It’s a strange feeling, to want to write something as arduous as a book. Usually, the only cravings I’ll get are for chips or chocolate but somehow I found myself wondering why I shouldn’t write a novel — and this is coming from someone who doesn’t usually write fiction. I’ve always found it difficult to craft something entirely made-up; mostly I’m just not sure 1) I have enough plot to tell a story, and 2) anyone will truly believe what I’m writing. Yet I do have ideas for novels, including a YA novel that, the more I think about it, the more difficult it actually seems to write. I suppose I’m kind of going in circles here, but bear with me, this is a stream-of-consciousness thing and I’m not going to go back and edit this so too bad if it’s one big mess of ideas.
I think the problem I have with writing a novel is that it’s daunting. The word count is daunting. The amount of time people spend — years upon years of their lives — is daunting. Creating something good, telling a worthwhile story — it’s all daunting to me. I think part of the problem is that I build up this idea of how to write a novel that I don’t even begin doing it. That’s why I think National Novel Writing Month is so awesome; the idea of writing an entire novel in a month — or rather, that someone, anyone, could, over the course of 30 days, simply write a book — is amazing to me. It doesn’t have to be that hard. And I think this is what I’m slowly learning. Writing doesn’t have to be that hard (if you know the story you’re trying to tell). What it takes some writers up to a decade to write could take others — including myself — a few weeks.
I could do it, I’ve been telling myself. I could, if I truly wanted to.
aaron's random musings 