Writing the middle part of a novel sucks
*Originally posted 15th February 2021
On 1st February I wrote “I’m at the 50k mark at the moment and am struggling to get through the clunky middle part of the novel.”
It is now the evening of 14th February and I’m at 61,000 words. So 11k words in around 14 days. I’ve slowed my pace slightly this week. I’ve really struggled. The middle part of the novel is by far the hardest. When we start to write we have an initial idea, and we usually have an idea of how the story will end. But the messy journey of how to get there is the hard bit. I map out my plot with post it notes but I’ve had to change them so many times whilst writing this middle section.
I reckon I have another 10k words left and then I’ll be writing the main climax of my novel. I’ve already written my epilogue and the last few chapters, I just have the main action scenes left and the lead up to it. There’s one point I’m really struggling with at the moment. I need to spend some time figuring out how to fix the plot.
My course with the Faber Academy has been going well. The course has new topics every 2 weeks. So far we’ve all introduced our books and have done work on openings. Openings are so hard. I’ve changed mine so many times, and I also keep changing my mind about whether or not I want to include a prologue. I asked people on Twitter and the general answer was that prologues were fine as long as there was a good enough reason for them.
Because now is potentially the most free time I’ll ever have, I’m also doing another course alongside the Faber Academy one. I’m currently enrolled on the 6 week Curtis Brown Creative Writing a Psychological Thriller with Erin Kelly. Yes, I did question myself when I decided to do two courses at once. But the CBC course only lasts 6 weeks and after all, I have the time which I’ll never have again. The CBC course has been really good so far as it’s so specific to the genre I’m writing. They also have fantastic resources. I definitely recommend.
I’ll check back in again soon. I’m thinking of making a list of my favourite author blogs to follow. Some are so generous with the information and help they give out.
Hopefully the next time I write here, I’ll have almost finished my first draft! (I’m already getting excited to edit).
Faber Academy Kickstart your Novel review
It all begins with an idea.
*Originally posted on 7 January 2021
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It’s been a while since I posted on the blog! I had about a month away from writing after finishing my course to think about next steps. I’m now back to focusing on my writing and my novel.
I finished the Kickstart your Novel course in November and thought I would post a review up on here. I think it’s a fairly new course (my cohort was the second lot) and as it’s all done online it’s great for these pandemic times we are living in.
The course is meant as a precursor to the well-known 8 month long Writing a Novel course. Originally I applied for the Writing a Novel course but was unsuccessful. The tutors recommended that I take Kickstart your Novel instead (which is not selective) to work on my novel idea.
I found the course fantastic. It was 8 weeks long but I felt I progressed so much. The people on the course were all at different stages. Some had ideas and some had started writing their novel. I would say everybody that came to the session had an initial idea. I don’t think it’s necessary to already have a novel idea but it will make the exercises easier and you will benefit more from having other people comment on your work
The course covered the basics of writing and also included a session on writing a synopsis with tutor feedback (which I found invaluable). It does involve 5-7 hours a week of work but this can be more or less depending on how long the writing takes you.
After finishing the course, I applied for the Writing a Novel course and am pleased to say I got a place. I definitely think my novel is in a much better place now and I will benefit from the course more. I start at the end of January and can’t wait!
I hope my review was helpful and if anybody is thinking about doing the course feel free to comment or message me on my Instagram @authorrhiannonbarnsley. I would encourage people to go for this course if they don’t quite feel ready for the longer commitment. These courses are a lot of work alongside a full-time job - it’s better to gauge how you would cope with the work with a shorter course rather than being tied to 8 months.