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Home • Fiction Writing Tips • 2011-10-05 Starting Again

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• Fiction Writing Tips Homepage

• 2008-11-25 Why do readers seem to know more?
• 2011-10-05 Starting Again
• 2009-08-23 - Rewriting a manuscript
• 2009-02-04 Why Ross is out of favour
• 2008-06-15 A wonderful book
• 2008-05-15 A tough job
• Rewrite Man
• 2008-12-21 Location, location
• 2008-10-16 Second printing
• First Lines
• Little Changes with Big Impact
• How did they know?
• Oh, Niki, you're so fine
• Keep it short, and sweeter
• An intended consequence
• What if it all stinks?
• Working without an agent
• 48,710 words
• 37,047 words
• Staying at it - 2008-01-16
• Writing a new book - 2007-12-30
• MacDonald vs. McDonald - 2007-12-15
• Being seen in Toronto - 2007-09-27
• Where ideas come from - 2007-08-17
• Starting over - 2007-08-14
• Writing like Elmore? - 2007-08-01
• The future of crime writing? - 2007-07-15
• Is Body Contact subverting a tradition? - 2007-06-15
• Do writers have a life? - 2007-06-12
• Begin with an ending in mind - 2007-06-01

Starting a new novel

Starting a new novel should be called starting a new manuscript. Or starting a first draft.
When you've been editing and rewriting a manuscript for a few months, you forget what it's like to start again.
There's an element of fear. Can I still do this? Will it be any good? This is largely fear of the unknown.
I have to remind myself of the basics.
- Record word counts
- Just keep going
- Bum + chair = manuscript
- Don't try to perfect a first draft
- All writing is rewriting
- Through writing, the story comes alive in your mind