The Chaos that is Being a Novelist

Chaos is used in many fantasy books as a form of magic. It is also a form of writing. Sometimes one can get lost in their words, especially when writing the novel. There are days the novelist hates the trade; others when he or she wonders why they had ever thought of quitting. The first novel is the thesis here, a thesis for up to five years of dreaming (more often less; sometimes more). This essay will discuss what one should do with the chaos of reading a first novel.

First and foremost the novel is a journey. One discovers a light, uses it, hones it, and tries to publish it. When the novelist is done with their first novel, when it appears close to done, one should remember the journey. It was long and hard for him or her. Does he or she actually want to read it? The novelist might lose heart, but, just like finishing the novel is important, so is reading it. The first reading should be cold; all one has is a notebook and pen to make sure no major mistakes were made. The first novel should not be edited right after it is finished. The novelist can choose when to read it, though a distance is good then too-say a minimum of a month away from it.

By letting one's work sit, he or she is doing a key part in becoming a novelist. One wants it to read well, and he or she can discover whether it will work or not just by a "cold" reading. The major problems will present themselves to the patient novelist. All one does, after seeing a mistake, is put the problem in the notebook. The notebook may fill with edits, or it may be left blank. The later editing process will come, because one is only trying to see whether the story is close to being readable.

The next point would be that, since this is the first novel, it may not work out. Countless first novels were never published, and for good reason. The novelist is just learning the ropes, even if he or she has experience with short fiction. The short fiction experience only means a good shorter story will come about; it does not mean the same writer has a novel in them.

One should not be discouraged if the first novel is unreadable. There may be patent stereotypes of characters, a story to simple, and atrocious sentence structure. The novelist should remember two things: anything can be edited, and there is always the next novel. The next choice for the novelist is to decide whether to spend a few months, a year, or more on editing, or whether they should let this novel sit for a year or two and try another. Reading a first novel should be an experience. One should not let it dishearten them if the reading material is not great. It is chaos until we put the words for our first novel on paper; after that, any wizard would call it order.