Book Update – Mid 2018
Hello. Some of you might remember that at the start of the year I mentioned I was working on a book based on this blog. A few months have gone by and I thought that it would be a good idea to give you all an update on how things are progressing.
Admittedly I have a double agenda with doing this. If I openly discuss my plans with you it gives me less of an excuse to procrastinate on them. Seriously, I was very nervous about even mentioning I was writing a book in that new year’s post.
The book (like the blog) is essentially the story of my accident-prone life in the Netherlands. I set myself the goal of having the second draft written by the end of the year. So, how am I doing and how do I plan to achieve that goal?
The Current State of The Book
I have something that I think could be loosely called a first draft. I’m quite pleased with the first half of it. It still needs work and iterations but the structure is sort of there. However, the second half of the book kind of fizzles out at the moment. The structure becomes very loose and I have a lot of gaps. It’s basically a series of unconnected events. This is partly because of the difference between a book (with a story structure) and a blog.
A blog is written in such a way that you can jump in at any point and read a bite-size story that works even when taken out of context. However, most books have to have an overarching structure for them to work. Each part of the story needs a reason for existing (to move the story/character development forward). Any part that has no effect on the overall story can derail the whole thing.
Of course I could keep the book as a collection of loose stories instead but so much of what I have already works as a continual narrative.
The Plan
I need to come up with a more concrete plan for the book’s overall structure (especially for the non-existent structure of the second half) before I write any more for the book. To help with that I’ve been spending the first part of this year reading a lot of books about story structure and character development.
Exploring character development has been particularly interesting because I ‘am’ the main character in my story. A lot of the exorcises within these books that are designed to help you know your character better have felt like taking part in a bizarre kind of therapy as I try to work out why I do half the crazy stuff I do. It’s also made me examine what motivated me to move to The Netherlands. After doing this I honestly think it’s easier to know the mind of a fictional character than it is to know your own.
For the next two months I’m going to focus on the structure issues. I need to work out how my disconnected stories connect and what makes them relevant to the overall story. I realize how odd all this probably sounds. If all the events really happened to me surely I already have a structure (ie – how it happened in real life). The trouble is that the events took place over a time-span of eight years with a lot of boring stuff in between. Some of my funniest stories that I really want to include in the book did happen in isolation. Plus life rarely happens in a way that perfectly fits the narrative structure.
As I briefly mentioned my aim with this update is also to help myself. I’m hoping that by being more open about the development of the book I’ll work out what I am getting stuck on. So expect more book updates in the future. Any thoughts, advice and/or motivational speeches are also welcome. Thanks for reading.
A nice read, thanks. This expat blogger is also working on a book, although not at all about my expat experience. Sharing your particular place in the process inspires and motivates me. Looking forward to more updates and a great book!!
A book takes time, and I’m sure you will put it all together in the end. I can’t wait to see it :)
You’ll get there, Stu…but, and you’re going to hate me for this, I wouldn’t waste time reading too much theory. In the end, it’s your story and it has to tell itself through you, your way. If you’re writing it as a narrative rather than a series of anecdotes (which is also fine), then maybe you could think in terms of set up, conflict, resolution. The set up is all the accident prone stuff, the conflict is how to deal with the new you when you become you two, and the resolution is…well, we all know what happened to cause the happily ever after, don’t we? Just an idea :)
Je zou ook kunnen denken aan een niet-chronologische verhaallijn. Je vertelt een deel chronologisch, dan sla je een groot stuk over en op basis van een situatie op dat moment denk je terug aan het verleden. Flashback. Een soort van anekdotes binnen een verhaallijn.
Stu, I agree with the commenter above about not getting too mired in theory and overthinking it.
You are a talented writer with a knack for seeing the funny side of life. There is no rule that says a book must be a continuous narrative. One option is to run a narrative interspersed with anecdotes. Another is the have one section a narrative, the next anecdotes, and there are many other options.
Your piece about Dutch Circle Parties alone puts you up in the highest echelon of sociological analysts. :)
As a Dutchie who has spent almost all of her life in Australia, the sneaky way that Dutchness never lets you go brings me back here again and again. I am a proud Aussie, but confronted with Dutch treats like salty liquorice, olieballen, croquettes and so on, I revert. Can’t help it.
Also, I am plain-spoken, to put it politely. There is a lot of Irish influence in Australian culture, not to mention mealy-mouthed English. So it doesn’t always go down well.
Good on you for putting it out there as a spur to getting the job done. Stop thinking and start writing!