Novel Workshop Review

7 Aspects of Novel Writing
Held: Saturday, Jan. 7, 2017
Host: Carol St. Ann

I was excited and nervous about attending the workshop, not knowing what to expect. I'm more of a listener than a talker type of person so I was a little intimidated.

Access to the workshop was easy. This was a first for me. Oh no, we were on camera. It was nice to see some of the people that I have chatted with online. The workshop didn't work well for me, however. Something that I hadn't thought about was the hearing problem that I've been having for several months now and have seen a specialist about. Looking back, I might have been prepared with ear phones to see if some of the background noise could have been eliminated making it easier to hear. At one point, I panicked, I could tell Carol was going around asking people where they were from. When I thought she got to me I spoke out, Wisconsin. Whether that came through or not, I am not sure. In any case, there was a lot of chatting going on back and forth and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. So all that being said, my participation in the workshop was a failure but from what I could tell, the workshop itself was a great success.

I am ever, ever, so grateful to Carol St. Ann for sending out a transcript of the workshop because the information is invaluable and touched on so many of the things that I really should have known before I wrote my novel. These are some of the things that I have learned.

Start writing your novel and then walk away from it for a while. She likened it to a song that keeps replaying in your mind. I could relate to that because I worked on my novel for a couple of years, put it down, and went back to it.

Consider Na No Prep. Backstories are a must. I don't know very much about either of these things so this is homework for me.

Always, always, carry around a notebook. The theory is that sometimes an idea pops into your head but if you don't write it down you may not be able to remember it again in the same way. I get night ideas so I guess this would included having a notebook by the side of the bed. What a great idea, I will definitely start doing this.

Listen to concerns & criticisms. This is where our fellow writing.com reviewers can be invaluable. Carol St. Ann suggested that family and friends can also give you ideas but fellow authors will hopefully give you an honest review.

Don't burden yourself with too many other things. If I listen to this advice, starting a novel right now would be a bad idea because I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with what I am trying to do now coupled with working a full time job and running a household on my own.

Write from the heart. I believe this. The best complements I received on my novel were: "I cried, I've never done that before when reading a novel." And another one was, "I was so mad at William I wanted to reach through the page and strangle him." It surprised me when I also shed a few tears the night I was driving home from work knowing that I was writing the ending to my novel. I didn't want to leave these people behind. They had been in my thoughts day and night for two years or more. I wondered if this is why authors write sequels.

In summary, I hope that I didn't talk about my ideas too much but I was excited about Carol St. Ann's transcript and felt that she totally encompassed key points in Novel Writing; things that I need to know before considering writing another one. I appreciate all the time she took to help others like me.

I think the workshop was totally a worthwhile project.