December 2009
This year I drew the line at doing yet another NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) marathon. Too much to do, and people start wondering why - when you appear to be writing all these 'novels' - none of them actually seem to be appearing in published form. The answer is very simple. You write the book at speed once ... and then you write it again ... and again ... slowly, trying to get it right, fine-tuning it, re-thinking it, uncovering plot holes, cutting out cliches and snipping out unwanted or unneccessary sections of text. All that takes time and thought and waking up in the middle of the night to scribble down great dream-inspired insights. And then there's the day job.
Obviously people work at different rates. Some authors spend a year or more planning and then another two years writing the book. Others, time-permitting, can turn out a book a year. In addition to writing fiction, I work on adaptations of classics for the EFL market. People often ask me how long each book takes. The answer is that - depending on the novel - it can take between three to six months, working evenings and weekends. After all that effort, though, it is very satisfying to see the finished version.
Just out this month is Mr Football with great illustrations by Marzia Sanfilippo, and the project brought to a successful conclusion by our clever series editor Maria Cleary. My thanks go to both of them. Do check out Mr Football on the Book List on the left and on the Photo page.