Birth of a Novel by the contributors to the blog
Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Language Arts, Writing & Publishing, Publishing, Fiction & Literature, Essays & Letters, Essays
| Author: | Sharen Ford | ISBN: | 9781301586189 |
| Publisher: | Sharen Ford | Publication: | October 12, 2012 |
| Imprint: | Smashwords Edition | Language: | English |
| Author: | Sharen Ford |
| ISBN: | 9781301586189 |
| Publisher: | Sharen Ford |
| Publication: | October 12, 2012 |
| Imprint: | Smashwords Edition |
| Language: | English |
We met in early 2007 in a class optimistically entitled Write Your Novel in Nine Months. Our instructor, Jonathan Maberry, himself an astonishingly prolific author as well as an excellent teacher, inspired us all to hope that, if we followed his techniques, we would each have a completed first draft by the end of the class. The fact that none of us achieved that goal within the allotted time frame is no reflection on Jonathan, and we would heartily recommend his courses to any aspiring writer.
We all did finish our novels, and it's doubtful we could have done that without Jonathan who showed us how to turn our vague ideas into the solid outlines that eventually became polished manuscripts. It's also doubtful that we could have done it without each other.
Although we were all still far from our dreams of publication when the class came to an end, we realized we were very much emotionally invested in each other's work. The thought of walking away from these nascent stories without seeing them through to completion seemed unacceptable. So, determined to help one another throughout the gestation period, we formed our own critique group, and now proudly regard each other not only as the creator of our own individual books, but as the "midwives" for three others.
Via our blog, we continue to share our thoughts on writing not only with each other, but also, to our delight, with readers and fellow writers around the world. We hope they will enjoy, and perhaps be inspired by, this small collection of our musings on the joys and struggles of birthing a novel.
We met in early 2007 in a class optimistically entitled Write Your Novel in Nine Months. Our instructor, Jonathan Maberry, himself an astonishingly prolific author as well as an excellent teacher, inspired us all to hope that, if we followed his techniques, we would each have a completed first draft by the end of the class. The fact that none of us achieved that goal within the allotted time frame is no reflection on Jonathan, and we would heartily recommend his courses to any aspiring writer.
We all did finish our novels, and it's doubtful we could have done that without Jonathan who showed us how to turn our vague ideas into the solid outlines that eventually became polished manuscripts. It's also doubtful that we could have done it without each other.
Although we were all still far from our dreams of publication when the class came to an end, we realized we were very much emotionally invested in each other's work. The thought of walking away from these nascent stories without seeing them through to completion seemed unacceptable. So, determined to help one another throughout the gestation period, we formed our own critique group, and now proudly regard each other not only as the creator of our own individual books, but as the "midwives" for three others.
Via our blog, we continue to share our thoughts on writing not only with each other, but also, to our delight, with readers and fellow writers around the world. We hope they will enjoy, and perhaps be inspired by, this small collection of our musings on the joys and struggles of birthing a novel.
