Overthinking My Novel

By Adam D. Rice

Writing a novel is tough.

There's always so much to second-guess, over-analyze, and revise for clarity. Overthinking My Novel plays out a handful of these scenarios to humorous effect, letting you peer inside an author's mind as the creative process meets the meat grinder of self-doubt.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pitmix Press
• Release date: Sep 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201968458

Book preview

Overthinking My Novel

Adam D. Rice

Copyright © 2021 Adam D. Rice

All rights reserved.

Any similarities to persons, living or dead, are a coincidence.

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

Dedication

For every anxious author—so... all of them.

Contents

Preface

Beginnings

Character

Dialogue

Narrative & Plot

Setting

Writing Advice

Acknowledgements

About The Author

Preface

I can’t be the only writer, poet, or creative misanthrope who feels like there’s a constant battle raging in their mind. And this isn’t like a chess match between two geezers at the park. This is one of those chest-pounding, bloodlusty skirmishes where a sea of anxieties has our sanity hemmed in by the cliffs.

Unfortunately, these nagging, heavily-armed worries have a terrible habit of destroying art. It starts out quietly enough when you begin a new creative project. Sometimes, it sounds like a simple suggestion, "Maybe that’s a little too much. A little too far. A little too much green—you’re painting an orchard not a recycling bin!" Next thing you know, your epic adventure or gripping memoir has been reduced to a boring heap of unoriginality.

So, why write a book about it? Well, to be clear, this book isn’t about anxiety itself. But I did have legitimate reasons for writing it—I swear to you, I did! First, I want my fellow writers and authors to know that you’re not alone if you’re battling self-doubt, fear of failure, indecision, etc. Second, I hope this book lets us all have a laugh at our anxieties’ expense.

Okay, before we get to the good stuff, let’s get real for a minute. Next to no one is going to care about our work as much as we do, so why waste time sweating the small stuff? Life is far too short to create in a vacuum. Or vacuum instead of creating.

No more tying yourself in knots. You’ve got this.

~ Adam D. Rice

Beginnings

Who among us hasn’t stayed up long past midnight, staring at a computer screen or pad of paper, ruminating on the opening line of a story?

After a while, you finally write something—anything to get moving. You scan the page. Not good enough. I want to be grabbed and shaken so hard, I lose a filling! But the perfect hook always seems out of reach in a foggy quagmire—one that could drown a mammoth. And what makes you think you stand a better chance if you start sinking?

***

Exhibit A:

Empty page, hey, yeah... it’s me again. I’m here to fill you full of lead. Yeah, that’s a threat. Is toner made of lead? What’s ink made of, anyway? Isn’t it boiled bark? I think I read that in a book once—one of those children’s biographies of famous people. I read a lot of those books.... And could I tell you where Robert Frost was born? Nope.

Well, this has been productive. The page is really filling up. It’s crap, but that cursor hasn’t stopped inching along for at least a minute now. Writing a book isn’t that hard. Sure, writing a good book is hard, but just spitting out words isn’t much of a challenge. Fire eater—there’s a job that takes deliberate practice. I wonder how they learn to keep their hands that still? Same thing goes for sword swallowers.

Why didn’t they become surgeons instead? School. Yeah, I don’t blame them. Over a decade of formal training... two weeks at circus camp. The choice is obvious. Those folks must cut out caffeine completely. What a dangerous way to live. One rival sword swallower drops a chocolate-covered espresso bean in your milk, and BAM, you’re cut to ribbons in front of a thousand Nebraskans. Uh, yeah, cleanup in the center ring.

Maybe I should write about a fire eater. But a fire eater... what? A mystery? A romance? A fantasy? It could be an elf or a... dragon? Too easy.

How about a dwarf who doesn’t want to eat fire, sort of like an "eat your vegetables, so you