I wrote a novella in four months, here’s what I learned
So I had four months to write a novella. Why? Because as my last project for high school, I chose to write a literary work. And by the time I got to writing, I had four months. Now, there was no minimum or maximum amount of words or pages for said novella, but I wanted to write the idea that I had imagined. In this article I’ll take you through my process, and will share alternative ways it could’ve been done.
Before a novel can even be thought about, you need an idea. I know a lot of writers (including myself) struggle to begin writing something, because what do you even write about? Well, the very cut and dry answer “About anything you want” doesn’t really help. I say: don’t be afraid to draw inspiration from works you love. If I had to describe where I drew inspiration for this novella, I would say: George Orwell’s “1984”, Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451”, Ernest Cline’s “Ready Player One”, and Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” It is important to be conscious of where you draw inspiration from, because you might unknowingly write almost a copy of your favorite stories just with a different name. Feel free to draw inspiration from other works, but make sure your work has an identity of its own.
I had an idea and my inspirations. Now to writing. Wait, not yet. First of all, I believe everyone should outline their stories at least to some extent. It can be pretty in depth, going scene by scene with already defined characters or it can be vague, just describing the general events of the story. Sure, Stephen King doesn’t believe in plotting at all, and he’s one of the greatest writers of our time, but that’s exactly the point I’m trying to make. You can freestyle and be a pantser, as it’s called in the writing world. Or you can plan out every minute detail and be a plotter. I believe most people fall somewhere in between rather than being an absolute. Do what works for you and feel free to change up your style from time to time.
So, now that I’ve outlined the story, I need someone to be in said story. Characters. A lot of people define their characters way before they begin writing the story itself. I do it the exact opposite way. I make a story, and then put the characters in it. I’ve heard of people writing very detailed backgrounds for every single main or side character of their story. Everyone in their books has a defined backstory even if it’s not relevant to the plot itself. I, once again, do the opposite. I write the characters as I write the story, and here I kind of adapt the pantser mentality. I write the characters first and I let them do whatever they want and take me where they need to. In later drafts I refine them and try to make them sound and behave like real people.
Now, finally, you write. You write until you finish the first draft. You finish it. (If possible, take a bit of a break and look at it with fresh eyes afterwards. I gave myself two weeks, but four to six weeks would be ideal) You give it a read, and realize that this is probably one of the worst books you’ve ever read. At least that’s what happened to me. So I rewrote the parts which I thought were problematic (there were a bunch of those) and gave it another read. It seemed alright to me, I knew it wasn’t perfect, but to me who just freshly rewrote it, it seemed okay. Taking another break here and re-reading it yourself would be perfect, but I had a tight schedule. So I sent it out to a few people to read, and, oh boy, was I wrong about it being alright. After getting all the feedback, the only thought in my head was “Was I blind?” because there were still many obvious mistakes, plain stupid dialogue, and unneeded scenes. However, I also received feedback which I didn’t agree with, which takes us nicely to the next point.
You need to know when to stand your ground and when to concede. I believe that 70%-85% of the feedback you receive, you should implement into your story, however the other 15%-30% are not so obvious. That is because, while you definitely should listen to what your readers say, you must also keep the core and soul of your story intact. If you send your book out to 15 readers and implement every single piece of feedback that they tell you, you will have yourself a completely different and (most probably) worse story. That being said, think about any criticism and feedback from other people. Even if you don’t agree with it and aren’t going to implement it. It might lead you to a better idea that neither you or your readers thought of before. Just know that even when your story is the best it’s ever going to be, someone will not like it, and will want it changed in certain ways. That person might even be you.
“Better done than perfect. The best is the enemy of the good.” This is a quote that I heard from my dad and I’d like to add to it by saying that the imperfect is the friend of progress. Yeah your book will probably be flawed to some extent, be it your very first book or fifth or whatever number you want to pick, it will never be perfect. Because, it doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be done. That said, it should not be rushed. That said, you also should not bother yourself with infinite rewrites where you obsess over every single word and comma. As you can see, it’s a game of balance. I think with the novella I wrote, I rushed it a bit. That is because I did have a set in stone deadline, and four months was not quite enough for me to make it the best I can. But even though the project wasn’t perfect, I am more than satisfied with it. I improved as a writer and it taught me the importance of actually writing a finished story, rather than never finishing it in the never-ending pursuit of perfection. Write a story, not to write the best story, but to become a better writer, and good writers always finish their stories.
