was gobsmacked - a change of pace and genre for him and a chance for me to unleash my 'talent'!

Then the work begins - and in a totally different way to anything I had done before - after all - this is for a novel!

I did some research - talked with my co-author - did more research and then it hit me just how much work all those authors I read have to put in before even beginning writing.

 Yep - about sums it up!

So - in knowing the story line - which has of course been refined a few times, realising the importance of character profiles, creating those characters so that I can work with them and know them thoroughly, refining the storyline yet again, still devouring books for pleasure and actually getting some basics on paper - I was beginning to feel at times like a Zippo without the flint - just through sheer admiration of what authors actually go through.

 Yep - I had hit the 'What the hell was I thinking?' stage!

I had good feedback from a friend who actually made me think about a couple of things in a different way. I cannot even begin to say how helpful it is to have someone to bounce ideas off - someone you know will be honest and question things if needs be.
I had good feedback from my co-author - who said I obviously knew what I was doing and although flattered, I was also very much in the, 'huh? I have not got a clue - I am going with what I feel!' frame of mind and also realising that I am still a little nervous too.
But amidst the nerves is that excitement of my storyline and idea, my characters - naming them was a joy I tell ya and then researching to make sure the names were not too close to any in use especially in the same genre - their profiles - my blurb - and the prologue and first chapters were deemed as more than good enough.

The word synopsis came up and hell - I have been working on that and I can now understand why a lot of authors call it 'the dreaded synopsis'.

 I am nowhere near to being completed with the novel.
I know I still have bits of research to do throughout - things that keep popping up as the story progresses.
I know I will be refining things and doing at least another 2 or 3 rewrites.
I know I will probably get turned down by a lot of agencies and publishers before finding the right one - I may hit lucky with the first one but I am not pinning my hopes on anything other than hard work on promoting it too.

The one thing that overrides all of the hard work - half of which is not covered here as I do not have the experience yet - is the buzz!!! It is truly exhilarating. The 'weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee' feeling when you know you have written something that is just right - well I am not going to say it is better than sex - but you get what I mean!

It is my little world I can create and hopefully bring some enjoyable reading to others and be able to take them into that world as so many authors do with me when I read their books.

One day - I AM going to be able to say - 'hey - I'm an author' - but until then - my undying respect for the work authors have to do is in full flow.