Deciding to write a novel is a heck of a lot easier than actually writing the novel … I’m very much more comfortable with writing poems. Even writing a collection of poems is much easier than writing a novel.

With a poetry collection, even if you are writing on a particular theme, each poem is a single thing, while with a novel, you’re working on one big thing, that all joins completely together, to make the whole. With a verse novel, it might feel a bit different, being a combination of the poem plus novel thing. I’ve not written a verse novel, and suspect I’ll need to go back and look at the verse novel I know is in my bookshelves, somewhere, to get a better feel for the differences present, or not, in that particular genre.
But back to the writing of a novel, there is talk about whether a writer is a plotter or a pantser, I just did a quiz to see which of the two it indicated I was. The answer to the quiz though, based on my answers didn’t lend an easy answer, it said I was a hybrid. Maybe that is why I’m not able to get an outline settled on and then the novel written, or the novel just written, and then I’ll work out what I’ve actually done.
This is where the quiz is, if you’d like to give it a try yourself: https://www.writinglaraferrari.com/plotter-or-pantser-quiz
I want my plot, but I want surprises too. And if I actually end up writing something else entirely, well, at least it will be something, a novel, hopefully a novel that is something similar to a Cosy Murder Mystery!
I have an increasing number of people waiting for me to finish writing this novel, so I’d better get back to doing just that, as well as watching this Adelaide Crows football game, that is looking good at the moment, with Crows on 2 goals, 2 points, to Greater Western Sydney on 1 point. Go Crows!
Go the Crows! They just won their second in a row.And Go Carolyn, that she may kick a few goals herself and finish that cozy murder mystery 🙂
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Haha, thanks for the encouragement, John!
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stay the course, Carolyn 🙂 of course, there is another option: a series of cozy murder mystery short stories, probably much more manageable: what do you think ?
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It is a possibility, I’ve actually begun writing a short story based in Talloola, where my cosy murder mystery series take place. And I may continue with it, for submission to a particular publisher.
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I’ve got a feeling you’ll be more comfortable with the short story format
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Stop trying to send me off track, John! I will complete the first draft of this first book in the series. With a number of words there, before the end of the year.
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well that is good; I think readers would be more pleased with a novel
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Yes John, for the reader in general, an actual novel has more gravitas than a collection of short stories. For those who know more about such things, people like you and me, for instance, we better understand the difficulties with putting together a collection of pieces, to bring the individual parts into something far surpassing the sum of those parts.
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