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Starting a new novel: setting up a writing studio in Capacities
I write a novel a year. I started doing this purely on accident; it was 2020, and I had just graduated from my creative writing degree into the throes of the pandemic. I needed something to do. It was so fun, it got me through the worst of 2020, and I got so much out of it that I have kept writing yearly novels ever since.
These novels aren’t written to be good, or to be shared with anyone (although I have a good feeling about this year’s project). This habit helps me get all the bad novels out of my system before I write the one that I want to try and get published. It’s like the artist Chuck Jones said; “every artist has thousands of bad drawings in them and the only way to get rid of them is to draw them out.” I’m writing down (hundreds of thousands of) bad words, and slowly working my way towards the good ones. Plus, tackling long-form projects and actually finishing them has been paramount for building my confidence as a writer.
My novels have ranged in quality from terrible to somewhat okay, but I can feel my writing, my craft and my voice improve with each finished book.
One thing that has without a doubt excited me even more this year about my novel (other than the unbridled joy of finally letting myself indulge in a shiny new idea) is using Capacities to help me research and build my world. I discovered Capacities last year when I was already partway…