What’s the Hardest Part of Writing a Novel?

Not much of this whole “writing a book” thing is easy. That’s particularly true if you’re looking to get it published. And sell the damn thing. And even more so if nobody knows who the hell you are, except for your mom, and even she’s not sure all the time. Talk about a mountain to climb, from the first tiny, uncertain steps of just coming up with the kernel of an idea to outlining, storyboarding, deciding on a structure, figuring out who the characters are, writing the first chapter, driving through the parts you think suck, finally finishing a draft, then realizing your work has only barely begun. The hardest part is tough to nail down.

There are plenty of points at which your average person drops out of this particular climb. Lots of opportunities to say “Screw this” and turn on Netflix. I have no doubt that the vast majority of people who talk about writing a novel never start, just as the vast majority of people who start a novel never finish, and most of those who finish a novel don’t sell enough to even make up for their costs, much less make anything approaching a “living.”

In fact, as you loyal blog readers know, I even started my own novel many years ago. Well, at least, I guess I was planning it to be a novel. I don’t really remember. But I wrote 22 or so pages of a a story called “Phobia” when I was 17, and I believe I’d describe it as desperate to be derivative of Stephen King, but falling far short of that goal. If you’d like to read an excerpt of this literary masterpiece, I posted it a few months ago.

With all the possible points, and all the possible reasons to just stop writing and do something — anything, really — else, what’s the hardest to drive through? Well, I suppose the answer is going to vary depending upon the person. For me, I’m not sure I can pinpoint just one. But here were the points of the process that I found to be the hardest to tackle:

Content editing

I was fortunate in that I had an editor who knew what she was doing, and I didn’t have a tight deadline staring at me. I also had a lot of experience with the editing process in general, and I think that made things a bit easier. Still, this process took a hell of a lot of patience, and dedication to really examining my own work. That’s not easy. You spend so much time with a story, and it becomes your baby. You just want to pat it on the head and send it out into the world to be loved.

But it has to be molded from a rough draft into something great … if “great” is what you’re going for. Standards matter. Respecting that your name is on the cover matters. Sticking with the process matters. I could easily see getting frustrated and dropping out at this point. I’m sure many people do.

Coming up with ideas

This is still my biggest issue. I wish it weren’t. So many writers talk about all the ideas they have battering them every day. They see story ideas in everything, it seems. They have notebooks full of plot bunnies and story nuggets, just waiting for them to attack. I’m envious of that. They just don’t come to me very easily. And, when they do, I beat them to death, questioning every part of the plot, worrying that I won’t be able to get from where I’m starting to a compelling end. It’s a brutal process.

My hope is that my stories will come out stronger in the end. I hope my “Hunger Games” approach to culling the fold will make for better, more well thought out narratives. But it could just drive me crazy. Who knows? Maybe I’ll run out of ideas. Maybe I’ll just hit a wall one day and say I’ve got nothing left. Or maybe I’ll sell out and write the next “Fifty Shades” fanfic sequel. Don’t put anything past me.

Finding the time

I actually did OK with this, but it was still a daunting challenge. How do I write every day (hopefully) and not make my wife feel like I’m cheating on her with a book? I didn’t really want her to become a novel widow. Oh, and did I mention I was also trying to plan our wedding at the time? And then I decided to plot out how to lose 20+ pounds. I’m ambitious like that.

It was tough, though. On weeknights, I wrote for one hour a night, and no more. I’d set a stopwatch, and I’d stop when it said an hour was up. Then I’d go back downstairs and hang out with my (soon-to-be) wife. I got up way earlier than she did on weekends, so I had a few hours to spend contemplating the next move of Cain, Hannah, Jacob and the rest, while I kept the dog occupied/fed. It ended up working pretty well. It took a lot of discipline, though, and there were times I had to put a lot of energy into making myself do it.

That’s how you get 85,000 words done in six weeks, though. For a lot of people, I’d guess that’s the breaking point. They have full-time jobs. They have families. Friends they want to hang out with. Relationships they don’t want to abandon. And so the book seems too daunting. It’s just too much.

What’s the hardest part of writing a novel? Honestly, it’s probably every part. For me, though, those were the places where I felt the closest to not having a good answer. Oh, and those 20+ pounds? Almost there.