A New Year, A New Novel
A note before I get started. I read back over my previous posts and realized I didn’t give you the link to Word Count Journal. I apologize. I had to retype that post about three times because of technical difficulties. The site is now up and running. See you there if you choose to participate. 
(Oh, and here I am.)
Okay, ladies and gentlemen, it’s a new year and for the “Path to Publication” category, I’ve decided to take a step back. I’m starting a novel from basically scratch so I can really get into all aspects of being a writer.
Also, the reason I have decided to stray away from editing and sending in one of my novels, is because it’s part of a quartet (or quintet if I can think of a suitable plot for one of my ideas), and I had the unfortunate luck to write the novel and then think of prequels instead of sequels. I’m going to write the first, work on sending that one in, and go from there.
The bad thing about writing the fifth book (or third or…) before the first is the more you write and the more that happens, the more trapped you become in what has to happen in the first book. This isn’t always the case, but often can be. If you become too trapped, you’ll be more likely to become bored with your writing and abandon the project altogether.
Or, like the predicament I was facing, you’ll be forced to do a major rewrite on the book/all of the books you have written each time something comes along in the first (or whichever book you’re working) that acts as a ripple effect and changes things through all the books.
I highly suggest if you have a novel and have prequels floating around in your mind (sequels are easier to deal with in this situation), start working on Book One.
My question to you is: Have you or anyone you know written something completely out of order and it worked without anything more than the usual necessary edits?
(If so, I’d like to know how they did it. )
January 1st, 2007 at 10:41 am
Been there, done that.
Completely screwed it all up
January 1st, 2007 at 7:17 pm
I think it depends a little on how connected the stories are - if the sequence reads a bit like one long story broken into parts, then writing the later stuff first will be quite restrictive, but if you’re telling multiple stories that are separated by time or events or loosely connected, you will have more freedom in writing the prequels later on.
January 2nd, 2007 at 3:09 am
Fortunately I’m at a point where most of it can be salvaged.
You make a good point, Marcus. One I should have mentioned in the post…