What I Need to Write a Novel
What I need to be able to write a novel is different than what someone else will need. I am sure of that. However, I thought jotting down what helps me might help other inspiring authors. The reason I am writing this blog is not just to make my story fantastic but to inspire other fantastic stories. And if this discourse does that, then I will be a very happy author.
The first thing I need when sitting down to write my novel is classical music. Life itself exists in an epic symphony, we all have an instrument to play, and our tunes are as varied as the strands of DNA coursing through our bodies. But what is not varied within us is our atavistic desire to listen to a story. Since the dawn of time, everyone who has come before us has wanted one thing and one thing alone: a legendary story. I find that listening to classical music connects me to that past, and allows me to release my creativity to tell the tale within me.
The second thing that I have discovered I require to write a novel is an enormous desk. Mine is made out of a flat door, and I’m considering commandeering the dining room table, although my family might frown on that one. Many ideas are at play, and having room to organize those thoughts is key. I have colorful Post-It notes everywhere, lined paper bursting with bigger ideas, and my iMac takes up a lot of real estate. I can’t visualize writing on anything smaller, although I have been known to bust out my laptop in bed and go for it. But generally, my best ideas come on that door.
And lastly, writing a novel, or even simply writing itself, is all about discipline. It is to barricade yourself from the reality surrounding your daily life and live within your story for a few hours. For me, it’s usually more than half my day. If you have to do laundry or make lunch during the process, it’s going to jam you up. I pre-make my healthy lunch the night before, as if I were taking it to an actual workplace and not my writing room a hallway away. My family knows not to bother me during this time, and usually…they obey my directive. My phone is nowhere in sight, so I can’t be distracted by any texts - especially those adorably cute bunny shots my friends enjoy sending me. And I only come out of my lair to get a cup of coffee and stretch my eyes for a bit. I always want to write, so having this discipline is unchallenging to me. I recognize that it’s mostly these outside forces, people needing something or having to go somewhere, that are the real threats thwarting my success.
But in all honesty, they also encourage me to be motivated, spur new threads of thoughts, and give me humor that I can impart into my characters. In other words, they breathe extra life into my stories. Life that I can inhale and then exhale in the form of new words and themes to make a more realistic novel. Because in the end, being a successful writer is as much about being with people as it is being alone. And that takes immense discipline.