Please do a quick re-read of the previous entry, “Failure Spawns Discipline”. Ill-discipline was the problem with my first novel. The manuscript would go untouched for weeks, even months, from my own neglect. I thought I could go in and out of the process and still accomplish the project. Yes, I was wrong, so go ahead and laugh. Detritus and refuse congealed in the vehicle’s avenues, the lubricant ran out of the joints and the
My first attempt at a novel followed a Steinbeck binge, my next-in-the-series of fiction-groupie crushes that began with The Iliad, went through Jack London, Saul Bellow, John le Carre, On the Road, and others, and picked up later with John Irving, Elmore Leonard, Nicole Mones, Cormac McCarthy, and Simon Mawer; I’m currently hot for Ian McEwan. That “first novel” failed through lack of discipline. I’ll try to explain why.
There had been two ...
Since my current interest is primarily the novel, I'll start by talking about long fiction. I believe that if you're going to write fiction, you have to respect it on its own merits. For some writers, storytelling is an art or an obsession or a blood-challenge with which to take up and become enthralled. For others it may be a working endeavor in pursuit of a livelihood, advancement, recognition, and so on, and getting words on a page is ...