National Novel Writing month
About a month ago over in coinherence I challenged Charles Williams fans to enter the National Novel Writing Month challenge to write a 50000 word novel in a month, and to try to write a Charles Williams-type novel.
If anyone took up the challenge, well, there's a week to go.
I hope there will be some worthy successors to Charles Williams's novels out there at the end of the month, but mine probably won't be among them. Though I know that the aim in this month is quantity not quality, and I'm thinking "Just write anything and get it down, you can polish it later", I'm still concerned that what was apparent in the first week is still apparent now: it's less and less like Charles Williams and more like Dan Brown meets Indiana Jones, and even, (horror of horrors) with a bit of Frank Peretti and H. Rider Haggard thrown in.
But there are compensations.
In researching for it, I've learnt quite a lot of things that I didn't know before. In addition to tossing them into my novel, I might be using some of them for academic articles in future.
But the Charles Williams formula remains as elusive as ever.
Many of his novels are based on the theme of the legendary ancient artefact that turns up in the present and is likely to cause havoc if it falls into the hands of unscrupulous men.
But of course the same thing lies at the heart of Dan Brown's novels and the Indiana Jones films, and even John Buchan's "Prester John", which was published about 100 years ago.
The hard thing is putting one's finger on the elusive difference that makes Charles Williams's novels succeed where the others fail (in the spiritual sense, at least -- some of the others became best sellers, while Charles Williams's didn't). The publishers undoubtedly prefer the best sellers, though I doubt that there will be such a big second-hand market for Dan Brown's books in sixty years time, and publishers will probably be as reluctant to reprint them as they are to reprint the novels of Charles Williams now.
Anyway, if anyone is interested, you can see my progress report for NaNoWriMo here
If anyone took up the challenge, well, there's a week to go.
I hope there will be some worthy successors to Charles Williams's novels out there at the end of the month, but mine probably won't be among them. Though I know that the aim in this month is quantity not quality, and I'm thinking "Just write anything and get it down, you can polish it later", I'm still concerned that what was apparent in the first week is still apparent now: it's less and less like Charles Williams and more like Dan Brown meets Indiana Jones, and even, (horror of horrors) with a bit of Frank Peretti and H. Rider Haggard thrown in.
But there are compensations.
In researching for it, I've learnt quite a lot of things that I didn't know before. In addition to tossing them into my novel, I might be using some of them for academic articles in future.
But the Charles Williams formula remains as elusive as ever.
Many of his novels are based on the theme of the legendary ancient artefact that turns up in the present and is likely to cause havoc if it falls into the hands of unscrupulous men.
- Many dimensions - the stone of Solomon
- War in heaven - the holy Graal
- The Greater Trumps - a long lost pack of Tarot cards
But of course the same thing lies at the heart of Dan Brown's novels and the Indiana Jones films, and even John Buchan's "Prester John", which was published about 100 years ago.
The hard thing is putting one's finger on the elusive difference that makes Charles Williams's novels succeed where the others fail (in the spiritual sense, at least -- some of the others became best sellers, while Charles Williams's didn't). The publishers undoubtedly prefer the best sellers, though I doubt that there will be such a big second-hand market for Dan Brown's books in sixty years time, and publishers will probably be as reluctant to reprint them as they are to reprint the novels of Charles Williams now.
Anyway, if anyone is interested, you can see my progress report for NaNoWriMo here