It's Day 6 of the 90-Day Novel challenge. I have followed the schedule and exercises in Alan Watt's The 90-Day Novel.
Bestselling author of Diamond Dogs, Alan Watt's tone is friendly, that we are all writers working on novels together. Each day begins with Hi Writers. He constantly uses 'we' and 'our' as he discusses and shares his thoughts and ideas with his fellow writers.
Watt allows for his readers to have different writing processes and to be at different stages in their growth as well as in their novels. He brilliantly addresses some trouble we may have come across in the past along with a solution and the importance of creativity on pages 4 & 5 and the role of the subconscious on pages 8 & 9.
In the Preparation section of his book (pp. 16-18), Watt discusses that characters need dilemmas, not problems. Problems can be solved. Dilemmas take transformation. Right there, my whole relationship with my characters and novel shifted, became deeper and infinitely more interesting. I was excited to get back to writing my novel.
Watt expects his readers have stories to tell and characters in mind. His exercises for each day consist of open-ended questions about his readers' heroes and other characters. I have learned some surprising "secrets" about my characters in the 10-20 minutes I spent answering the questions each day. I learned more about my novel as a whole while answering the structure questions on Day 4.
I can always tell how inspiring and motivating a book is when I look back to see how many sentences I underlined and how many passages I marked and commented on in the margins. More than half the pages I have read so far have "spoken" to me.
I will update my 90-Day Novel project every month.
How are your novels coming along?
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