Sunday, 20 September 2020

Writing a Novel is Like ... by Joan Lennon


Theo Jansen Strandbeest 
(wiki commons)

There comes a stage in writing a novel when you need to revisit the whole thing, starting at the beginning and working your way right through to the end, looking for inconsistencies, contradictions, lumps, bumps and loose threads.  Novels are complicated beasts full of interwoven filaments that can easily break or tangle or just trail off randomly.  It doesn't take much to make something that complex not run smoothly.  Grind to a halt.  Maybe even fall flat on its face ...



Jansen said of his beasts: "I make skeletons that are able to walk on the wind. Over time, these skeletons have become increasingly better at surviving the elements such as storms and water and eventually I want to put these animals out in herds on the beaches, so they will live their own lives."

Which is what we hope for our novels too, right?


Joan Lennon Instagram

8 comments:

Susan Price said...

Ha! - Yes!
And I just love those strandbeests.

Nick Garlick said...

Complicated beasts indeed. Novels, that is. For me, the hardest stage is the third draft. (I usually write 4.)That's when I know the whole story, but when I also see annoying inconsistencies, gaps in logic, paragraphs in the wrong place.... everything I missed in the earlier drafts, when all I was interested in was just getting something down on paper. Straightening everything out is WORK!

Penny Dolan said...

Thank you for revealing their name. The Strandbeests are such wonderful structures.
Is it walking or teetering?

Nevertheless the structures do keep going, and with a grace about them too, so good wishes anyone keeping their Wordbeest tettering along today.

Steve Gladwin said...

Wonderful, Joan. Makes me feel somewhat ashamed of werriting about novel structure!

Anne Booth said...

What amazing sculptures! I am trying to sort out a novel structure and feel rather overwhelmed, so I must remember that I have made stories move along before, and I can again!

Joan Lennon said...

Thanks everybody, and may all your structures walk on the wind!

Joan Haig said...

Magical.

Sue Purkiss said...

These are wonderful, Joan! Thank you!