New to creative writing? You might think you don’t have the skills to craft a novel, but you do. It’s partly a matter of expectations.
Down in the south of England, houses are made of… well, bricks. Neatly laid in regular courses, with no unusual sections.
Those terraced streets of brick housing remind me of genre fiction writing. Follow the pattern, knock them out quickly and easily, nothing spectacular but there’s a steady market waiting. Everybody knows what to expect and they’re happy with that.
Now, up here in Barnard Castle, most of the houses are made of stone; sturdy, traditional and often elegant, like classic fiction.
Every so often, you’ll come across different chunks in odd sizes and shapes, often interspersed with strange eccentricities: a few bricks here, an old wooden lintel there… a newly-arrived southerner might be forgiven for wondering if anyone’s actually ever shown them how to build proper walls up north!
These infills may not have the most professional finish, but here’s the thing: the walls still stand. Each is quirky and interesting, like a peculiar novel which doesn’t follow the rules, but somehow manages to be unforgettable. So don’t assume, just because your writing isn’t like other people’s, that you’re not doing it right.
While I’m constructing this extended metaphor, we might take a glance at the remains of the castle which gives our town its name. Back in the seventeenth century, its owner decided to strip the castle of masonry, doors and fittings to improve his other castle (I know, right? It’s always handy to have a second castle for spare parts!). By the time he’d finished, admittedly there wasn’t much left of Barnard Castle, but Raby Castle looked wonderful.
Sometimes it’s better to be ruthless with writing: combine the best parts of two stories to create one really good novel, and leave out the rest. Perhaps what remains of your other novel might become an appealing short story or vignette, just as the stripped-down ruin of our castle has a certain picturesque charm: enough for Turner to consider it worth painting.
