How I Wrote A Novella in 24 Hours
It was no easy undertaking but here’s what I learned
On a whim, I bought Andrew Mayne’s How To Write A Novella in 24 Hours. I never had any concern about the amount of content I produce, I’m generally a fast typist and ideas come at me fast and furious. But there was a certain allure to doing this.
There was an idea brewing, a parody of Barbie and Oppenheimer, the summer’s two hottest movies that happened to be released on the same day. The Internet did part of my job for me by mashing them together like chocolate and peanut butter.
The mashup gave my novella a title, Barbenheimer. Sure, the actual hashtag is Barbieheimer, but there are some things to think about, like copyright and all that. Plus, as viral as the latter is, there are plenty of people also using my official title as the hashtag.
I had a title, a vague idea, and a book to guide me to writing the thing. What did I need to do next? We’ll figure out the plot of the thing. Most of the time I’m a pantser, meaning I don’t have a plan. It works for me. However, I need to know what the plot is, or I can’t write a thing.
My ultimate pitch to a group of friends was Legally Blonde meets James Bond. This was later updated to Alias when I was reminded that was a thing.
