I am now on page 204 of my 346 page manuscript (roughly 90,000 words), and am really enjoying the experience. But this time last week was a different story. The start of the novel was much less enjoyable to read than where I am up to now. As I was writing the first 50 pages or so I don't think I really knew where the story was going (or what it was exactly). There will be a few chapter re-writes, and I'm looking forward to doing them, in order to build character more and take a bit more time to jump into the full story.
I really don't know how this will all end (i.e. will I find an agent? Will the agent find me a publisher? Will the book get published? And will it sell?).
I want to find and agent, I also want to find a publisher who will publish the novel, and I do want the book to reach as many people as possible. However, I am going to keep on writing for as long as ideas inspire me. Nothing will stop that. I already have my next book in the research phase and can't wait to start typing again (hopefully my eMachines EM250 netbook will allow me to complete it again before it dies on me). If people get to read my stuff (and pay me for it) that would be great. In the mean time, I'm enjoying this either way!!
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On a side note, I just watched the last 10 minutes of Artscape: Obsessed with Walking, a documentary on Australia's great ABC1 channel about poets (such as Wordsworth), musicians and authors who were/are ...obsessed with walking!!
The segment I saw focused on Will Self, a British novelist (amongst other things). Will is an avid walker, and seems to find inspiration and peace during his treks. He mainly walks through and around cities (such as Los Angeles and Berlin), and refuses to drive or ride in taxis for fear they would impede/obstruct his interaction with the City.
What I found interesting was the discovery Will made on the documentary. Due to his introverted ways he found that he found writing to be difficult at times. He attributed this to his lack of interaction with the people who lived within the cities he walked in. He never talked to them, he just walked.
It struck me that one of the reasons why I find my 'juices' flowing here in Sydney more so than anywhere else is because I have amassed enough knowledge of people and places to write (of course I have so much more to learn, more people to meet, and places to visit; but I finally have enough ammo in the rifle to start shooting).
I think Neil Gaiman mentioned living and 'getting one's heart broken' etc as a good tip to becoming an author. One can read every book under the sun, but in order to write about people (which is essentially what all fiction novels are) one must know people.
Deep?
Yup :D
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