Category: Starting a Novel

Not Since 2018

The end of February saw a milestone in my writing not seen in nearly five years. It’s a milestone I’d like to mark more often,…

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The Low Survival Rate of Early Chapters

My current project imagines itself will one day be a full-length novel. Today it is 3500 words of metawriting (writing about the writing—we’ll call it…

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Crush or Commitment?

I have a long-form fiction project I’d like to discuss for a moment. Let’s call it Fabula. (Fabula is Latin for story.) When I’m working…

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Percy’s Six Elements of Story: Establish A Clear Narrative Goal

I am reading Benjamin Percy’s Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction. In the second chapter, Percy lays out his list of the foundational elements of story.…

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We’re Insecure and Lack Confidence

“Yesterday evening, I started my novel. Now I begin to see stylistic difficulties that horrify me. To be simple is no small matter.”  - Gustave…

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