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Anatomy of a Novel 11/1/2004 10:35:04 AM
Ever wonder what process a writer goes through writing a novel? Here's one author's perspective! Anatomy of a Novel.
Probably the single most-asked question a writer gets is: "Where do you get your ideas?" Since I've already touched on that in a previous blog on my website (for those who haven't seen it and are interested, please check out www.howardhopkins.com/news.htm ) I thought some folks would be interested to see just how those ideas become a fleshed-out book, how a novel develops, at least from one author's viewpoint. What I would like to do is take blog readers though the novel-writing process for a Black Horse Western. I am working on two concurrently, so while the major focus will be on the first, snippets of the second may work themselves in every now and then. It's my hope some of you will find this an interesting process, that others will find the process demystified, and the rest of you--well, I just hope you won't doze off on me! :)
The novel in question is called RIPPER PASS, a continuation of my "Pass" series featuring ex-manhunter Jim Hannigan and his lovely partner. The series began with VENGEANCE PASS and continued with POISON PASS, the novel I completed a couple months back. The next, after RIPPER PASS, is called NIGHTMARE PASS, a book in which I hope to spend time focused on the relationship that's building between the two main players in the series.
A bit of background: Jim Hannigan is an ex-manhunter, one who men "hire for vengeance, not justice". He's a hardcase, a bit temperamental, a lot stubborn. His past? Well, he hasn't quite told me all if it yet, but pieces are coming out. He doesn't always have an easy time of it on cases, either. In VENGEANCE PASS (hereafter referred to as VP) he finds himself sent to track an outlaw who may not exist, the mythical Johnny Laredo, after said outlaw murders a man's daughter. Unfortunately upon reaching the title's namesake town, he is promptly arrested for a murder he did not commit. But that's merely a typical day for him.
His partner? Well, I am going to go out of my way to avoid telling you her name, because she is an integral part of the mystery in VP. To blab it here would ruin the book for those who might want to read it when it is released in the autumn of 2005. Let's just say she's feisty, can take care of herself and has a past heaped with tragedy that she's managed to rise above. Oh, yeah, and she's hot.
Coming off the events of POISON PASS, the relationship between our hero and heroine is a bit strained. Hannigan, you see, has a bit of a problem with commitment. His lovely partner has a bit of problem with his bit of a problem with commitment. Their relationship has become a somewhat water and vinegar.
OK, so that's basically the background facts that need to be known at this point. In the blog we'll start taking a look at the work itself, RIPPER PASS, and begin examining the process leading up to writing it, and hopefully, through the completion of its first draught.
--Howard
