From the Fiction Desk

In past blogs, I have quoted the Science Fiction author and editor Ben Bova who described the writing of a novel is like laying a medieval siege to a walled town. I constantly learn that this metaphor is accurate. I am currently laying siege to one town and preparing for others. In the past I have been able to complete a single novel (from plot to rough draft only) in three months. The writing of one novel (Dark Medicine), however has taken far longer. This period of nearly thirteen months from plot to rough draft has been a constant reminder of the long siege and what can happen should you not be prepared.

When an army goes to lay siege to an enemy town, they have to prepare their supplies of food, ammunition, clothing, tents, and morale. In writing, the writer must prepare his mind for the long months ahead and his energy for the writing. If the siege takes longer than the military or the writer plans, resupply becomes the greatest problem. I will leave the military siege and methods of resupply to authorities better than I to describe. In the case of the novel, the resupply comes to me by diversion—allowing my mind to take leave and work on a second shorter term project (like a short story or poetry or even something that has nothing at all to do with writing).

These respites become even more necessary when I discover that I start hating and resenting the novel as there may be other projects I need to be working on or feel the need to get the story out the door and to someone for publication while the window is open for it. A novel, like the headstrong enemy, is not so ready to surrender its town to the conqueror. The supply of willingness to grant yourself disciplined leave to let your muse and your mind rest from the long war is even more critical than the supply of determination or emotional strength, for if you run out of this the novel will die on the table.

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