So you know the joke....?

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Fri, 2007-12-07 10:51

When someone tells you that they are writing a novel the reply is "No, neither am I." Well, I really have started writing another novel(I try not to think about the first one too much). Chapters planned, characters outlined and now the first chapter done in draft. Feels good.

I don't think that I'll put it on here at this stage, but I might throw requests for advice out in this forum from time to time. In any event I'll keep you updated.

A couple of things occur to me at this stage: I don't know whether I'll be able to write short stories as well as keep the novel going, and also isn't it remarkable and silly how different it feels to try to write a novel rather than a short story? I am currently trying to fool myself into thinking of each little piece as a short story so I don't get a nosebleed.

Fri, 2007-12-07 11:09

kenny_mooney

good luck with it. I'm not writing a novel either. Actually, in a way that's true...But yes, writing a novel is very different to a short story, and a lot more tiring!

Fri, 2007-12-07 12:00

maddan

I think that was an old Willy Rushton cartoon from the early days of Private Eye (although a quick google search attributes it to both Peter Cook and the New Yorker). It's always been at the back of my mind whenever I own up to dabbling as a writer - I don't want to be that man. I once promised myself I would never say it and would wait till I could tell people "I've written a novel" before I told them anything - but I've broken that promise many times. Good luck, anyway.

Fri, 2007-12-07 12:03

tom_saunders

Nosebleed? You're more likely to get piles.

Fri, 2007-12-07 12:22

Kropotkin38

Or a devastating combination of the two? I only mention the fact that I am having a bash at a novel to close friends and family. ABCtales is different because here I have anonymity. Wherever the joke comes from I love it. I kind of hope that it's one of Peter Cook's, a superb lance for the boil of pomposity.

Fri, 2007-12-07 12:42

tom_saunders

I'm sure MI 5 know who you are, Krop.

Fri, 2007-12-07 12:50

Kropotkin38

It is a testament to the stupidity of the muppets in British intelligence that you're probably right. I was lucky enough to have Clive Ponting as a politics lecturer in my first year at college (oooh that gives a lot away about my secret identity) and at the time he reckoned that they kept 3 million names on file. I'd be very disappointed if I'm not somewhere in the top 3 million most dangerous British subversives.

Fri, 2007-12-07 13:18

kenny_mooney

the funniest thing is when they intercept your mail...ha ha...how I laughed...

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